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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0725.PDF
FLIGHT, 27 May 1955 MARS TO JAVELIN . . . 723 wings were of high-tensile steel construction, with the Glostertype of lattice-girder spar in the thick upper wing, and, in the thinner lower wing, a rolled high-tensile-steel-strip spar havingcontinuous webs. Following the usual Gloster practice, petrol tanks were fitted into each of the upper wings. The specificationcalled for two Vickers guns, wireless equipment (weighing 25 lb!), and night-flying gear. The span of the top wing was 30ft, andof the lower, 27ft lOin. Length was 22ft 3in and wing area 274.3 sq ft. At 10,000ft the top speed was 171.5 m.p.h. and at 20,000ft157.5 m.p.h. The climb to 20,000ft took 16.2 min, service ceiling was 26,900ft, landing speed 56 m.p.h., and endurance at 15,000ft2.78 hr. Gross weight was 3,236 lb. (The foregoing figures were issued in 1929 and differ somewhat from those published in Flightduring October 1928.) Gambet When the Sparrowhawks of the Japanese Navy beganto fall due for replacement a ship's-fighter competition was organized in Japan widi a view to selecting a new type. Glosterswere naturally determined that the order should again come their way, and busied themselves in July 1927 in the design of a newnaval fighter, of wooden construction, called the Gambet. The prototype, with a Jupiter VI engine, was completed in December,was entered in the competition by the Mitsui company, and quickly proved superior to its rivals. Mitsui eventually securedthe design rights and under the designation Navy Type 3 the Gambet was licence-built in Japan. The wing cellule resembledthat of the Guan in that the top wing measured 31ft lOin in span. Outboard of the interplane struts the top-plane extensionswere wire-braced. Gross weight was 3,075 lb, maximum speed 152 m.p.h. at 5,000ft, and the climb to 15,000ft took 11 min.Ceiling was 23,OOOft, landing speed 49 m.p.h., and endurance 3£ hr at 15,000ft with full load. Arrester hooks were attached tothe axle of the undercarriage, and provision was made for flotation bags in addition to night-flying gear, two Vickers guns with 1,200rounds of ammunition, and four 20 lb bombs. As a footnote it may be remarked that at least one Gambet wasused during the 1930s as a mail carrier on Japanese routes, and in this capacity it was fitted with a cockpit enclosure. Gnatsnapper I To Specification N.21/26, which called for anall-metal, carrier-borne, single-seat fighter, powered with a Bristol Mercury engine, Glosters built the Gnatsnapper I—a single-baybiplane of 33ft 6in span and 24ft 7in length, with a wing area of 360.5 sq ft and weighing 3,800 lb all-up. The specified ^enginewas a Mercury IIA which, in the words of the Gloster com- pany, "was rather a nebulous quantity and, in addition toweighing more than 15 per cent heavier when delivered than when originally designed, failed to give satisfaction, being un-able to stand up to the work it was required to do." A Jupiter was fitted at one stage, but trouble with the Mercury left no timefor the Gnatsnapper to be entered in the ship-fighter competition; eventually it checked in at Martlesham Heath in May 1929—afterno fewer than eight changes of engine installation, it is said. As a flying machine the Gnatsnapper was very satisfactory in respect ofperformance, manoeuvrability and diving qualities. At an early stage a special set of wings, having double-camber flaps, was tried. Gnatsnapper II Difficulties with the Mercury engine led theAir Ministry to hold a second competition for naval single-seat fighters, and Glosters were given instructions to proceed withredesign of the Gnatsnapper to take the Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar VIII—a 14-cylinder geared and supercharged radial. Withthe new power unit Gnatsnapper N227 (now the Gnatsnapper II) was delivered to Martlesham Heath during the first half of 1930.At first the Jaguar engine was uncowled but was later fitted with a Townend ring. With the latter installation the machine ulti-mately had a tail unit similar in outline to that of the S.S.18 intercepter. At its gross weight of 3,800 lb the Gnatsnapper II attained181 m.p.h. at 14,500ft and climbed to 20,000ft in 19i min. Gnatsnapper III (5.S.3S) This third version of the Gnatsnapper—again the familiar N227—was fitted with a Rolls-Royce Kestrel IIS steam-cooled engine and a two-bay wing cellule having steamcondensers along the leading edges of upper and lower main- planes. At one time the tests with the evaporative system wereconsidered to be so promising that it was proposed to embody this as a standard feature on future Gloster fighters, but thiswas not to be. During 1934 the Gnatsnapper III was serving at Hucknall as a Rolls-Royce "hack." S.S.18 Checkered as was the career of Gnatsnapper N227,it was quite uneventful in relation to that of another Gloster fighter, serial-numbered J9125. The number first appeared on aland-based intercepter-fighter biplane, designed to Specification F .20/27 and powered with a Bristol Mercury IIA engine. Re-version to the two-bay wing formula, with its greater number of drag-producing struts and wires, was especially interesting in S.S.18. S.S.19. S.S.19A. view of the fact that one of the primary requirements of anintercepter was very high speed. But so clean was the fuselage, and detail design generally, that the new fighter proved very fastindeed, despite the extra wing-bracing. Moreover, the wing structure was very rigid in the dive and allayed the flutter worrieswhich had attended the development of some of the earlier single- bay Gloster machines. The new fighter was designated S.S.18 and was of all-metalconstruction. The fuselage was made in three sections, of which the front portion formed the engine mounting, the middle sectionincluded the cockpit, with fuel tanks, etc., and the rear portion carried the tail. The engine was mounted on a bearer comprisingeight round steel tubes, attached to the four longerons by socketed ends. The centre part was of square tubes, the joints being formedby simple plate fittings. In the rear portion round tubing was used, with joints of the standard Gloster pressed-p!ate type. Fromthe engine aft to the cockpit the fuselage was faired off by metal panels, and behind the cockpit there was fabric covering overa light, metal structure. The wings each had two main spars of high-tensile steel, with steel ribs. Ailerons were of the Frise typeand were so arranged that their control levers did not project beyond the wing surface. Fabric was attached by a Glosterpatented wired-on method, placed in position together with a layer of tape, when rustless wire was threaded through eyeletsformed in the rib, and was locked under the heads of the bolts attaching the leading and trailing edges. An advanced featureat the time was the fitting of wheel brakes, which could be operated either by pedals on the rudder bar or from the control stick. Span was 32ft 9|in, length 25ft 9in, wing area 332 sq ft andgross weight 3,270 lb. Armament was two Vickers guns firing through troughs in the fuselage sides. S.S.18A The shortcomings of the early Mercury engine, to whichallusion has already been made, led to the installation in air- frame J9125 of a Bristol Jupiter VII, this installation being signi-fied by the suffix "A" in the aircraft designation. S.S.1BB The suffix "B" signified the installation—still in J9125—of an Armstrong Siddeley Panther III engine. S.S.19 A further development of J9125, with Bristol JupiterVIIF engine, but with six machine guns—two Vickers guns, with 609 rounds apiece, in the fuselage, and four Lewis guns, eachwith a 97-round drum, in the upper and lower wings. The guns were arranged to give a "cone of fire," the streams of bullets con-verging 150 yd ahead of the aircraft. Notwithstanding the extra
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