BRITISH AIRCRAFT SUCCESSES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20058, 15 March 1935, Page 6

BRITISH AIRCRAFT SUCCESSES

FOREIGN INTEREST IN COMET RECORD IMPRESSES (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, February 5. In the weeks that have followed the England-Australia races the attention of experts in every country has concentrated on the Comet monoplane, winner of the England-Australia races in the hands of Scott and Campbell Black. Already aircraft of similar design are being planned on the drawing boards of foreign constructing firms; again British aeronautical engineering has led the way in a new conception of design. The de Havilland technicians have shown how high speed, great carrying capacity, long range and magnificent flying qualities can be allied in the same aircraft without the installation of immensely powerful motors. Using two aircooled 224 h.p. engines, the Comet reaches a maximum level speed of nearly 240 miles an hour, cruises at 225 m.p.h. at a height of 10,000 feet above sea-level, has a non-stop range in still air of 3100 miles, and yet conforms with the severe requirements laid down for fulfilment before a certificate of airworthiness is granted to an ordinary commercial aeroplane. This is performance for which there is no parallel in the history of flying. French Interest Foreign Governments are taking the keenest interest in the Comet. Portugal has purchased from Mr and Mrs Mollison the Comet “Black Magic,” in which they set new records for ■ the flight from England to Baghdad—l2 hours 40 minutes—and from England to India—22 hours. A special French mission has visited the de Havilland works; members of it have flown in the green Comet owned by Bernard Rubin and flown by Cathcart Jones and Waller to fourth place in the England-Australia speed race. One member of the mission is Mr Mermoz, chief pilot of Air-France on the South American service, and famous for his many flights across the South Atlantic. Mr Mermoz tells me that the Comet has impressed him mightily. He believes that the future of the trans-ocean mail service rests rather with extremely fast small aircraft of the Comet type than with the larger and slower flying boat. A Comet, he says, can cross the South Atlantic easily between dawn and dusk; the present-day flying boat must fly by night as well. And he points out that no flying boat yet built could withstand for long, if forced to descend on the water, the buSeting of an Atlantic storm, which tosses 50,000ton ocean ships like corks. Every airman will recognise the force of his argument that the faster the aeroplane the less time the aviator must spend over the ocean, though in justice it must be said that advocates of the large flying boats have also a powerful case. The Comet, incidentally, has proved its ability to fly many hundreds of miles on the power of one engine only; its margin of security is, therefore, high. Increased Comfort, Fire Accuracy Wallace “general purpose” aeroplanes now in course of construction for the Royal Air Force at the Westland works are fitted with transparent hoods that completely enclose the two cockpits. The. modification is significant of the general trend to aSord protection from the air stream for the military aviator, which becomes more necessary with every increase in speed. Recently Sir Philip Sassoon, Undersecretary of State for Air, told Parliament that experiments were being made in the use of closed fighters for the Royal Air Force, and the newer British military ’planes, even in the single-seater class, are designed with enclosed cockpits. The Wallace pilot is now protected by a sliding coupe hood. Its windows are adjustable and the roof embodies a quick-release device. Over the gunner-observer’s cockpit is a folding segmental hood that merges with the lines of the pilot’s coupe in front and, when closed, meets the decking of the fuselage at the rear. By pushing the hinged segments forward and up the gunner slides them into a space immediately behind the pilot’s head, and is thus enabled to work his gun and at the same time is adequately protected from the slipstream blast by the front portion of the hood. Tests have shown that the hood enables the gunner to use his weapon when the machine is flying at top speed; .without the enclosure, working the gun in the air stream is well-nigh impossible because of the great force required to move it. Added comfort is an important advantage of the hoods. A small amount of warm air from an exhaust heated jacket makes the cockpits warm and cosy _ a vital detail on long flights at heights of 10,000 feet or more. Further, the all-round view from both cockpits is improved because a high waistline, desirable to exclude draughts when the hood is not fitted, is no longer necessary.

Height Record Recalled The Wallace is the lineal descendant of the Wapiti, which was for several years a standard “general purpose” aircraft with the R.A.F. It is designed for multiplicity of uses including bombing, aerial survey and photography, reconnaissance, desert patrol and liaison work with the Army. Its still-air range, when fitted with long-distance tanks, is about 1100 miles. Best speed, with bombs earned externally in racks below the lower wings, is 158 m.p.h., attained at a height of 5000 feet. A cowled Bristol Pegasus motor provides power. One of the two aeroplanes that flew oyer Mount Everest was a specially equipped Wallace; during preliminary tests at Yeovil this machine established an unofficial world height record by carrying a crew of two men, breathing apparatus, still photographic and kinematographic gear, and much special navigational equipment to a height of more than 35,000 feet.