AVIATION NOTES

Southland Times, Issue 23676, 26 November 1938, Page 21

AVIATION NOTES

BAD WEATHER DELAYS FLYING By CONTACT The wintery weather at the beginning of the week delayed flying consider ■ ably and it is hoped that it will show an improvement from now on. Mr F. J. Adams flew to Gore on Wednesday evening and gave more than three hours instruction to the club trainees. Pilot G. Speden made his first solo flight in the Major Moth ZK-ADM. The machine which most of the Gore trainees have used for training is dismantled for inspection but will be in the air again soon. The Sports Trust Trophy competition which was to have been held last Saturday was postponed until Sunday, but only three pilots were able to fly the course because of the showers. The remaining pilots competing flew the course during the week, these being W. A. Cameron (holder of the trophy), J. Day and F. W. Hall-Jones from Otago, F. Jones, D. Howorth, J. A. Folster and R. Buchanan from Southland. Two machines arrived from Taieri, piloted by Air Force cadets on Thursday on cross-country flights. After refuelling they flew direct compass courses back to Taieri airport. The Wendonside pageant will be held next week-end and it is hoped the weather will be favourable. The club machine;, have been booked but pilots wishing to make the trip should leave their names at the aerodrome. Pilot F. W. Hall-Jones was successful in making his first solo flight in the Puss Moth after only 30 minutes dual, and is to be congratulated on his flight. The following times were flown by the club machines during the past month, dual instruction: 27hr 50min, solo 27hr 45min and 27hr 15min passenger flying. There were 17 days in which flying was carried out AIRCRAFT FOR EGYPT Ten twin-engined “general reconnaissance” monoplanes are augmenting flying equipment of the Royal Air Force Flying Training School at Abu Sueir, Egypt. They are travelling from England in two flights, each of five aircraft, going by way of Marseilles, Rome, Malta, Benghazi and Mersa Matruh. They will be used for the training of pilots attached to the Middle East Command, which in recent months has received Bristol Blenheim twin-engined monoplanes and other modern aircraft as replacements for older machines. The Avro Anson general reconnaissance aeroplane is the equipment of landplane squadrons of the Royal Air Force which are especially charged to act as a forward scouting force on the lookout for enemy raiders. Their task is to patrol the skies well ahead of the English coastline and, by radio to headquarters, to minimize the disadvantage implicit in England’s close proximity to the continent. They also watch for hostile warships, and combined “sea and air” exercises in the English Channel this year have proved the weight of the attack which, when carrying bombs, they can bring to bear on surface craft. Inevitably, much of the flying life of a general reconnaissance aircraft in the Royal Air Force is spent over open water. The two engines of the Anson — Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah units of 350 h.p.—have achieved astonishing records of troublefree running in daily service and cases of forced descents due to mechanical failure are extraordinarily few. “STRESSED SKIN” WINGS Maximum level speed of the Anson is 190 miles an hour. It carries a crew of three in a roomy enclosed cabin which gives ready access to the various crew stations. It can be equipped with quickly detachable dual flying controls, a simple change which makes the Anson a useful vehicle for instruction of pilots in the handling of modem multiengined aeroplanes. In this form it will be used in Egypt Ease of maintenance and repair received special consideration in design. The Anson has a welded steel fuselage and cantilever wooden wings, a form of mixed construction which has been tested in service all over the world. The wooden wings have a stressed skin, made up largely of bakelite plywood. This kind of plywood is much stronger than the older kinds, and is absolutely impervious to water. It also prevents formation of mildew. The Avro company claim that wings covered with bakelite plywood will never need complete overhaul. Records are available of a wing partly covered with this material which, as long ago as May 1936, had completed more than 4500 flying hours and was still in perfect condition. ATTACK AND DEFENCE In appearance the Anson is a typically modem and shapely craft, of excellent streamline form. Its undercarriage units are fully retractile, and the engines are mounted in resistancelessening cowls. Defensive armament consists in guns fore’and aft, the latter mounted in a rotating gun turret. The bomb-aimer’s position is in the extreme hose of the fuselage, with the controls for releasing the bombs at his right hand. The pilot is also provided with bomb release controls, mounted on a panel on the right-hand side of the fuselage. . x . Full navigational equipment includes provision for “blind” flying. A landing searchlight is mounted in the nose of the fuselage. Ansons are on duty day and night. “FEATHERING” AIRSCREW

Here, too, all kinds of instruments are calibrated, to ensure that they are recording accurately. Engine supercharger rotors which must spin at tens of thousands of revolutions a minute, and in which the slightest lack of balance might mean disaster, are checked and adjusted for balance while spinning after they have been statically balanced on knife edges. Fairey controllablepitch airscrews, including an hydraulically controlled three-bladed screw of which the blades may be fully feathered in the “no drag” position, undergo mechanical test. Feathering airscrew blades have the advantage that they enable the pilot to reduce to the minimum the head resistance of the airscrew v.hen the engine is stopped, thereby greatly improving the performance of a multi-engined aeroplane when running on fewer than its full complement of engines. Metallurgists and chemists work constantly in their laboratory on the study of new materials and processes, and the investigation of works problems and defects noticed in the course of manufacture. Protective processes which guard metal structures against corrosion and other disintegrating agents occupy much of their time. At their disposal are the best testing devices and apparatus that money can buy, including a special microscope for examination of specimens up to no less than 2000 magnifications.