POLAR AIR SERVICE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 58, 6 September 1937, Page 10

POLAR AIR SERVICE

FORESEEN BY RUSSIANS MOSCOW-TRISCO FLIGHT UNUSUAL AEROPLANE "Hero of the Soviet Union" is the official title enjoyed by each -of the Soviet airmen who 'were engaged in the flight to San Francisco via the North Pole, wrote Lucien Zacharoff in the "New York Times." Yet heroics and stunts are rigidly ruled out of Soviet aeronautical work, which is perhaps the reason why it has been able to register its notable triumphs of the past two years. Neither personal ambition nor national pride is permitted to enter into such enterprises •as the recent landing of a scientific expeditionary force at the Pole. In that instance, it was made clear that not a few hours' call, as in the case of explorers from other countries, was the aim, but a prolonged stay for a thorough study of the oceanography and meteorology of Arctica in the interests of world scienfie. In the light of this attitude it may be well to regard the present flight of Valeri Chkaloff, Georgi Baidukoff, and Alexander Beliakoff as something with deeper implications than a mere attempt to Capture the world's nonstop record. It is expected that this venture is preparation for a regular transpolar airline between the Uniled States and the Soviet Union. Just as last summer, when the trio established e.g uaofficial record in the same machine with a non-stop jaunt on the Moscow-Arctic Ocsan-Kam-chatka-Nikolaevsk-or. the-Amur route ! in 56 hours 20 minutes for 5352 miles, the latest flight has practical implications. Last year's trip was another forward step in the Soviet's conquest and assimilation of the vast Arctic territories, rich in natural resources. ■

A PIONEERING STEP.

This visit to America may be a pioneering step in 'the establishment of mail, freight, and passenger communications by air in the most time-saving manner available. It is too early to attempt a com-1 plete evaluation of the feat, but certain lessons from it are already emerging. The many hours of flying at high altitudes over the polar expanse, passage over unexplored sections of the world, overcoming and studying various weather phenomena and ob- j stacles, observation of the behaviour of ■ the plane, instruments and other equipment in use under rapidly-1 changing conditions, the technique of J pilotage involved, checking the pre-1 limiriary theoretical, expectations, and | the reactions of the .human organism to the unique experience are all involved in such an adventure. Not the least important factor is the aircraft used. Because the same plane was chosen by the three last year and this year the single-engined low-wing monoplane ANT2S is of particular significance. Exhibited at the Paris Aviation Show last fall, it attracted more attention from experts and laymen than any other commercial type. Of all-metal construction, its design was characterised as "daring" by a number of foreign specialists who examined it. ' ... The United States aviation industry is long and favourably acquainted with the various other, * creations of Professor A. N. Tupoleff, who designed the ANT2S, which was built at the Central Aero Hydrodynamics Institute in Moscow. The plane is 44ft long and 18ft high. Its wing spread is 122 ft, wing area 946.8 square feet, weight empty 92401b, wing loading 26.241b to the square foot, power loading 26.41b per horse-power, maximum speed 150 miles per hour, duration of flight 100 hours. Professor Tupoleff contends that the wings are one of the most noteworthy features of the ANT2S. "It may be asserted with complete certainty," he said, "that in no other country, among planes' of analogous classification, is there a machine with so great a prolongation. The necessity of substantially increasing the range of the ship's action compelled us to construct such a wing.". Another notable point, about the wings is that they carry huge fuel tanks, each 21 feet long. Fitted into the wing so as not to interfere with its shape, these fuel tanks are made so much a part of th,e wing that they help to carry the load. Professor Tupoleoff explained:— "The location of the fuel tanks in the wings is of great assistance in making the ship sturdy. Here is why: The wings of a'heavily-loaded machine . undergo great stress in flight under the action of the aero-dynamic forces directed upward. The' force of the fuel's weight is directed downward and thus lessens this stress." j The engineers charged with the task of designing and building this wing encountered a number of technical contradictions. Their problem was to create a large but light wing. The menace of possible vibration arose. To make the wing heavy only for the sake of sturdiness was out of the question. In the quest of the medium models were tested in the wind tunnel. At last Professor V. Vetchinkin and Engineer V. Beliayeff evolved the present faultless theoretical calculation of vibration. Engineer N. Lebedeff of the institute revealed that although the ANT2S is a land plane, special elements incorporated into it enable it to remain on the surface in the event of a forced landing 'on water. The difficult technical problem was solved by placing in the forward part of the spacious wings air-filled compartments.

A GOOD ENGINE.

A factpr contributing to the triumphs of the ANT2S and other Soviet aircraft striving for supremacy in speed, distance, and altitude flying is the M-34 engine built at the Frunze plant, although originally developed at the Central Institute for Aviation Motor-1 building. It has 950 horse-power and weighs 14301b. It is a two-row, Vshaped power plant of block construction. The crankshaft, of chrome-nickel steel, has six elbows, with an angle of 120 degrees between them. Because of the specially trying conditions under which the M-34 engine, designed by A. A. Mikulin, flies, the Frunze engineers were called upon to introduce maximum economy into its construction. This was achieved by adjusting £he engine and the carburettor to work with a thinned mixlure. Ordinarily such an arrangement creates the danger of burned-out valves, but a special treatment of the valves as well as the presence of steel saddles obviates this hazard. Numerous tests under conditions approximating those of the flight have been conducted with the engine. During one test it worked on a thinned mixture for 200 hours without an interruption. ' . , Many Soviet aviation officials, ■scientists, explorers, and others are beginning to talk in earnest of transPolar aerial conimunication. Professor Otto J. Schmidt, who only a few weeks ago led the party which established a permanent North Pole camp, commented on the work of the three some time ago, as follows:— "In order to appraise correctly such flying, we must renounce the ordinary conceptions induced by ordinary geographic maps. Instead of a map one must take a model of the globe in

his hands. Only a globe reveals graphically one decisive peculiarity of aviation, namely, that it is not bound by any roads, but chooses its routes on the basis of the shortest distance.between two points on this planet. "The globe also reveals the extraordinary role of the Arctic in the great flights of the near future. It turns out that the shortest route between Moscow and Chicago, or beween London and Tokio, traverses tjhe polar country, while the Moscow-San Francisco route passes directly' over the Pole."