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Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0698.PDF
714 FLIGHT, 23 May 1958 Aircraft type Junkers Ju 90 Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Douglas DC-4E ... Douglas DC-4 ... Boeing 307 Boeing 307B Fairey F.C.1 Lockheed L.049 ... TABLE III: CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOUR-ENGINED "MODERN-TYPE" Engine* 4XB.M.W. 132H 4XB.M.W. 132 G 4xP. & W. R-2180 4xP. & W. R-2OOO-3 4 x Wright R-1820-G102A 4xWright R-1820-G105A 4 X Bristol Taurus 4x Wright R-3350-35 ... Take-off power (b.h.p.) 4x850 4x720 4x1,450 4X1.350 4x1,100 4X1,100 4x1,040 4x2,200 Maximum taka-off weight (tb) 50,600 32,120 61,000 52,000 42,000 45.000 45,200 82.000 Wingarea («|ft) 1.980 1,291 2.155 1,457 1,486 1,486 1.300 1,650 Wing cpan (ft) (in) 114 10 108 3 138 3 117 6 107 3 107 3 105 0 123 0 Length (ft) (in) 86 3 78 2± 97 7 93 10 74 4 74 4 76 0 94 11 TRANSPORTS Cruising •PMd (50% to. power) (m.p.h.) 160 170 190 200 200 200 210 280 Stalling •peed (m.p.h.) 68 65 70 75 70 70 66 77 of (lap* Slotted Split Slotted Slotted Split Slotted Youngman Fowler Number of passenger swat* 40 26 42 42 33 33 30 51 ORIGINS OF THE MODERN AIRLINER . . . surized, the differential being 4£ lb/sq in. The wings had twomain spars and a false spar carrying the ailerons and flaps. As with the DC-4, they incorporated integral fuel-tanks. The airframe ofthe Constellation has proved almost as suitable for repeated "stretching" as that of the DC-4. Indeed, the Lockheed type hasbeen developed over the years since the war in parallel to, and in direct competition with, the Douglas family. "Pulling-out" offuselage and wing has taken place, together with the installation of more powerful engines. Latest of the line is the L.1649A, whichhas a loaded weight of 156,000 lb and a new thinner wing, 1,850 sq ft in area and 150ft in span. Each Douglas developmenthas been matched by a corresponding version of the Constellation and 850 have now been built, 500 for the airlines. The type is stillin production, but the end of the line may now be near. The total development costs of the original Constellation have been esti-mated at $30,000,000 (£7,500,000), which gives some indication of the sharp increase in effort required to produce the larger andmore complex four-engined equipment as compared with pre- war twin-engined types. The Constellation sold at $1,000,000(£250,000) each in the immediate post-war years. The DC-6 and the Constellation introduced some of the finalrefinements in the piston-engined transport aeroplane. These include power-boosted controls, pioneered on the DC-4E; thereversing propeller, which has greatly reduced runway over-run- ning accidents and has eased the problem of operating from icyor slippery surfaces; and thermal de-icing of the leading edges of wing and tail surfaces. The reversing propeller was probably firstdemonstrated by Seth Hart in California on a D.H.4 in 1920. The American thermal de-icing systems resulted from work bythe N.A.C.A. which started in 1927 and was tested with a trial installation in a Lockheed 12 from 1940. From die durability and TABLE IV: THE FIRST FOUR-ENGINED "MODERN-TYPE" DEVELOPMENT DATES AND NUMBERS BUILT Aircraft type Junkers Ju 90 Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Douglas DC-4E ... Boeing 307 Fairey F.C.1 Douglas DC-4 Lockheed L.049 ... Development dates First thoughts Early 1936 Early 1936 Mid 1935 Mid 1936 Early 1938 Mid 1939 Mid 1939 First flight 7.6.37 6.9.37 7.6.38 31.1138 Planned 1940 14.i42 9.1.43 First airline service Late 1938 Late 1938 — Mid 1940 — Early 1943* Mid 1944» TRANSPORTS— Approximate numbers built (including all transport derivatives) t t 1 10 — 2,300 850 maintenance aspects an important development has been theadoption of metal-covered control surfaces in the later versions of both Douglas and Lockheed types. Fabric covering for metal-structure control surfaces had previously been normal practice. Details of the four-engined designs which laid die foundations onwhich post-war air transport has been built are summarized in Table III. Table IV gives the more important dates in thedevelopment of these aircraft and an indication of the numbers which have been produced. The derivatives of the DC-4 and L.049 and a small number ofBoeing Stratocruisers, supported to a minor extent by some broadly similar types made outside the United States, have provided thebackbone of the scheduled airlines long-haul equipment in die 1940s and 1950s. The Stratocruiser was developed by Boeing asa civil transport out of the B-29 and B-50 Superfortress bombers at the end of the war. Only 55 of the civil version were built butnearly 900 military KC-97 tanker-transports were supplied to the U.S-A.F. These long-haul aircraft have been supplemented on theshorter-hauls by the old DC-3 herself and by the Convair 240/440 series (1,100 built, 500 for the airlines) and, to a lesser extent, bythe Martin 202/404 (about 150 built) and a number of non- American types. Douglas had projected, but not proceeded with,a development of the DC-3 in 1940 (to have been called the DC-6) which was closely similar in layout to the later Convair series. All these aircraft have been described as being of the DC-4generation. They certainly owe a great deal to that great aeroplane and—two generations further removed—to die Boeing 247 andDC-2. The 1950s have seen the appearance of the DC-4 type of configuration in its final form—with turboprop engines. TheVickers-Armstrongs Viscount—of which 375 have so far been ordered—has shown that the classic formula revitalized in diisway has tremendous possibilities. Other aeroplanes-^the Britannia, Electra, Vanguard and 11-18—are now following in its footsteps. It is still difficult to assess die full future role of these types indie era of the subsonic jets which is now approaching. However, there is good reason to believe that, at any rate for shorter-haul airtransport—which is certain to continue to interest the largest numbers of travellers—die turboprop aeroplane of die DC-4formula will have a long and productive innings. The lower speed of the turboprop transport, as compared widi die jet, may notprove to be a significant penalty on short stages and the greater operational and economic flexibility inherent in diis type of powerunit has strong attractions for these services. On longer-haul operations also, the turboprop aeroplane may yet emerge as dievehicle which is cheaper to operate dian eidier piston-engined or jet types and which is dierefore best suited to carry die great bulkof the lower-fare traffic. For the same reason, its potential in the freight market should be great. Time alone can show how longthe turboprop aeroplane will remain a trunk-line type. We can at least be sure that many of the current piston-engined and turbinetypes to the classic formula will continue to carry much of die load on die world's air routes for many years yet. All this has grownout of the first flight of a small aeroplane of revolutionary design which took place at Boeing Field, Seatde, a quarter of a century ago. • In military service, t Very few eml version*. "Construction of the first Constellation started in 1940 . . . the first flight was made on January 9, 1943."
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