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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0365.PDF
FLIGHT, 30 March 1956 ROY CHADWICK . . . 363 go what he considered one stage farther, and design an aeroplane suitable for cross-country touring with rather heavier wing loading and about 40-50 h.p. Now, 37 years later, I am not quite sure which was right. In fact there still seems to be an outlet for both types. As in many cases the availability of powerplant decided the issue, there being no very light motor car or cycle engines suitable for the ultra-light aeroplane, whereas A. V.'s 35 h.p. Green engine of 1910 had been preserved intact by Mr. Fred May of the Green Engine Co. and the whole of the manufacturing drawings were still available. The outcome was that the Avro Baby was designed and made round this overhauled engine, and a delightful little aeroplane it turned out to be, cruising at about 65 m.pii. with a fuel consumption of about 35 m.p.g. Such was its success that a small production line was laid down at Hamble, and Peter Brotherhoods of Peterborough undertook to make the engines. The Baby was a staggered biplane of 25ft span and a gross weight of just under 900 1b, and as proof that it was a practical touring vehicle, we may instance the winning of the Aerial Derby Handicap Race in 1919 and 1920, and Bert Hinkler's non-stop flights from Croydon to Turin and Riga. Later he flew 800 miles from Sydney, Australia, to his old home town Bundaberg, where he landed in the main street. Shortly after, Hinkler piloted the Baby to success in the Grosvenor Challenge Cup Race. It might not be out of place to put on record the not unim- portant part played by Hamble from 1916 onwards. I call to mind Faireys testing a seaplane with a Rolls engine with a two- speed gear ingeniously contrived from the epicyclic reduction gear, and at the end of 1917 a hush-hush aeroplane from Farn- borough that we used to call (perhaps disrespectfully) "Bill Farren's Futuristic Flying-boat." The Baby was also fitted with floats but, because of the low power, was difficult to unstick from smooth water. A two-seater land version was built, which Hinkler and I took to 11,000ft without experiencing wallowing. After the Armistice Chadwick had become an efficient pilot under Allan Hamersley's expert tuition and, whenever an oppor- tunity occurred, used to cruise round the country in the works Baby until on one such flight he crashed into the garden of Hamble vicarage, then occupied by A. V.'s brother the Rev. Everard Verdon Roe. Although the crash was from a low altitude, Chadwick sustained multiple injuries which very nearly cost him his life. I well remember visiting him in a nursing home in London, and knowing the extent of his main injuries enquired after each one individually. The following is typical of the con- versation which took place: — "Have they fixed your arm up?" "Yes, the broken ulna and die radius have been repaired by silver plates and rivets." "And the smashed top of your femur?" "Oh they have fastened that together with four-inch wood- screws." "And what about the kneecap which was in four distinct pieces when I visited you in the Southampton Hospital?" "Oh that has been fixed up with wire 'rivets' just like those they use to repair household pottery." However, such was his vitality and urge to live that he returned to his task with fresh energy, but promising to give up solo flying. In an attempt to revive the triplane configuration, 504K wings and other components were incorporated in a passenger-carrying triplane, the 547, in 1919. Two prototypes were built and the second, fitted with a Puma engine, was entered in the Passenger Aeroplane Competition then taking place. It was flown by Allan Hamersley, but was not successful, due mainly to its being neutrally stable, whereas one of the tests was to prove ability to fly "hands off' for a reasonable length of time. In fairness to Chadwick it must be pointed out that he was out of action in hospital during the development of this type. The revival of the Schneider Trophy Race in 1919 gave Chad- wick the opportunity he nad long wished for to design what at the time was a really fasAingle-seater. This design was powered by a 300 h.p. Puma six-cylinder in-line engine, but was chosen as a reserve aeroplane to the faster Sopwith seaplane. The Type 539 was later revived as a landplane, with Napier The Warren-girder-braced "Itt-plane" referred