EYES OF THE FLEET

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 30, 5 February 1932, Page 7

EYES OF THE FLEET

THE HAWKER "NIMROD"

REPLACES OBSOLETE CRAFT

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 23rd December.

The swiftest and most formidable naval fighting aeroplanes yet adopted for service with any of the world's great sea fleets have lately replaced obsolete craft in the equipment of the Fleet Air Arm. As part of the flying complement of the aircraft carriers Furious and Courageous, the new planes are likely to go to sea early in the New Year for intensive practice, under service conditions, of the reconnaissance, patrol, offensive action against hostile aircraft, and artillery control that make up the greater portion of the duties of aeroplanes operating with a modern fleet.

Capable of speeds exceeding 200 miles an hour and of rocket-liko climb to great heights, the new sea fighter, which is styled the Hawker Nimrod, is a close cousin of the Fury single-seater biplane recently supplied to certain " interception ?' squadrons of the London defence system. Differences between the two machines aro determined by the peculiar demands of flying on and off the narrow floating aerodrome provided by the deck of a carrier, and by the exigencies of catapult launching. Thus, the Nimrod has certain components strengthened up to withstand the shocks imposed by the catapult, which can accelerate an aeroplane from rest to sixty miles an hour in three seconds. It is a landplane, with wheels and no seaplane floats, and must be protected against the worse results of an emergency alighting in the water; flotation bags fill the after portion of the fuselage, and flotation boxes are placed between tho ribs and spars inside tho wings. Finding the parent carrier after a flight may not be easy, especially if haze or cloud obscure the pilot's vision, and the Nimrod carries, therefore, more elaborate navigational equipment than the Fury, as well as wireless and additional lighting.

A single 480 h.p. Rolls-Royce Kestrel motor, similar in many details of construction to the marvellous 2300 and 2600 h.p. racing engines fitted to Britain's record-breaking high-speed seaplanes this year, supplies power to the Nimrod. This engine, to-day widely used in the Royal Air Force, U exceptionally compact. The frontal area of the motor is small, permitting the aeroplane designer to build around it an unusually well-streamlined cowling and fuselage, and it is notably economical in consumption of fuel and oil.

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