PARACHUTES FOR AEROPLANES

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 109, 4 November 1925, Page 9

PARACHUTES FOR AEROPLANES

NEW MACHINE-GUN

(fSOM OOK O\TH CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 3rd September.-

The death of three Flying officers as a consequence of a collision in the air again draws attention to the urgent need for equipping all aeroplanes with parachutes.

The Irving parachute,, which has been chosen as ' standard equipment by the Air Ministry, serves as a cushion during flight, and is. rapid and automatic in action in' an emergency. Most of the parachutes already issued to the Air Force are being used to train pilots in parachute work, though it. may be that an appliance which works so easily would be put to better use if at. once fitted to machines as an emergency precaution, irrespective of the pilot's parachute experience. "The Air Ministry has already stated in the Houße of Commons," said an offical in an interview, "that it is the policy of the Ministry to equip all_ aeroplanes with parachutes. The decision to do this, however, is a comparatively recent one, arid some time must necessarily elapse before it can be completely carried out. Meanwhile, the • manufacturers are being pressed to expedite the delivery of supplies. The number of flying accidents at Home and abroad since the beginning of the present year is twenty-six, and the number of deaths thirty-three. .During last year there were thirty-eight accidents, which involved fifty-six deaths. The Air Ministry Hopes to reduce the figures still, further." .

BULLET SPRAY

A remarkable' form' of single-seater aeroplane gun mounting, which sprays bullets as the sprinkling-nozzle of a hose, sprays water, is being considered ,by v air, tacticians .with: a view to fitting it'>to nome'defence aircraft.l; ..-.- ". ■'

The original idea for this-gun mount, ing emanated from a pilot in the R.F.C. A sheaf of. .three . machine-guns,, with their barrels" lying parallel, is "arranged on the aeroplane. While 1 they are being fired, the guns automatically open. and close,; like the legs of a tripod stand. The range of movement is small. The effect is to send an alternately expanding and contracting core of bullets towards the target, and so, it is claimed, to increase thei chances of a hit when the shooing conditions are difficult.. The original Eman mount was fitted to the top plane of a machine in order to avoid the complications of synchronising the guns for. firing between the "airscrew blades.

SAFETY FIRST

Safety, comfort, and reliability were the true essentials in civil aviationj said Mr. ;R. V. Southwell, speaking at the British Association Conference, and until these could 'be guaranteed- it would have attractions only for the few. High speed', beside being very costly, militated against all three; the lower we could afford to make the top speed of an aeroplane the lower would be its landing speed, on which primarily safety depended. An air speed of anything over eighty miles an hour would suffice to achiave a saving of time over other forms of transport; and, once established as economic and reliable, .the aeroplane or airship .would have ' hardly a competitor. Was not research, therefore, justified in its policy, of placing safety first, in seeking to satisfy rather than create a demand? The wildest of all aeronautical predictions ■ was that which prophesied the giant aeroplane. Without asserting that we had reached a limit in size, materials, or new types of engines, he nevertheless declared that it was idle to talk gaily of size as an advantage which nothing but our ignorance, withheld from our grasp to-day.

As tins country had embarked' on a definite programme of two large ships, surely common-sense suggested, that we ought,'for the next-two years, to leave the-'design staffs in peace to do their best. Silence on their. part while their plans developed was a mark of health.

85,. Fleet street.