IN the air

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 456, 11 September 1928, Page 15

IN the air

gL Uo Haviland “Moths” carried off the lion's share of tho prizes at the Queensland pageant held at Brisbane on August 25. . , n The aerial championship, about 40 miles was won by Captain de Haviland in a “Moth” and Captain L. J. Brain was second in another Moeth. Captain Brain, with the same machine, was first in the Aerial Derby, also about 40 miles. FOR A HUGE PRIZE The Fanhard-Levassor Company of France has built a 450-horse-powe.r 12cylinder V aero engine of sleeve-valve type which has successfully accomplished a 240-hour endurance test in a competition for a 2,000,000-franc prize offered by the French Government. The sleeve-valve undoubtedly had much to do with this lengthy period of unbroken run. The height of the engine wr .3 only 35.4 inches as compared with the 49 inches fo.r a similar engine of the poppet type. WORLD’S LARGEST MONOPLANE The successful trials of the Beardmore Inflexible have a close interest for aircraft folk in this corner of the world. For the man who supervised the construction of this tremendous monoplane is Mr. W. S. Shackleton, now chief aeronautical engineer to the Larkin Aircraft Supply Co. For four years Mr Shackleton was chief plane designer to the Beardmore firm, and prior to that was eight years with Louis Bleriot. The overseas man nas achieved many successes m Lngland, particularly with the types. In 1923 he designed the Ah.EC 1 light plane, fitted with a 6 h.p. Beardmore motor-cycle engine. This was one of the first light airplanes to be produced, and at an international competition organised by the “Daily Maul, it tied for first place by flying 87i nines, representing 7 laps of the 12& mile course, on less than on© gallon of petrol By a climb of 14,400 feet this airplane also won the first prize offered bv Sir Charles Wakefield. Later he designed the AMEC 11 fitted with a 30 h p Bristol “Cherub” engine, which won the British Air League challenge race from Birmingham to Cheshire and return He produced the Beardmore Wee-Bee in 1924. This two-seater airplane was also fitted with a Bristol Cherub engine, and won the first prize of £2 000 offered by the British Air Ministry for the best light airplane. The Beardmore inflexible is the largest all-metal crai=t of its kind in the world. It weighs over 15 tons, has?

I a wing span of 150 ft —twice that of the Southern Cross —and is driven by three Rolls Royce engines, each of 650 h.p. TASMAN SEAPLANE SERVICE Captain Bert Hinkler, Lieut. Parer, | and Lieut. Lexius-Burlington, who i plan trade flights over the Tasman in I giant German flying boats (Dornier | Wal) were refused British assistance before they accepted German aid. Moreover, they intend flying from Europe to America, then to Australia, in their giant craft, prior to the navigation of the New Zealand service. This information concerning the operations of the proposed transtasman air company was given to the Sydney “Daily Guardian” by Lieut. Charles Lexius-Burlington, one of the organisers of* the service. “Within twelve months,” he stated, “there will be a service of two flying boats making the return trip each week between Wellington and Sydney. A third will be held in reserve as an auxiliary. “In addition, feeder services will be running from Wellington to Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin, where it Is hoped to use all-metal amphibians of Australian construction powered with British twin engines. WingCommander Wackett’s latest Widgeon No. 3, now on design, would be eminently suitable for these subsidiary routes.” Lieut. Burlington declares that the great Dorner-Super-Wal flying beats to be employed on the main route will make the crossing of the stormy Tasman eyen safer than it is by steamer. The fares for each of the 15 passengers who can be carried will be about £3O.

The Dornier boat "was the only suitable design actually manufactured at present.at a commercial price, from the investor’s point of view, he added. Hinkler, Parer, and himself were quite in accord with the ideal of preference to all-British boats, but owing to the lack of practical backing by allBritish interests it has been found necessary to compromise, by accepting a 25 per cent, foreign element in the organisation and equipment contemplated. LIGHT PLANE FOR £155 MAY BE ASSEMBLED AT HOME A light airplane at the price of a small motor-car is the latest triumph of American mass production. A single-seater machine known as the “Parasol,” built by the Heath Airplane Company, Chicago, is sold complete, ready for the air, for only £155. The same airplane can be bought com plete hut unassembled for £BS. and since the framework is of the tubular steel type, with bolted sections, its assemly should present little difficulty to even an amateur. The power plant is an air-cooled Henderson motor-cycle four-cylinder engine, slightly altered. Thrust bear mgs at the front, and a superior highpressure oiling system, have been installed. The engine, together with the propeller, weighs onlv 1171 b, and develops 23-h.p. at 3,000 r.p.m. A high speed of 70 miles an hour is possible, or, with a two-cylinder Bristol Cherub, 32-h.p. motor, a. speed of 85 miles an hour. J The wings are of a ' conventional ! design - and construction, pinned to- | gether without centre section. They are supported by two V struts, one in front of and one behind the cockpit, and by two steel tube struts on each side of the fuselage, running from the bottom longerons to about 60 per cent, of the length of the wing panels. The general specifications are as follow: Span, 23 feet; wing area, 94 square feet: length overall. 16 feet 9 inches; height overall; 5 feet 10 inches: weight, empty 2901 b, useful load 2251 b; landing speed, 32 miles an hour. The oil consumption is three quarts, and the benzine tank will hold 3.3 gallons, giving, with the benzine consumption of 35 miles a gallon, a cruising radius of about 115 miles. The tiny airplane is compact, and easy to handle. It. is so light that it can be lifted from the ground by two men, yet nothing has been sacrificed to this end. There is an ample safety factor throughout, and the machine is aerodynamically correct in design.