EMPIRE AIRCRAFT

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 August 1938, Page 2

EMPIRE AIRCRAFT

LUXURIOUS NEW LANDPLANES

Tin- Ensign, first of a fleet of 21-ton landplane air liners ordered bx Imperial Airways for European and Empire routes, has finished at. Mattlesham Heath —1 andpl a n e. ex.p er imen t a 1 station of the Royal Air I 1 orce- the severe ami exhaustive official F' sts that govern the issue of a certificate of airworthiness for a new type of aeroplane. The Egeria, second aircraft of the same class, is in the hands of the engineers for final adjustments. The two new liners are scheduled •to go into service shortly. They will be succeeded by 12 similar craft, to finish a. contract, worth approximately £750,f100 for 14 of these high-wing monoplanes, the largest landplane air liners to be commissioned.

The Ensign contract, is one of contracts for aeroplanes of an aggregate value of £3,500,000, which have been placed by Imperial Airways since the beginning of 1935. These orders concern, in addition to 14 Ensigns. 31 Short Empire (or

“C" Class) flying-boats; eight Empire flying-boats l ; eight Empire-flying boats modified to carry extra load and intended for long trans-ocean passages; three much larger flying-boats provisionally styled the “C” Class development type: the Short-Mayo “composite aircraft"; three de Ha villa nd Albatross monoplanes, and seven Diana, (D.H..56) biplanes. 'fhe Ensign was designed and built by Sir W. G. Armstrong. Whitworth Aircraft. Limited. It is made entirely of metal except for the fabric covering of relatively unstressed portions of the wings. The cantilever wings, which measure 123 feet from tip to tip. are metal-covered as far backs as the single main, spar and the streamlined fuselage is a monoeoque metal stressed-skin shell.

Split-trailing-edge flaps, extending between ailerons (lateral controls) and fuselage, reduce the landingspeed and aid take-off. Four Armstrong Eiddeley Tiger air-cooled radial engines aggregating more than 3.600 h.p. provide power. They drive metal three •hladed controllable-pitch aii-screws. The spacious fuselage holds three rooniy cabins and a promenade from the. windows of which passengers may watch the changing scene below. Seating is available for 40 passengers in the European craft. WILL SEAT 27. The Ensigns attached to the Empire services. which must allocate more space to mail load, will seat. 27 and provide sleeping accommodation for 20. The crow numbers five — captain, first officer, radio operator, flight clerk, and steward. The cruising speed is 165-170 miles an hour and the maximum speed in, the neighbourhood of 200 miles. The “ceiling" fully loaded to nearly 21 tons is approximately 20,000 ft. The take-off in still air is achieved in only 20 seconds. The normal range in still air is about SOO miles. Immense landing wheels, each 61ft in diameter, are used in the retractible undercarriage, which is the largest yet. built. The interior decoration and furniture appointments of the air liner are planned on luxury lines.

Special attention lias gone to the elimination of noise from the passenger quarters. Furthermore, rhe high-wing monoplane design gives passengers an uninterrupted downward view, a detail much favoured by experienced air travellers.

Eight. Ensigns are destined for use on tlie Indian route. The annual load of mails io bo transported from India is estimated at 211 tons, which represents approximately four-fifths of a. ton by each scheduled air service. Greatly reduced air mail carriage costs to the Indian Exchequer are expected from the commissioning of the now craft and Hie- reorganised services.

An important rearrangement of the Indian internal routes is planned. Indian. Transconi mental Airways will cease to operate between Karachi and Singapore. The company's operation will bo transferred to the England-Calcutta services, of which they will operate half in conjunction with Imperial Airways. For i his purpose Indian Transcontinental Airways will buy lour Ensigns. '.rhv company's capital will be I reblcd. The new air liners will increase four-fold the working capacity of the Indian 750JW0 lon-miles to 3JK10.000 lon-miles a year.