NEW AIR LINER

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 184, 21 August 1937, Page 6

NEW AIR LINER

-Own Correspondent.)

"Concertina" Wings a . Feature TO FLY AT 240 M.P.H.

CBy Air Mail-

LOKDON, July 24. A new transport airplane with a "concertina" wing has just bcen developed by the Lockheed Company in Anierica. Eor the take ofl; the wing is extended, once in the air it is retracted and becomes narrower, reducing air resistance, says-Lord Eorbes in the Daily Express. This new wing increases the cruising speed of the air liner. The new Lockheed carries fourteen passengers and two pilots. It is expected to cruise at mere than 240 miles an hour, and is powered by two 1000 h.p. Wright' Cyclone petroi engincs. The "concertia" wing is one of tno most important developments in aviation sinco tho variable pitch airscrew and retractable undercarriage. For many years designers havo known that they could increase the cruising speed of aircraft if they could reduce the wing area. But with small wings it was impussible to get aircraft to lpave tthe ground. Karrow wings lacked sufficient Jift to cive a cood climbing angxe.

A narrow wing alsd made landing dangerous as the airplane had to be landed at more than 100 miles an hour. Once an airplane is moving through the air at high speeds lt only requires small wings to keep it up. The new wing construction has solv* ud all these problems. The new airplane can land at a safe speed of sixty-fiv© miles an hour when tho wings are extended. The take-off when the wings are opened out is entirely 6atisfactory. More aircraft variable pitch propellers are now being built in England than in America, fhe country of theii origin. They were invented by a young American engineer called Hamilton and revolutionised United States air transport. The propellers enabled air liners to carry heavier loads, improved their taffe-off and cruising speed. When HamOlon came over here to sell his patents for making his propellers in England, few were interested. The Air Ministry announced they had no iwe for the propeller. Tho De Havilland Aircraft Company saw a future for these airscrews for civil air liners and bought the right3 to manufacture them in England. Thon «ame tho EA.P. expansion. Now every new Air Force 'plane has a variable pitch propeller, mainly duo to the manufacturers insisting that the Ministry should fit them. But these propellers are not yet in geueral use iu civil aviation, though air liners* in America' havo had them for the last five years. All the new Empire boats of Imperial Airways have them fitted.