FLYING NOTES

Southland Times, Issue 23026, 21 October 1936, Page 16

FLYING NOTES

HIGH SPEED FIGHTERS

(By

“Contact.”)

On Saturday last the South Otago Aero Club was fortunate in having favourable weather for its field day, which was held at Tuapeka Mouth. Four machines from Otago and four from Southland, including Mr Bradshaw’s Puss Moth, attended and both the bombing and landing competitions which were held during the day were won by Southland pilots. In the evening the visitors were entertained at a dance held in the local hall and as there was no accommodation available at Tuapeka Mouth, novel billeting arrangements were made by one of the local farmers. The Southland Aero Club machines were piloted by Flight-Lieutenant Smith, Flying-Officer Gilkison, Mr W. Adam and Mr R. Knowles, who continued his trip to Christchurch, accompanied by Mr W. McKeon as passenger. A busy day was experienced at the Southland Club’s aerodrome on Sunday, a large number of trainees having dual instruction with Flight-Lieutenant Smith. The Fox Moth was also engaged in joy-riding throughout the afternoon. The metal Moth A.C.F. is now looking spick and span having been finished with the new club colours of silver and yellow.

Handling The Fast Fighters. Reassuring are the reports which have now come in on the easy handling qualities of the “300 miles an hour Plus” fighters and the high speed bombers which have been ordered in quantity for the expanded Royal Air Force. At one time it was believed that the delicacy needed for handling these very fast machines would be so great that special training systems would be demanded for the pilots. But as a result of the work that has been done at the British Government’s test station at Martlesham Heath and elsewhere, it has been discovered that the extremely high speeds of which these new machines are capable have not impaired their control at low speeds, and that the standard of flying reached by the ordinary Royal Air Force pilot at the conclusion of his preliminary training will be sufficiently high for him to take over one of the new types without any special preparation. This is partly the result of the care that has been exercised by designers in the planning of the pilots’ cockpits. Instruments and controls in such aeroplanes as the Supermarine Spitfire fighter and the Vickers twin-engined “geodetic” bomber are grouped and labelled so that the risks of mistakes are reduced to a minimum. Automatic operation or automatic warning devices are introduced where possible to ensure that no mistakes are made in the raising or lowering of the undercarriage wheels or the setting of the wing flaps. In addition to aiding the pilot’s memory and reducing so far as possible the calls upon his attention, the designers of the new machines have succeeded in adjusting the responsiveness of the controls so that, as one test pilot put it, they are “no more difficult to land than a light aeroplane.” This easy flying quality must be regarded as a triumph of design, for it was held until recently that it was impossible to provide a set of controls which would be as effective at very high speeds as at very low. Yet the new fighters can make an “aileron turn” while plunging earthwards in a steep dive and yet are fully controllable while making an approach at a speed only slightly above the stalling speed. Trainers for Rumania.

With the departure from England recently of two Miles Nighthawks for Rumania the despatch of the entire batch of twelve Hawk trainers and Nighthawks was completed. The Nighthawk is a four-seat cabin aeroplane with de Havilland Gipsy-Six engine. Ten Miles Hawk trainers are also to be delivered to New Zealand. It is clear from this that the conception of the training aeroplane as an open twoseater monoplane is approved by the air authorities in many parts of the world. This type enables the entire curriculum of service training to be camplated, including such things as blind flying and aerobatics. Both biplanes and cabin machines, however, have strong advocates and it seems probable that if the closed cabin becomes universal in the more advanced types, it will also be used more extern ■ sively in training machines. At pre-’ sent, most of the advanced, types hav<i cockpits which can be opened or closed 1 at will. The Fairey Battle medium bomber, to give one example, can be flown with the pilot’s cockpit either open or closed, the transparent roof being slideable backwards over the pilot’s head. In some of the new machines it is found that the shape of the front windscreen gives adequate protection against the slipstream when the roof is open. But for high flying, when low temperatures are encountered, the closing of the “lid” not only increases the pilot’s comfort, but also his efficiency, and consequently it is almost certain that the closed cockpit will become universal in service machines in the future. Tiustworthy Power.

Under the gruelling conditions of service with Royal Air Force units in the Middle East, Iraq, and the Far East, Bristol Pegasus II aero engines are giving a standard period of 480 hours between overhauls. During these periods no top overhauls are normally required, though individual cylinders are checked for compression at intervals of 25 hours. If it is found necessary, the individual cylinders are overhauled, but otherwise the engine runs without overhaul.

It is generally agreed that the conditions of aero engine work in the tropics are extremely arduous. Although in the past long periods of running without trouble or overhaul could sometimes be .obtained, they were infrequent. But now the Pegasus performance is the standard for the type. There is no special preparation or servicing. All of the engines of this type give their 480 hours between overhauls and operate with trustworthiness and efficiency. These figures indicate the rapidity of the progress made in aero engine design and construction since the war of 1914. Then, 50 hours’ running without overhaul was considered a commendable figure and even for that period the trustworthiness was of a relatively low order. Almost unnoticed, the periods between overhaul run by standard types of British aero engines have been creeping up and now the war-time normal has been increased tenfold.