AVIATION NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19802, 29 May 1926, Page 12

AVIATION NOTES.

THE TAILLESS AEROPLANE THREE YEARS’ RESEARCH. SIMPLER, SYSTEM OF CONTROL.

(Fboh Ouk Own Correspondent.) LONDON, April 23. For (he past three years, aided by the Government, Captain G. T. R. Hill, M.G-, A.F.R.Ac.S.*, has been carrying out experiments with the purpose of building an aeroplane which is comparatively free from stalling. His experiments and investigations have been remarkable, and it is claimed that an advance has been made which can be compared only with the invention of the Auto-gyro by Senor de la Cierva, or the first flight of tire W right brothers in 1903. In the course of a lecture before tbe Royal Aeronautical Society, Captain Hill revealed for the first time the full results of his achievements. It has been bis aim to produce a type of heavier-than-air machine which, should its pilot commit some error of judgment while aloft, will not get out of hand, “stall,” and come crashing to the ground. Captain Hill, a well-known pilot, described some of the 21 flights ho himself has made in his “flying lizard” —which is driven by quite a low-powered engine—at the flying ground of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Fartiborough. He calls his new tailless mancarrying air machine the “Pterodactyl,” from its resemblance to one of the extinct tailless flying lizards. In his address he said that, being faced with the fact that about 50 lives were being lost—and he believed were still being lost—in the Royal Air Force every year and that a large proportion of the accidents were due to a loss of control in the air, he set himself to try to design an aeroplane which would never, through an error by the pilot, get out of control. He detailed the steps he took and the help he received from the Aeronautical Research Committee, the Royal Aircraft Establishment, and the Air Ministry towards the evolution of an aeroplane which had no tail but used a sweptback wing with controllers at the two tipsThe aim was to secure a wing with a stationary centre of pressure and a system ot control which showed no marked division between stalled and normal flight. He pointed out that the tailless aeroplane had been flown and had been under control at large angles to the flight path, up to 45 degrees, a performance never approached by any normal tvpe of aeroplane, and that it had the further advantage that it could be built tor a percentage structure weight smaller than normal. Its design also made it possible to revert to the pusher type of aeroplane without loss of performance, and would facilitate improvements in the general arrangements of flying-boats. A SELF-FLYER. Taking it up into the air, Captain Hill let go all the controls, and allowed the machine to fly itself, which it did with perfect steadiness. Then, providing himself with a parachute in case of emergencies, he tried to put the machine into such a mid-air “stall” as has been the cause of tho majority of aeroplane accidents. But the “Pterodactyl’ fulfilled his expectations by refusing to stall. When its forward sjtcod was reduced to a point at which ordinary aircraft would get out of hand, and either side-slip or dive, all that this tailess machine would do was to lose height a little, while remaining under good control. And then, at a touch upon its levers, restoring normal speed, it flow ahead as if nothing had happened. Captain Hill is now to tost, on a large scale, what he has proved with his first small “living lizard.” He considers that when certain minor improvements have been effected tho system of control of his tailless craft —the flight of which is governed mainly bv movable surfaces at tho tips of its single swept-back wingwill be better than that of any air machine at present in use.

LIGHT AEROPLANE COMPETITION. Two-eeater light aeroplanes will engage in a novel form of competition at Lympue Aerodrome between September 10 and 18. According to the regulations issued by the Royal Aero Club, the judges will decide the winner of the competition not by noting which machine completes the 2000 miles course in the shortest time, but by determining which machine has extracted the greatest amount of useful work from every ounce of petrol it has used. The machine which carries the greatest useful load per weight unit of fuel consumed will receive the first prize of £SOOO. The second prize is £ISOO, and the third prize is £SOO. These prizes are being presented by the proprietors of tue Daily Mail. A prize of 200 guineas for a race on handicap over a 100 miles course is being given by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. The competition is intended to devclon the type of light aeroplane suitable for the ownerpilot. Apart from the conditions that the engine must not weigh more than 1701 b inclusive, that the eroplano must be fitted with dual control, and that it must be capable of being folded and housed in a shed 10ft wide and 10ft high, no direct restrictions are placed upon design.