BENEATH THE WINDSOCK

Evening Star, Issue 22892, 25 February 1938, Page 3

BENEATH THE WINDSOCK

by Gypsy moth

ROUND-THE-WORLD SERVICE. “An all-red flying-boat service around the world will probably be an established fact within the nest two or three years,” said Mr S. A. Dismore, assistant general manager of Imperial Airways, who arrived by a Qantas plane recently on his way to Brisbane, where he will discuss the Australian end of the flying-boat service. “ It is of national concern that isolated parts of the Empire should be united by air, but there will have to b© a greater measure of co-operation between the various units of the Empire before this is brought about,” he said. . ... “ As regards the Pacific, it will only be a few years before British flying boats are in the air over that ocean. The Atlantic service is next to be inaugurated; and after that is operating smoothly it will be time for the Pacific service.” Mr Dismore admitted that plans for such a Pacific service were already in existence, but he declined to state whether Canada or the United States would be the terminal of that service between Australia and America. • “ There is bound to be a downward trend in fares in the near future,” said Mr Dismore, “ but it will naturally depend on the quantity of freight and mail carried until the size of these boats is increased. More mail and freight are carried on outward planes from England to Australia than on the return trip, and consequently there is a greater amount of space available for passengers on the homeward run. “ The lid outward postage will apply as soon as the flying-boat service is commenced, but the abolition of the surcharge on Australian letters addressed to England is, of course, a matter for your Government. There has been no surcharge on letters sent from England to South Africa for the past six months.” Discussing the delay in the commencement of the Australian flyingboat service, Mr Dismore said that he I was not aware of the real reasons for the delay, but the hold-up had Keen “ very worrying ” to Imperial Airways. Mr Dismore will remain in Australia for a month, during which time he will visit Sydney.

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF. History certainly does repeat itself, says “ Flight.” Some of the early aeroplanes bad wheels in front and wheels' behind; Mr Cody, of unforgettable memory, even put wheels on his wing tips, and one German pioneer beat them all by putting wheels above Ins wings so that the machine could land just as well upside down 1 That was in the days when we were mainly concerned with getting aeroplanes into the air and did not worry over much about drag. But as soon as aero engines got to the point of running for half an hour or so without packing up, r/e began to realise that the aeroplane was everlastingly climbing up a hill in one in five or so, and that if we could, by suppressing drag-producing members, increase the ratio of lift-drag to 10:1, the machine would be climbing a hill only half as steep. With that realisation came the “ axe.” Every strut and wire that was not absolutely essential was removed. That this operation was not altogether superfluous will be realised when wo recall that one or the early Dunne tailless machines was said to have 27 struts in its undercarriage (we cannot guarantee the figure, as we never had the time _ to count them); and who of the old-timers does not remember the so-called canary test? Gradually the skids disappeared, the wires were reduced in number, and the'orthodox type of aeroplane became the tractor biplane, with one or two bays according to span, and with vee undercarriage struts and cross axle. The next step was the retractable undercarriage. Speeds had gone up to the point where to tolerate an undercarriage drag of perhaps one-sixth of the total was not to be thought of. The result we see all round us-at the present time: the low-wing cantilever monoplane with two or four engines and the wheels retracting into the engine nacelles. But the two-wheel undercarriage brought with it certain disadvantages; these had almost come to be accepted as inevitable until a few bright lads remembered that there was something to be said for the undercarriages of the early aeroplanes. By burying them the extra drag does not matter, and so we are now threatened with a spate of retractable tricycles. How great importance is attached to this subject is illustrated by the fact that one British firm has stated that it considers the abandonment of,the low-wing type justified in order to provide a neater retracting three-wheeled undercarriage in a high-wing lay-out.