BENEATH THE WINDSOCK

Evening Star, Issue 21037, 26 February 1932, Page 3

BENEATH THE WINDSOCK

[By Gipsy Moth.]

DOINGS AT THE ’DROME. Congratulations to the Otago Aero Club on winning the Wigram Cup at the official South Island pageant at Invercargill. Don Campbell and Owen Jones are also deserving of congratulations for the points they gained. * • • * The plane that was damaged at Invercargill has now been repaired, and has been working at Oamani under the new instructor. Flight Lieutenant Park. • * * * A stunt exhibition and field day will be held at the aerodrome on Saturday

afternoon, when both Flying Officer Olsen and Flight Lieutenant Park will give exhibitions of crazy and stunt flying. ♦ * ♦ * On Sunday afternoon the ’drome was visited by twelve planes that were returning north from the Invercargill pageant. There was a Government Puss Moth, a Tom-tit, a Government Moth, and nine other Moths. Among tho passengers was Colonel . Hargest, M.P., who travelled to _ Wellington for the parliamentary session. The planes took north several bags of mail that could not be taken through by train owing to the flood damage. MEETING OF GLIDERS. A general meeting of those interested in gliding will be held in the R.S.A. Clubroom on Monday evening at 7.45. A LOW-WING LIGHT MONOPLANE. Enterprise typical of the spirit underlying this rise of Great Britain to the leading place among tho world’s aircraft exporting nations marks the imaginative development plans of the De Haviland Company, a section of which was disclosed a day or two ago. _ Not content with the ibuilding of light monoplanes and biplanes which are world famous and have sold in greater numbers than any comparable craft, the company is experimenting with three or tour new types of aircraft, while,,the “Gipsy ” range of aircooled power units is to be augmented by an entirely new inverted motor. Tho first of tho new experimental craft to be completed is a low-wing monoplane, numbered 81 in the D.H. series and styled the “ Sw’allow Moth,” and Mr H. S. Broad, the firm’s chief test pilot, has already taken it aloft for several trial flights. The new inverted engine, called provisionally the “ Gipsy 1V.,” provides the power, and the airframe design includes many novel features introduced to improve aerodynamical efficiency and to simplify control of the machine in flight and on tho ground. Two or three other light planes are also being developed, one of them a biplane, and no- decision may be expected for twelve months or so as to which of the designs will be adopted for production. Rumours that the new machine might be sold at a very low price have no foundation. The market at present does not permit the aircraft constructor to put down batches of thousands of light aeroplanes at a time, and- there is little likelihood of any very great drop in price for some time to come. Tho “ Gipsy 1V.,” developing at normal engine speed around 80 h.p., promises well. Great care was taken in design to tuck away all potentially untidy components, such as oil pipes, and the result is an engine able to compare with the most “ box-like ” of motor car units. A WEEK OF BRITISH FLYING NEWS. Dramatic changes in world transport and communications are foreshadowed in the building on the banks of the River Medway at Rochester, Kentj of a slipway where flying boats larger than any yet to take tho air may bo erected and launched. Aided by tho extensive development of metal construction methods which have removed limitations inevitably prevailing when wood was the material on which the aircraft builder chiefly depended, flying boat designers have planned during tho last few years craft worthy indeed to bo styled “ flying ships,” and there is no indication that tno process of growth is yet ended. Two air boats now under construction in British factories will each weigh when fully loaded no less than 30 to 35 tons, and considerably larger vessels, up to 90 to 100 tons, are contemplated.

Flying machines of this order or size cannot bo erected inside the largest sheds. Their over-all height from keel to the top of the superstructure is too great. Already tho company responsible for the new slipway, Messrs Short Brothofs (incidentally one of the oldest firms in tho British industry) has had difficulty in building big three-engined boats with a gross weight of eighteen tons inside the biggest shed at the Rochester works.

In future tho hull of new flying ships will bo constructed within tho hangar, and the work of erection, including attachment of tho superstructure of wings, power plant installation, and so forth, done on the slipway, from which tho big machine will ultimately bo launched. Thus one branch of aeronautical engineering is fast coming to resemble marine construction, and flying boat “ yards ” promise soon to rank with tho shipyards. From the aircraft slipways will move a succession of big craft, able to cruise thousands of miles non-stop and to carry a heavy load swiftly and safely along tho world’s sea routes. In the perfection of these big marine aircraft lies perhaps the greatest promise for the future of long-distance airways. More efficient and faster than tho airship, they should be able to operate regular services all over the world before many more years have elapsed.

