EIGHT MILES HIGH.

Waikato Times, Volume 112, Issue 18806, 30 November 1932, Page 8

EIGHT MILES HIGH.

WORLD’S RECORD

ENGLISH AIRMAN’S FEAT,

SOME CURIOUS EFFECTS

(From a Correspondent.) LONDON, Oct. ii. In the stratosphere, the region more than eight miles above the earth, reached by Mr C. F. Uwins when he obtained for Great Britain the world’s height racord, living conditions are strangely altered and some curious effects are noticeable. Mr Uwins at Bristol, said that, at 43,975 feet wliich is the altitude officially recorded after the readings of the sealed barographs had been corrected by the National Physical Laboratory, cables, such as (hose used for operating the ailerons, shrunk as much as a quarter of an inch and this striking shrinkage bad to be allowed for before the machine started. Another thing is the large correction for speed. The air speed indicator in Mr Uwins’ Vickers “Vespa” aeroplane showed only 53 miles an hour when he was at the top of his climb; but corrected for atmospheric pressure and density -in a manner similar to that applied to Ihe barograph readings, the actual speed comes to something in the region of .130 miles an hour. It is in the reduction in drag,, and therefore in resistance to forward motion through the air, that occurs at great heights that some engineers forsee a means of obtaining speeds undreamt of up to the present and Die Vickers “Vespa’s” flight has done something to forward their projects. . Some idea of the problems 'before Mr Roy Fedden, the designer of the Bristol “Pegasus” engine with which the Vickers “Vespa” is fitted may be had from the fact that, at 18,000 feet, the ordinary unsupercharged engine, relying purely upon aspiration for filling the cylinders with mixture, will give only half the power it gives. near the ground; while at 40,000 feet the power will fall off to about a seventh of what it was near the ground. The Bristol supercharger prevents this reduction in power occurring. Lessons of tho Flight. A great deal of valuable information has been gained by this flight, much of it being immediately applicable to service and civil machines. The Vickers “Vespa” aeroplane, for instance, is a type that is found particularly suitable for operation in places where the aerodromes arc situated high above sea level. The machine has those qualities of climb that enable it to take off easily with an ample margin of lift in the most adverse conditions. Mr Rex Pierson is the designer of the Vickers “Vespa” and shortly after the machine had been brought out it was adopted by the Irish Free State and by Bolivia as an Army Co-operation aircraft. In Bolivia Ihe machine works from an aerodrome 13.000 feet above sea level. A good deal of information has also been obtained by this flight on the method of keeping the pilot warm and arranging for him to be supplied with oxygen in a manner that is both safe and convenient to use. A failure of either the heating apparatus or of tho oxygen supply would have serious consequences at a height of mope than 40,000 feet. It was in order to shard against all possible risks that Mr Uwins had a special switch fitted to the control stick of the aeroplane for switching off the engine if he lost consciousness. The official figure of 43,975 feet beats the previous world’s height record by nearly 800 feet. The margin demanded in the international regulations between one rccoid ami tho next is therefore amply covered. The new British record, besides adding the second of the three most coveted world’s air racords to the countrv’s score, also brings closer the time when tho layers of rarefied air at great heights will be used bj standard military and civil aircraft. It is the view of many experts that extensive developments in the way of increasing normal working heights ate likely to take place in the near future. Accessories.

Record breaking flights depend largely upon Hie co-operaton of Hie various parts of the aeroplane, and every component, from the 8.T.11. magnetos to the K.L.G. sparking plugs, played its part; but here is one accessory,"if it may be so called, wliich is of special interest because it is essentially an air-cooled engine accessory; this is the Townend Ring. Mr Fedden designed the Bristol “ Pegasus” engine in Hie first place to take Hie Townend Ring and this ring was fitted for the record breaking flight. Its object is lo cause the air which passes the nine radially disposed cylinders to flow smoothly and so to set up a minimum amount of drag. The ring consists of a melal annulus of aerofoil shaped section fixed so that the inner surface is close to the cylinder heads. The Townend Ring can lie fitted to almost any air-cooled aero-engine of the radial type with advantage;, but the Bristol “Pegasus,” being designed expressly lo take it, obtains Hie most favourable results possible. The Townend Bing is also fitted to Ihe engines of the Boulton and Paul twin-engined day bombers of Hie

‘‘Sidestrand’’ type which are now in use in the lloyal Air force and ate the faslost. twin-engined military aircratl in the world. In addition it is fitted to the new three-engined Boulton and Paul hcavv bomber which was seen for the first time in public at the lloval Air Force display at Hendon this year. In nil these cases appreciable increases of speed are secured iiv the addition of the ring.