ALONG THE SKYWAYS

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19893, 23 May 1936, Page 31 (Supplement)

ALONG THE SKYWAYS

PROGRESS} L 1 AVIATION

EMPIRE FLYING BOATS.

FIRST NEARLY READY. 8000 WORKERS BUILDING FLEET WEEK OF BRITISH FLYING NEWS Minimum level speed of the new Empire monoplane flying boats, twenty-nine of which are on order for the operation of Britain's air trunk routes to the East, Australasia and Africa, will be in the neighbourhood of 200 miles an hour. This important fact, which supports earlier evidence that the new British boats will be faster than any large flying-boats yet in commission, is revealed in the current issue of the official gazette of Imperial Airways. On that basis, the normal cruising speed is likely to be well above the expected figure of 150 mil: an hour, though that is higher than the sustained cruising speed of comparable foreign boats. (Ofl'icial returns of the two best-known American commercial flying-boats credit them with cruising speeds of 145 and ‘ 126 m.p.h. respectively.) ‘ More than 8,000 workmen are en-i gaged on the construction of the Em- 1 pire craft, the first of which will begin trial flights towards the end of ay fiom the surface of the River Medway at Rochester. This first machine has now been removed from its place in the long line of stocks set up at the Short factory for the building of six craft at a time and its place taken by the beginnings of the hull of the seventh boat. The first craft is now supported in the middle of the great erecting shed. Wings are being bolted on to the hull, the stern and tail unit set in place, and the engines—four Bristol Pegasus 740 hp. airvcooled radials—nre being installed. Soon it‘ will be ready ‘ for launching and subsequent test flights in the hands of Mr. Lankester Parker, chief test pilot of the Short company. Tribute to Energy and Skill. Design was begun less than twelve months ago, and the practical certainty that the first machine will be flying so soon afterwards is a tribute to the energy and skill or the constructor, whose commercial and military flying boats have earned a world—wide reputation. As long ago as 1908 the brothers Short started an aeroplane building department of their company, which till then had been concerned in the making of spherical balloons; 28 years later the firm is engaged on the construction of all—metal 18-ton flying boats representing a total of more than a million sterling in value—the biggest order ever given for commercial flying boats. Between 3! and 5 tons of the gross weight of the Empire boat is available for the carriage of crew and pay- : load, the figure varying according to‘ the amount of fuel on board. Normal I range, at cruising speed, will be about i 800 miles in calm air, which is ade- ‘ quate for the stages contemplated on tin Empire services, but for special r s—for example, across the Tasman Sea to Nah» Zealand—the range will be increased, by adding to fuel load and adjustment of payload, to more than 1500 miles. “C" Class Boats. Names have been chosen for 28 of the new boats, which have been styled the “C" class and each name beg-ins with “C.“ Choice was plainly not easy, and the names reveal a search in mythology and British atlases as well as in the more general sources that have produced names like “Challenger," “Cavalier" and “Corsair." First name on the ofl'icial list is “Caledonia," which may or .may not be

that chosen for the first machine to take the air. The twenty-ninth hoat in the present contract is the spemally built machine that will form the lower component of the Mayo “composite uircmlt." the ingenious scheme wherety a large aircraft carries a smaller and very heavily loaded aircraft up to operational height, where the smaller machine is launched on its way. The invention is to be tested in transatlantic experiments with mails this year. Aptly enough, the name chosen for the lower compon» ent of Major Mayo’s invention is “Maia" who in mythology is the mother of “Mercury,” the name selected for the upper component—a float seaplane powered with four Napier Rapier H—shaped engines. Appropriately, too, this latest descendent of the messenger of the gods will carry the mails.

Navigation by Radio. Great care was taken to eliminate sources of head resistance. The radio installation and other equipment is planned to be withdrawn into the structure when it is not in use. The trailing aerial, for example, is led out through a retractile fair-lead which can be projected through the outer skin of the hull when the aerial is being led out and withdrawn again, an automatic trapdoor sealing up the aperture as soon as the aerial has been wound up and the fairlead pulled in. The loop aerial of the directionfinder is housed within the hull and raised through a trapdoor when needed. Instead of the usual external wind-driven generator, power for the radio equipment will be provided by an internal system that employs dynamos coupled to two of the four main engine's, current being taken from a 24—volt accumulator connected to the power generator.

The direction-finder enables the pilot to ascertain position relative to any ground station that may be transmitting and frees him from entire dependence on the official ground stations which may be occupied with several aircraft all asking for bearings at the same time. The instrument is also of great value when flying over barren or undeveloped reg~ ion-s where the usual position-fixing facilities may not be at all times availablei