SPEED AND THE MODERN AEROCAR. Light planes maintained unusually high speeds in a fifty miles handicap) race round the Isle of Thanet on Saturday, although heavy rain and strong winds complicated matters. The winner, Mr G. A, Pennington, who is a Hying instructor at the Blackpool airport, averaged no less than 128 miles an hour in a Puss Moth cabin monoplane, while Mr E. W. Perceival, the scratch man, was timed over the circuit in 135 miles an hour. Equally notable, when allowance is made for the difference in price of the machines, was the achievement of Mr L. M. j. Balfour, a private owner, who got round at 117 m.p.ln in his standard Gipsy Moth biplane. ’ ’ A startling comment on these speeds, attained as a matter of course by tho present-day air tourer, is implied in the speeds reached by winners of the Schneider Trophy contest only a few years ago. Thus in 1920 an Italian pilot was victorious at 107 m.p.h.; a year later the average crept up to nearly 118 m.p.h.; and even in 1922 Captain Baird had only to maintain 145.7 miles an hour in his speciallybuilt racing flying boat to - win. At that time some land planes were undoubtedly faster than the ,seaplanes which contested the Schneider Trophy; but even among land machines 150 m.p.h. was accounted very fast indeed. Loss than ten years afterwards the standard British light monoplanes are reaching comparable speeds. FLYING SIX MILES HIGH. NEW GERMAN AEROPLANE. . Aeroplanes flying at heights of over six miles, which cqn reach much higher speeds than existing machines, are being constructed at the famous Junkers works at Dessau, Germany. Already the first airplane to be used for research in this work has been constructed with the assistance of the German Institute of Research in Air Communication dnd the scientific Notgemeinscliaft. The mysterious guns of the German army, bombarding Paris at a distance

of soventy-fivo miles, were the first practical application of tlio decidedly lower resistance of the “ stratosphere,” that tenuous layer of the atmosphere lying above a height of six miles. The chief aim of the new machine is to roach high altitudes and to find paths which can be used as regular aeroplane trade routes.

The now machine is not built for high speed or Jong flights, since it is regarded as an experimental laboratory for tho study of the special conditions prevailing in the stratosphere. High speed can easily he attained at these heights. Recording rockets and balloons have been previously used to explore the stratosphere.

According to ‘ Science Service,’ the aeroplane is a Junkers metal deep-deck, single-motored machine of GOft wing breadth and 9,0001 b weight. A small compressor keeps the air pressure normal for tho men within tho cabin, which is double-walled and airtight. Control of the motors and steering is done by levers in tho cabin working in airtight shafts. The motor itself is of a special typo, and has an air pump to supply enough air from the thin air at these heights. On tho basis of experiments with the machine a new iyr pump will be designed for altitudes up to ten miles. A large installation of scientific instruments forms the equipment.

DANGER IN FLYING. OVER-CONFIDENT AMATEURS. Aviation l is not inherently dangerous, but the air, to an even greater extent than the sea, “ is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity, or neglect.” Captain A. G. Lamplugh, F.R.Ae.S., of the British Aviation Insurance Group, one of the greatest authorities on flying accidents in the world, expressed this opinion in a lecture to the Royal Aeronautical Society. He gave some hitherto unpublished statistics of aviation accidents showing that in Great Britain, France, Germany, and the United States “ emn;s of judgment ” have since January, 1928, been responsible for at least half the accidents. ' In the same period structural or mechanical breakdown causes have declined to about 20 per cent. Captain Lamplugh lias worked out the danger periods in the pilot’s career. Among professionals it is in the early twenties. Between the ages of thirty and forty the professional pilot’s expectation of life appears to be good as compared with any other class of pilot. It is distressing to find the number of fatal and serious accidents to amateur pilots caused through over-confi-dence, inadequate training, carelessness, or deliberate foolhardiness. The danger periods are between twenty and thirty hours’ experience, between eighty and 120 hours, and between 500 and 600 hours. The last period is not easy to account for except on the assumption that the pilot has acquired a reasonable degree of perfection, but has not yet learned that no amount of skill will avail against the elements in certain conditions. “ Error of judgment ’’ is a declining factor, but for the amateur class of pi lot it declines very slowly, and this is due to the great increase in the number of inexperienced private owners. Faulty navigation in the professional class is responsible for only 2.84 per cent, of accidents, whilst in the amateur class it accounts for 11.37 per cent. Structural failure has been a bigger cause of accident to big aircraft abroad than in this country, but in all countries light aircraft have suffered more

from this cause, especially when flown by amateur pilots, and no doubt unskilful handling and lack of skilful inspection have been chiefly responsible. Captain Lamplugh emphasised the need for skilled instruction.

Among many uncommon causes of accidents Captain Lamplugh mentioned the switching on of cabin lights at tho moment of landing, tho reflection on tho windscreen blinding the pilot. Another is . abandonment of aircraft in parachute without sufficient reason or parachute consciousness.” _ , Captain Lamplugh looks for improvement through higher training standards and careful selection of instructors and improvements in traffic control.

BRITAIN’S WOMEN PILOTS,

Official figures obtained recently show that women pilots hold at present 112 Air Ministry “ A ” licenses, entitling the holder to pilot an aeroplane outside the' immediate precincts of an aerodrome—in other words, the usual badge of proficiency of the trained private flyer—and that five women possess the “ B ” license, granted only after the aspirant has done a considerable amount of Hying and has gained technical and mechanical knowledge which permits the holder to fly as a commercial pilot for hire or reward. One of the “B ” licensees, Miss Winifred

[Spooner, also holds a second class, aircraft navigator’s “ ticket.” Four of the women granted the “ B ” license are also included in the “ A ” license total, and the total number of women pilots in Great Britain to-day is therefore 113. A number have lapsed, the figures for “ A ” and “ B ” licenses issued to women by the Air Ministry since the system came into fdree showing a total of 142.