AVIATION.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18548, 25 November 1925, Page 11

AVIATION.

NEW SAFETY MACHINES. VERTICAL LANDING. (7»01l OCR OWJT COBRXSPOSDKJfT.; LONDON. October 23 Prominent air officials and oilier experts witnessed the experimental flying 01 a new machine known as the AutoGiro. This is in the form of an ordinary aeroplane, but with a. large windmill on the top fating the sky. Spectators were genuinely astonished at the performances carried out by Captain 1 • T. Courtney, the famous pilot. When he wanted to land he just allowed his machine to fall vertically irora a height, of about 400 feet, and although, it dropped with every appearance of heading tor a. bad crash, it simply touched the ground at the end of the jonrney, bumped a litj/e—and sat there. Briefly, the machine is merely an oruinary Avro fuselage with, the wings removed, and a central pillar installed, attached to which are lour narrow planes, some 1" feet in span, which r.-voUc at a slight angle to the horizontal plane. Once they are turning at a. rate of about 120* revolutions a minute, the forward speed of the nutchinc serves to keep them revolving at that rate (hence ''auto-giro'"), and at that rate- of revolution they a-r© capable of supporting the weight of the machine. The only controls nesded are. a rudder and elevators, which are. used as normally. One great advantage claimed for the machine is that, if a position equivalent to a stall in an aeroplane is reached, the machine merely sinks downwards and forwards. Thus a sudden engine failure is met by the simple manipulation of the elevator controls to govern the actual r3te oF downward descent, which, as there is little forward mornentUini, results in a run after touching earth of not more than a machine's length.

The Auto-Giro. (hi the Auto-Giro as used to-day the vanes are not provided with any selfstarter, as would be the case eventually, and to make up for this the expedient had to be resorted to of winding a wire round the axle of the windmill. Half a down men running out with this wire s.>b the vanes revolving on the same principle that one spins a, top with string. At the same moment the pilot, with, ordinary propeller whirling in front, takes off. He does so after a short run, and then the machine, with its vanes revolving at about 140 revolutions to the minute, flies round. The machine reached seventy miles an hour with 5001b load," and was easier to control than an ordinary aeroplane. Captain Courtney brought the machine down hard on the ground. It descended at an angle which seemed to be about 60 degrees to the horizontal, sank down heavily on an oleo under-carriage specially fitted that morning, and stopped dead in about two yards. Such a performance is beyond all doubt a great stride in -the progress of aeronautics. The Auto-Giro is not a helicopter, but it seems to have achieved by other means most of the theoretical qualities which have been sought in vain, so far, in that line of research. Captain Courtney afterwards took the Auto-Giro for an extended night, turning and climbing, and once stalling to make the machine sink.steadily' under complete control. He then made a gliding landing, which resembled very much that of a normal aeroplane except, of course, for length of run after touching. Finally, he took the machine up and brought it down gently in order to make a light landing, and even then the run was not more than the Avro's own length. The Auto-Giro is the invention of Senor de la Cierva, who for many years past has been investigating the problem. Not until he had evolved thirty designs and tested them did he produce the present experimental machine.

Three-Engine Liners. A new type of air liner has been, tested at Croydon. It will be known as the Handley-Page Hampstead or W9, and two others of its kind are now being built. It is a development of the twin-engined Handley-Page machines which have been used on the LondonParis air route since the start of civil avitaion after the war. The latest addition to the Imperial Airways fleet has three air-cooled Armstrong-Siddeley Jaguar engines in place pf the twin water-cooled engines installed in the previous type. Two of the engines are built in the wings on either side of the fuselage, and the third is in the nose of the machine. They each develop approximately 400 horse-power at 1700 revolutions per minute, and are supplied with petrol from tanks fitted in the upper planes of the aircraft. The span of the new machine is 79ft, the length 60ft, and the height 16ft 9in. The total weight with a paying load of passengers, luggage, and freight is 14 5001b. A maximum speed can be attained at 1000 ft of 116 miles per hour, the rate of climb at ground is 900 ft per minute, and tho service "ceiling" is 13,500 ft. Special consideration has been given to the comfort of passengers in the designing of the saloon. Th'l3 is a compartment 17ft sin long and sft lOin high. Fourteen seats are provided, and a luggage rack is fitted the whole length of the. cabin on either side. The ventilation is good. The cabin is warmed- by hot air obtained from the exhaust manifolds of the front engines, the heating being regulated at will bv a control lever in the passengers' saloon. Half the windows, which are of triplex glass, can be opened with a neat sliding device.

Dropping the Pilot.

Disaster was narrowly averted when at Pulham Aerodrome an attempt was J made to detach an aeroplane from the airship 833, and subsequently to reattach it while in flight. The situation was saved only by skilful piloting. While the aerpolanc was in the act oi attaching itself to the trapeze suspended below the airship onlookers "with field classes were alarmed to sec its airscrew foul a wire and splinter. taquacl-ron-Leader Haga Haig, 1 he pilot, however, instantly undipped his machine * from the trapeze and glided to the iZroum! in safety. The dropping test, was achieved. The pilot c-Hnilifd into the cockpit of the aeroflane attached l*?low. and the airship rose to a height of about 3Sooft and cruised slowly above the aerodrome. Squadron Leader Haig then operated the hand release lever and the aeroplane plunged earthwards, and con-, tinued in a steep dive until a trail of blue smoke proclaimed that the rush of air. l>v revolving the screw, had started the engine. A few minutes after the dropping tost the thrilling attaching test was made. The aeroplane flew along l>elow the; 1U33. which was then cruising at more than 40 miles an hoi'.r. "The aeroplane drew (near the trapeze, and Squadron Leader 'Hairr increased his speed. At the last ■ momes* he swung its nose upwards and the spring clip engaged with the trapeze. At the same moment the air-screw fouled one of the wires running to the trapeze and splintered. The machine. 1 lurched dizzily and tipped forward, but Squadron Leader Haig. rapidly operating his controls, levelled it, and immediately released the spring clip. He glided down to the aerodrome at a very slow speed owing to the possibility that the. aeroplane might be seriously dam- ' aged. Upon examination, however, it

was found that the air-screw alone had l>een affected. The.test has proved that the launchins gear of the R33 is correctly designed. The mishap was due to the lack of practical experience, a?id not/ to any fault in the principle of operation adopted. It is possible, however, that the apparatus will be slightly, modified in the light of experience. A Previous Disaster. The satisfactory result of the experiment of dropping an aeroplane must have been, a greater relief to the minds of all concerned than many have generally imagined. Outside the, Air Force it is almost forgotten that a similar exjieriment met with disastrous consequences in the early days of the war, whjen it was attempted by two officers from the Royal Naval Air Service station near Chatham. The release of the 'plane took effect only at one end of it, the remainder maintaining its position until the tackle gave way, unable to bear the entire weight. Both officers were jerked out of the machine, and lost their lives. . ,