MAYO COMPOSITE AIRCRAFT

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22231, 23 October 1937, Page 9

MAYO COMPOSITE AIRCRAFT

* FIRST FLIGHT TO BE MADE SHORTLY SAFEGUARDS AGAINST ACCIDENT IN SEPARATING (FROM OL-B OWK COHEESPONDEKT.) LONDON. October 2. The first experiment is to be made shortly in flying the Mayo composite aircraft and separating the two components in the air. The pilot of one of the machines is Mr H. L. Piper, formerly of Christchureh. The composite machine will take off with Mercury firmly attached on top of Maia, and all eight engines working. Mr Lankester Parker will pilot the Maia and will control the combined machines. Mr Piper will pilot the Mercury, but his controls will be locked until the separation takes place. While the machines are attached the two pilots will be able to communicate with each other. It is expected that the separation will take place between 5000 and 7000 feet up To prevent a collision immediately after the two have separated elaborate safeguards have been provided. The machines will remain locked until Mercury begins to lift on its own account and to drag Maia upwards. Gauges will tell both pilots when the necessary degree of lift is in operation, and the separation will take place in three stages. First Parker will pull and release the Maia. and then Piper will release the Mercury; but there will remain an automatic coupling, and if at the critical moment Mercury loses any of its lift this coupling will hold. Only if Mercury continues to rise will the automatic coupling be released and the two machines will then fly clear of each other.