NEW AIRCRAFT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23080, 4 July 1938, Page 8

NEW AIRCRAFT

LAEGE BRITISH OEDEEgI FIGHTERS AND BOMBEItfB SPECIALISED MACHINES I from olte own correspondent] LONDON. June u ' Large orders for single-engined and twin-engined trainer monoplanes, gating several times the size of ordeirj placed with two American companies, are announced by the Air Ministry. Three of the newer companies in the professional aircraft industry—Aj r . speed, Phillips and Powis, and Percival —receive the major share of the new trainer contracts. Vt. , Three types of aircraft are concerned —the Airspeed Oxford twin-engined: monoplane, the Phillips and. Powij Miles-Kestrel (world's fastest trainer) and the Miles Magister light' trainer. The Oxford is a shapely lew-win* monoplane designed, for the rapid and ; thorough instruction of Royal Air Force i crews in operating the high-perform-ance multi-engined warplanes which . they will be called upon to fly in the squadrons. It has retractile under- - carriage, wing-flaps, and slotted ailerons to facilitate control, take-off and land inc. V "Blind" and Night Flying Gear Two Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah X 350 horsepower air-cooled engines may be fitted with controllable-piteh airscrews. Internal equipment includes complete "blind" and night flying gear; radio sender and receiver, associated with direction-finding apparatus; electrically operated camera; two gun positions;" and bomb-airriing and launching gear. . r Among the instructional duties for which it is intended are navigation. high and low altitude bombing, air gunnery, aerial photography, and all* branches of the pilotage .of modern twin-engined aircraft. . Loaded to a gro3s weight of 73001b the Oxford's speed is 185 miles an hour at 7500 ft. Using only 61 per cent of the available engine power it cruises at 161 miles an hour at 10,000 ft. Its endurance at 10,000 ft. is five and a-half hours —equivalent to 880 miles—-plus a quarter of an hour with_ the engines running at full throttle in the climb to operational height. In less than 17 minutes from take-off, the Oxford may be flying at 15,000 ft. Its "service" ceil ing is 23,000 ft. Swiltest Trainer in the World The Miles-Kestrel has a Rolls-Royce Kestrel XVI liquid-cooled engine, which gives a maximum output of 745 horse power. Flying at a height of 16,500 ft., ! it maintains a maximum level speed of I over 290 miles an hour —easily the swift jest trainer in the world. | Something of this outstanding per I formance on the power available is .to | be attributed to the cunning install* ! tion of the Kestrel engine and the efficient "low resistance" cooling duct for the water and lubricating oil systems. The equipment carried provides for full flying instruction, including; "blind' flying; radio navigation; aerial phcrto graphv; bombing; and fighting tactics I Alternatively, the Miles-Kestrel maj ibe a two-seat fighter, a multi-gun l single-seat fighter, or a "general pur pose" military aircraft: The machine gun and camera gun may be fitted _in ) the wings, and a rear gun-turret installed. The speed-range, with a grossweight of more than 50001b., is approxi mately 5 to L The normal cruising speed is 250 miles an hour. The "ser vice" ceiling is in the neighbourhood j of 30,000 ft. The Magister, well-known in Zealand, is a two-seat open cockpit craft, powered with a de Havifla® j Gipsy Major 130 horsepower ; is used for elementary training. English Resources Supplemented Placed as a temporary measure t meet early requirements of the net t expansion programme, the orders to tfc- ' United States for 200 trainer and 200 "general reconnaissance" aircraft leave the main British constructors to that extent the freer to concentrate on thf machines that matter —the highlj specialised high-performance lighten and bombers which constitute military strength. The orders do not mean that thf home industry has failed, but, cot fronted with the need for another enor mous jump in quantity, the Government explored the possibility of supplement j ing English resources during tie next few months. w}iile the home industij I j is working up to a new peak of output