High-Speed Machine

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 71, 25 March 1936, Page 3

High-Speed Machine

DUAL PURPOSE AIRCRAPT. INGENIOUS LANDING GEAR. SYDNEY, March 7. Considerable interest has been aroused in Australian aviation circles by the Fairchild high-speed amphibian machine which arrived, partially dismantled, in Brisbane last week, and is being assembled for use by the American Museum of Natural History ’s research expedition to the Fly river, New Guinea. When, the machine, the revolutionary appearance of which has caused much comment, was undergoing its tests in America, it was stated in Aero Digest that its production had followed an unprecedented amount of aerodynamic research, in which the New York University collaborated with the factory’s chief designing- engineer. The general specifications show that the machine lias- a carrying capacity of eight passengers and two pilots, 180 gallons of fuel (giving a range at cruising speed of 750 miles), and 10001 b. of freight. With a 650 h.p. Pratt and Whitney engine the machine has a maximum speed of 184 miles an hour at 3000 ft., and a cruising speed of 158 miles an hour when using only 65 per cent, of available power. The engine is mounted well above the' wings and the nacelle is streamlined and filleted into the top of the wing centre in a most ingenious fashion. Considerable ingenuity has also been employed in the arrangement of the retractable landing gear. When alighting on land the main landing wheels and tail -wheel are in normal position, but when the machine is in flight or about to descend on water, the landing wheels and shock absorber struts are folded neatly backwards and upwards into recesses an the under side of the wings, while the tail wheel dis appears into the aft part of the huli. The lavish electric system of the aeroplane is utilised to operate all of the retracting mechanism for landing wheels, tail wheel, and wing floats. A single hand-operated crank is installed for operating any of the mechanisms ir. case of emergency.