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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 0158.PDF
JANUARY I6TH, TQ41. PER ARDUA AD ASTRA" (Continued) if desired, though there would be a small increase inradiator weight if fluid-cooled engines were installed. The engine problem may then be roughly summed upas follows. There is no obvious difficulty in providing the amount of supercharge required, as two or three centrifugalfans in series could be made to provide the necessary pres- sure, but there is going to be considerable trouble in cool-ing the air after it has been compressed. It would seem that the only way in which this could be conveniently donewould be to utilise the wings for this purpose. Passages might be formed in them through which the air could bepassed, but great care would have to be taken to reduce the resistance to trie air-flow to a minimum. As this airwould have a pressure of some 8 lb. above that of the atmosphere, some stiffening of the covering of the wingwould become necessary. It would n,ot be easy to arrange ail these matters and at the same time, keep the vyeightdown, remembering that the cooling effect of the same sized cooling surface is, under our assumed conditions, some40 per cent, less than at ground level. The engine would alsj be heavier than normal, as thesupercharging arrangements would increase the weight materially. There would be additions to the number offans, increased complication in the gearing, and some form of clutch-gear would be used to prevent excessive super-charging at low altitudes. Probably the various fans would be arranged to cut in at appropriate heights as the machineclimbed. It would be possible to arrange for this to be done automatically. Additional weight might also bewanted for the air pump necessary to keep up the pressure in, and to ventilate, the cabin. But here another questionarises. As the pressures required are about the same, could we not use the engine supercharging fans for the cabinand thus save the weight and the power of a separate pump? The circuit in this case would be supercharging fans to cooler, then to cabin, and then to engine. Muchmore air would be supplied by these fans than would be required for ventilation, and it might be necessary forsome of it to be by-passed so as to prevent draughts. But it would be extremely useful to be able to call onthe full supply of air in the event of the cabin being punctured by a bullet, so as to keep up the pressure whilerepairs were being made. Some sort of automatic valve device would have to be introduced so that in the case of—'an engine stoppage the pressure in the cabin would not fail, remembering that it would escape in this case throughthe supercharging fans direct to the atmosphere. An ordinary non-return valve would deal with this. It might,however, leak out the other way—between the cabin and the engine—and in this case a non-return valve would notsolve the problem as the direction of the air would be the same whether the system was working normally or whetherthe air was escaping owing to damage. But a valve which operated by the pressure difference between the cabin,and the outside air could be used. In the case of a backfire from the engine some precau-tions would have to be taken to prevent fumes reaching the cabin, but again one or two automatic valves shoul<3.solve this problem also. The scheme might have an im- portant advantage in another direction. If the cabin wasbadly holed so that all the pressure leaked out, the engine supercharge would also disappear and the engine wouldstop. Hence, even if the crew were rendered unconscious, the aeroplane would immediately begin to descend, andthes^would be more than a sporting chance of someone reviving in time to take control before the machine reachedthe ground, whereas if the aircraft continued to fly the' death of the crew would be a certainty. Even if therewere a crash, with a stopped engine and everything cold, there would be little chance of fire. THE PASSING OF AMY JOHNSON THE world heard with deep regret of the death ol AmyJohnson in a flying accident on Sunday, January 5th.She was flying'a twin-engined trainer aircraft to anR.A.F. aerodrome'in the course of her ordinary duty as an A.T.A. ferry pilot, and it would appear that she was con- siderably off her course, as the accident occurred off the Thames Estuary. For a time there were rumours of a mysterious passengerwho had disappeared, but it seems most likely that the person to whose rescue Lt.-Cdr. VV. E. Fletcher, R.N., went, unsuc-cessfully, was actually Amy, and that the reports of a second occupant arosethrough mistaking some object from the aeroplane, possibly the parachute, fora human being. Lt.-Cdr. Fletcher, who was a member of the CambridgeUniversity Polar Expedition of 1934. was suffering from exhaustion and ex-posure, and later he died in hospital. Let us pay homage to the memory of avery gallant gentleman. As to the cause of the accident weshall probably never know with cer- tainty, but it seems most likely thatuiiiM was responsible. Conditions on that day were such that this explana-tion appears the most likely. The life of Amy Johnson was aneventful but not a very happy one. From a city office she was attracted toHying, and became a member of the London Aeroplane Club in the dayswhen it operated at Stag Lane. She A Flight photograph of Amy Johnsontaken in the days when she was a member of the London AeroplaneClub at Stag Lane. joined the club in 1928, and took her ticket in the followingyear. Her first great flight was from England to Australia in a Moth (G-AAAH) presented to her by Lord Wakefield.Leaving England on May 5th, 1930, she arrived at Port Darwiii on Empire Day, May 24th. Afterwards she made many great and hazardous flights,and acquired both fame and fortune. Since the war she had been a pilot in the A.T.A., and there at last found happinessin the knowledge that she was serving her country in its hour of trial. • .
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