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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 1067.PDF
FLIGHT, OCTOBER 20, 1932 A FLYING VENTURI TUBE D' ESIGNED by Signor Stipa, one of the Caproni designers, and built by the Caproni Works at Milan, Italy, the machine shown in the photo graphs may best be described as a flying Venturi tube, its fuselage being physically and aerodynamically a counterpart, on a large scale, of this instrument. Struc turally the Stipa-Caproni is a machine of straightforward all-wood construction, the Venturi-tube fuselage being in the form of a light open drum, with inner and outer sur faces covered with plywood, attached to an inner skeleton. The monoplane wing is of thin section and wire braced to the fuselage, and the undercarriage is of normal type. The tail organs are attached directly to the rear edges of the Venturi, where they are almost entirely in the slip stream from the airscrew. The engine, of 120 h.p., is mounted on a steel-tube framework inside the Venturi, and drives a tractor airscrew so placed that its tips just clear the forward edges of the Venturi. The occupants are attached, somewhat after the fashion of barnacles, to the top of the Venturi. Here they are out of the slip stream, get a very good view, and are well away from Mother Earth unless the machine should turn right over. The reasons which led Signor Stipa to design this weird beast are slightly obscure, but it is believed that he ex pects low drag, extra stability and very effective rudder and elevator control, while tail flutter and " buffeting " should certainly not take place. One serious snag seems to be that small boys can (and probably will) very easily " stow away " inside the Venturi without the pilot know ing it. They would have a slightly uncomfortable time, but then what boy minds that? Actually it is thought that Signor Stipa regards this machine as a flying model of much larger aircraft. He points out that airscrew diameter increases, for the same revolutions, as the fifth root of the power, and that there fore in large machines the Venturi tubes would be propor tionally much smaller, and could be housed, in a multi engined machine, inside a thick cantilever wing. The experimental machine has a span of 13.3 m. (46.9 ft.), a wing area of 19 m.2 (204.5 sq. ft.), a tare weight of 600 kg. (1,323 lb.) and a gross weight of 800 kg. (1,763 lb.). No performance figures are available. ESS Singapore Civil Aerodrome ACCORDING to Shell Aviation News, a site has now de finitely been chosen for a civil aerodrome at Singapore, and it is expected that all the necessary work will be com pleted by 1935. Until that time civil aircraft will con tinue to be allowed by the Royal Air Force to use their base at Seletar. The site chosen is the Kallang Basin, and it will involve the reclamation of an area of swampy land which has always been a breeding place of disease in Singapore. The total area which is to be reclaimed is 339 acres. The Geyland River, which is to be canalised, will divide this area into two parts, the larger of which, containing 250 acres, will form the aerodrome. An anchorage for seaplanes is to be provided at the western end of the aerodrome, and there will be full facilities for dealing with sea-going aircraft in the way of slipways, wharves, cranes, etc. The water frontage of the aero drome will amount to 8,078 ft. The total cost of the is s m whole scheme is estimated at Straits dollars 6,250,000 (approximately £730,000), but the whole of this cannot reasonably be laid against the provision of the aerodrome, as the clearing up of this most unhealthy area was anyhow a necessity, and, apart from the gain to aviation, the improvement of the sanitary conditions in the district will be considerable. Civil aviation has now for a long time been indebted to the R.A.F. for permission to make use of the Seletar base, and it is satisfactory to know that the authorities in Singapore are awake to their responsibilities in providing proper accommodation for civil aircraft fly ing from the west to the Dutch East Indies and Australia. R.A.F. Station, Manston THE administration of the R.A.F. Station, Manston, was transferred from Headquarters, No. 23 Group, to Headquarters, No. 22 Group, with effect from October 1, 1932. 995
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