NEW AEROPLANE

Hokitika Guardian, 12 October 1931, Page 2

NEW AEROPLANE

4 SPEEDIER AND SAFER. SPAN OF WINGS VARIABLE. PARIS, August 20. A new aeroplane which, it is claimed, will be -able to fly from Paris to New York in twelve hours, and whose new features will add to the speed and safety of commercial flying, is at, present being tested at the Villa Coublay Aerodrome, near PariY, It 'is the invention of a young Russian, Ivan MakhoUine.

Tile chief feature of the new aeroplane is that its wings are able to vary in length at tlie will of the pilot, thus reducing resistance to the air at high speed. When landing the wings can be elongated so that a safe landing may be made in a very short space and at a comparatively low speed,, ’ INVENTOR’S STORY. . * i “The main object of my new machine,” AI. Aiakhonine said, “is to make possible extensive flights at a greater and regular speed with a smaller consumption of fuel. At the present moment, an aeroplane preparing tor a long distance flight is really a Hying petrol tank. It has. a large spread of wings to enable it to lift the heavy load on taking off, and its standard speed is regulated by its construction. As the load of petrol grows less the average speed must grow less, for the centre of gravity changes and this has to be corrected by means of the elevators. With the variable wings of my machine this fault may be corrected without loss of speed. On taking off the full spread of ■wings is used—say, as on my machine, about seventy-three feet. Once in the air the spread of wings may be reduced, thus increasing the speed to normal cruising -rate by a gradual reduction as the load is lessening.

‘‘This speed can be maintained until the end of the flight. A head wind will have little or no effect on my machine, for the wing resistance can be nullified by reducing the span of the wings in strict proportion. Owing to the construction of my airplane the possible, cruising speed is gradually increased,

185 M.P.H. -EXPECTED. “At the present moment, during my ■test, I am using a 450 h.p: Lorraine motor, and although it has not been tested full out yet, I am confident that 185 miles an hour can be maintained. Later, with a 600 h.p. engine, I should attain 310 m.p.h. The average machine, with a 450 h.p. motor can only average 106 m.p.h. In addition to this, I am using a non-inflammable petrol of my own which is far more volatde than anything of the kind produced so' far." The wings arj constructed in three parts. The main part, which is attached to the fuselage, is nine feet long, and then there are two more sections which can slide really inside each other at the will of the pilot. AN ENGLISH OPINION. •Sir A. V. Roe, the famous aircraft pioneer, expressed no surprise when told of AE Alakhonme's invention. “I have no details of the new aeroplane,” he said, "but I shall not be at all surprised to learn that an aeroplane has been perfected that will cross the Atlantic in twelve 1: mrs. There is certainly no reason whv M, Makhonvie’s aeroplane -should not be siua-isful,”