LARGEST ’PLANE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 84, 19 January 1928, Page 7

LARGEST ’PLANE.

CONSTRUCTED IN BRITAIN. The largest aeroplane in the world has been built in England, and is almost ready for its preliminary trials. It has been under construction at the direction of the Air Ministry, and great secrecy has been maintained with regard to its characteristics. It has been built by Beardmores, Ltd., after a design developed from the worki of Dr. Rohrbach, of 1 Germany, and, like his ’planes, is constructed entirely of duralumin. The ’plane is a monoplane called the Inflexible, and, according to the “Aeroplane,” the English aviation magazine, has wing spread of 140 feet. It has three Rolls-Royce Condor engines, givisg it 2100 horse-power, and has a total weight, including load, of 40,000 pounds. This makes it by far the largest aeroplane ever built, and there is much speculation as to how it will perfomi. The recent bombers built- by the United States Army, for instance, have a total weight, with load, of only 16,000 pounds, which gives some idea of the size of the Inflexible. The wing load is believed l to lie about 221 b per square foot, which is unusually large. “As is well known,” gays the “Aeroplane,” “Dr. Rohrbach has for long maintained that the only rational method by which practical aeroplanes of greatly-increased size could be produced called for a progressively increasing wing loading as the size of the aeroplane increased. “It is understood that the Inflexible, as it actually exists, is much more a Beardmore than ® Rohrbach design, but there is good reason to Believe that in essentials it is a logical development of ideas inspired by that designer. “The result of tests on this machine will he awaited with great interest by the aircraft designers of the world. It is very generally believed that a land machine of this size ancl of so heavy a wing loading will prove to be impossible to operate, because of the difficulties of safely taking-off and of landing so vast a machine at so high a speed; but whatever view one may take as to this particular matter, it is well that the question should he settled by practical test.