JO U, u«r ,^tarer— the Type 531 Spider single-seat tighter, with 110 h.p. Le Rhone engine. Lion engine, with the Aerial Derby in view, but it crashed irre- parably due to no fault of the aeroplane. This was a great dis- appointment as we were all sure it would have given Folland's Gloster Bamel a very good run for its money. In 1920 the Air Force was being re-equipped to some small extent, and the single-engined Avro Aldershot bomber was Chadwick's first contribution. The prototype was largely of steel tubular construction and was fitted with the new Rolls Condor of 650 h.p., with the well-tried epicyclic reduction gear. Production models had the later Condor III, with spur reduction drive. An ambulance version styled the Andover was also pro- duced, and one aircraft was later used as a flying test bed for the 1,000 h.p. Napier Cub and for the ill-fated Typhoon engines. The reputation gained by the Aldershot was maintained by die Bison, a Lion-engined gunnery spotter for the Fleet Air Arm. To give the pilot optimum vision when landing on the deck he was positioned high up in front of the top plane, and the "forrard deck" sloped sharply down to the nose. Pilots had for some time been accustomed to having a horizontal section of fuselage nose in front of the cockpit to "con" by on approach and landing, and after many discussions we satisfied Hinkler by fitting a 4ft wooden rod horizontally on outriggers in front of the windscreen for the initial flights. Happily, Hinkler asked us to remove it after the first two flights, and the Navy pilots soon got used to the angle of the foredeck and appreciated the excellent view provided when approaching an aircraft carrier. Personally, however, I saw few three-point landings, which we always hoped for as aircraft were not then fitted with brakes. Chadwick's next design was for a large twin-engined bomber and torpedo carrier named the Ava, which, when first flown was, to my knowledge, the largest all-metal aircraft—at least in this country. It had a biplane tail and twin rudders, an all-up weight of about 10 tons and carried the large 21in torpedo with 500 lb warhead, but the introduction of an 18in torpedo with a 500 lb head made this size of aircraft unnecessary for torpedo dropping. In 1923 a serious effort was made to cater for the private owner who would buy an aeroplane for the simple pleasure of flying, and for the first Light Aeroplane Competitions at Lympne A. V. designed a monoplane and Chadwick a biplane. Air-cooled motor- cycle engines developing 20 to 30 h.p. were fitted, and it is on record that Hinkler on the Blackburne-engined monoplane won the prize for the longest distance flown during the competition. Hamersley, on the biplane, fitted with a geared Douglas T.T. engine was joint winner of the altitude prize. A year later the design of the light aeroplane was carried a stage further in the Avis powered by the twin-cylinder Bristol Cherub engine with a geared airscrew; but its success was marred by teething troubles with the prop-shaft gearing. Continuing the development of the private-owner aeroplane, the Avian was produced two years later. It was somewhat bigger and heavier and was a dual-control two-seater fitted with one of Halford's Cirrus engines. It proved to be ideal for the light aero- plane clubs which the Government now decided to sponsor. The Avian appeared shortly after the early D.H. Moth> and many were the intense, but friendly, duels fought out at race meetings between Hubert Broad on the Moth and Bert Hinkler on the Avian—with honours, I think, fairly even. Among the outstand- ing flights made on Avians was Hinkler's solo flight to Australia in 151 days, a record which stood for nearly 3 years until Kings- ford Smith later covered the same route in 10 days on a more powerful Avian. Nor must we forget Miss Winifred Brown's superb piloting of her Avian in the King's Cup Race of 1930. Meanwhile the basic 504 design was being further developed and, as the 504N with Lynx engine, still retained its position as the standard flying trainer of die R.A.F. The power had by now increased from 100 to 200 h.p., and the weight by 16 per cent, which many thought retrograde; but an attempt to revert to a lighter version with die revived 100 Mono engine met with only partial success in spite of its being named, very appropriately, Successor to the great line of 504 trainers—the Arro Tutor.
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