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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1608.PDF
69 Stressed-skin construction : Short Silver Streak of 1920. — . I ^—^Mapwg^^M—i ••J 71 Retractable wheels: the Dayton-Wright racer of 1920. THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS . . . 1920. A great deal of confusion still persists regarding the rightful place of the Short Silver Streak (69) in air history. This machine was, in fact, a very important one indeed, for it was the first in the world to have a metal stressed-skin (not simply metal-covered) structure; and by way of emphasis we quote from an article by Mr. Oswald Short which appeared in Flight during 1942: "The writer," it runs, "was the originator of strcsscd-skin all-metal construction, as carried into practice, in the year 1919. Until that time there was not a stressed-skin fuselage in the world. It was exhibited at Olympia in July 1920. I had been laughed at by my rivals but . . . Flight said: 'It goes without saying that the Short all-metal machine is not only the most interesting on this stand, but the feature of the show' (the italics are mine). The first to approach me at Olympia were officials attached to the American Embassy. They informed me 73 A famous British racer—the Gloster Ramel (1921). 74 American counterpart of the Ramel—the Curtiss Navy Racer, 1921. 75 The Oomier Wal depicted is the original machine, built in 1922. 70 On wheels or floats the Fairey 1110 (4920) served the R.A.F. well. 72 Winner of a €10,000 prize—the Vickers Viking III of 1920. that the American Government would buy the machine. I pre ferred, however, that it should remain in England, and one day later I was told that our own Air Ministry would purchase it, which it eventually did." Mr. Short goes on to relate how he applied the system tc the construction of a hull. To Air Ministry order this was fitted to the antiquated superstructure of an F.5 flying-boat, and it proved its strength when, in rough weather off the French coast, it was stalled, and fell into the water from an estimated height of 30ft. Not a rivet leaked. So although, as we later remark, the Singapore I of 1926 was die true founder of the great line of Short flying-beats, its con struction was the outcome of experience with the Silver Streak and metal-hull F.5. With Fig. 70, showing the Fairey HID, we introduce the work of a famous British company which had besn founded in 1916 and had supplied the Royal Naval Air Service with many efficient floatplanes. The versatile HID was itself a development of the 1916 Campania, and from it, in turn, stemmed the great family of IIIF, Gordon and Seal variants, examples of which con tinued in service until the late 1930s. Perhaps the greatest technical contribution made by the Fairey company during die first few years of its existence was the introduction of camber- changing trailing-edge flaps, initially fitted on an adapted Sopwith Baby. A civil machine similar to the HID was submitted for an Air Ministry competition for amphibians held at Martlesham Heath in 1920, but the winner of the £10,000 first prize proved to be the Vickers Viking III (72). Developments of the Viking (the first version of which had flown early in 1919), put in some stout work in Canada, where their construction under licence was among the earliest activities of the Dominion's domestic aircraft industry. In such early amphibians the object of undercarriage retraction was to raise the wheels clear of the water, but in the Dayton- Wright racer of 1920 (71) we see, perhaps, the first example of an aircraft in which the wheels were tucked away in flight solely to reduce drag. A variable-incidence wing was another remark able feature. This monoplane was entered for, but did not com pete in, the Gordon Bennett Race of 1920, and it drew from Flight this comment: "Whether or not the arrangement would have resulted in a speed superior to that of the other machines, die originators of die design deserve credit for their courage in breaking away from conventionality and seeking improvement along original lines. There is Utile doubt that somediing like finality has been reached as regards the attainable speed with the aeroplane as we know it today, and if appreciably greater speeds are to be attained some other means will have to be adopted." Although it seems fairly certain that the Dayton-Wright was the first high-speed landplane to use a fully retractable under carriage, a semi-retractable gear was a feature of die James V. Martin K.III scout, built in America in 1919. 76 A pioneer British airliner—the D.H.34 of 1922.
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