Air Wonder Stories, August 1929 — page 90: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Oil Airplane Engine Reduces Flying Cost HE. details of the Diesel airplane engine developed by the Packard Motor Company reveal: that the cost of fuel shows a consider: able reduction from that of the onticiary air- plane engine. On a test t front Detroit to: Langley Field, Va., the fuel used was- $4.68 worth of crude oil. against an ordinary gasoline coat of $25. Eighty gallons of crude would bir a plane equipped with the new. motor as far aa 100 gallons of gasoline, -The crude Beweyes Seats aah bound tai lon more dots. a -grade gasoline, rge sonle production of the motor at the Packard Company plant is now in progress, Safety Devices Aviation’s Greatest Need DEVICES that will: incrense. the safety of planes and prevent the spins that cause so many accidents, are declared by~ Professor Edward P, Warner, former. Assistant Secretary of the Nayy, for Aeronautics, to be aviation'’s greatest need. Professor Warner was speaking atthe yearly gathering of aviation executives and scientists at Langley Field, Virginia, Re- search work is already progressing in ar at- tempt to promote air safety. Another need expressed. i9- that of -instruments ‘which should warn a plane of the nearness of another, wi c- increasingly important as the num- ber of planes in the air increases, Studies of the effect of ice formation on planes were also made, and the effect of -air velocity on pro- police cfheiency was ‘studied in a gigantic wind mnel where-a plane was mounted in a twenty- foot air stream. travelling 100° miles per hour. Folding Wings Found Advan- tageous. to Flyers AS a result of a survey-made by the Fair- child Aviation Corporation, planes. ha’ folding wings are shown to be mitch more ad- vantagoous to flyers than those not similarly equipped. The crowded. condition of many hangars makes the possibility of an. itinerant flyer finding space for his craft-very unlikely. But of the yet who. have reported in: the sur- vey, many have been able to get. “parking space’’ folded- wings when other Ayers have been turned away. Furthermore, since most airports have a storage charge, depending on the wing upread, a great saving intent is afforded those having. folding Wing plans. In many inutances the reduction has been as. much as fifty per cent. ¢ ° Airplane Engines are Inexpensive AN. popular oj to the contrary, the factory cost of sirplane engines per horse- power is considerably~ leas that of marine engines and approximately on a par with that of» railroad locomotives, asserted George J. Mead, .of the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Co., in a paper. delivered by E.-A. Ryder, of the same companies before the Milwaukee Section of the Sovisty of. Automotive Engineers, The nsual Soe of $18 per “horsepower for airplane engines iy: much Jower than for marine stenm and Diesel engines, which Mr, Ryder ve as $135 and $145 per horsepower. The foomotive was li as costing per. horse: power, including: the tender, ¢ miles per. overhaul of the -alreraft engine were- given as 30,000 ¢o 50,000 miles, compared: with 30,000 tulles -for marine deat 100,000 for the loco- motive, and 10,000 for the au itomobile. AVIATION NEWS OF THE MONTH el, = CONSTRUCTION Gigantic Bombing Planes for Next War NINE-TON. automatic plane Cacryiny bombs which will \bave attached to its smaller “plane containing the pilot is pictured for the noxt war, according to an article in Air Travel News, The monster would< weigh 24,000 pounds in all and hold 3,400-:pounds of high. explosives, Already tests bave been. made on. the control of planes from. the ground, and the proposal made“ by Lester Bartow is for the ginnt ship, There would be two separate-plancs, the-one for explosives and the small ‘ship for the— pilot, he. smaller is carried tinder. the latter in the undercarriage, After the spi has Taunched the larger in the air, set the auto- matic controls. on its destructive path, he can be released and dy back, The author of: the ardcle pictures hundreds of stich machines fly- ing over. enemy. territory, and at a prede- termined point “dropping their terrible bombs over_an enemy city or territory. Such craft would have a-range of 1,000 x Babson Sees Auto-Plane in Future HE day of the small plgne is approaching, Tavs Roger Babson, busideas pred accord ing to Air Travel News, Its-coming will in- fluence - considerably: ‘our ~ national life, The plane he visions will rise and. descend vertically, will-have folding’ wings, will -be able to land on- water and run through the streets like an auto, In the future, the chief means of: travel on_land, air and water will -be the airplane, use of the increase-in air traffic ‘all- wires and smokestacks. will be removed and so the campaign for smoke prevention and better. looking cities will be aided, Army Tests Propellers in Bomb-Proof Shelter IX a $5,000,000 Plant dedicated: to aeronautical research, the Army Air Corps will_begin a series of tests to promote greater safety. for commercial: aviation, The'first tests will be of propellers, in a bomb-proof shelter capable of wit! ng the impact of a 16-inch shell, Here,-on e- giant. stands, three de- ee motors of 2,500 to 6,000 horsepower will whirl their ‘propellers at 4rom 720 to 4,300 revolutions per. minute-until the propellers ex- plode, By this means the stresses exerted on propellers and. their ability to withstand them be determined, An exploding propeller is ‘a bad source of danger in accidents, for ‘the pro- peller ‘with the foree of -a 16-inch shell ‘olght cut through the seaelage very easily. Every hase of acronautics ‘be investigated, the lesign of planes, structures, wing structures, ete. Three Miles a Minute for Future Planes HAT with the increasing science applied to airplane dés the plane of to-day will seem quite anti ten years hence, is the helief of John Naptitoy chief engineer of Avion Torporstiog writing in the New York American. With the decrease in weight of planes by the tse of new strong alloys stich as duralumin, other alloys and beryllium, the drag on the planes. has. been: reduced, By the introduction of enclosed motors of the “in-line” type the parasitic resistance of exposed motots will be done “away with. Three miles a minute should he the crui: speed of planes of the future with an altitude of 15,000°to 20,000 feet above sen_level. At this Jevel. the resistance is less and greater power can be developed. Foolproof Plane Successfully Tested PLANE. which can neither stall nor go into_a tatlspin hay been successfully tested at the Holmes Airport by the Gates Aircraft Corporation which has the American rights for it, The plane is a. Belgian and is known as the RS, V.. It-has interchangeable wings and can be used as-either-a monoplane of a’ biplane, It has been used for. four’ years by the Belgian Air Force_as_a training plane without a single mishap. During. the testa the ,Pilot pat the plane ‘through every conceivable “stunt” to try to make-it stall or apin; but it refiised. He even throttled it at the peak ofa stecp climb; but the plane recovered and went into a glide, Operated ag -a-biplane it! has a very. slow -lnnd- ing speed so that, it can be Innded “hands off.” Then it can be operated as\a speedy: monoplane. New High Speed Boeing Plane P2opuction will soon begin on n- large scale of a new. plane by ‘Bocing built on the type ‘used by Captain Baker on. his Panama-United. States dusk to dawn filiht, In this Aight Capt. Eaker obtained from it a apéed of 172 mHes per hour. The now plane will be a-single seater with an over- all wing span of. 30 feet, It is quite almilar in design. to the large number of Boeing pursuit planes used in atmy maneuvers. It will welgh 2,450 pounds completely fueled and {s powered with.a 460 horsepower Pratt and Whitney Wasp motor.’ It will have a black fuselage, red tail, and cream wingg, struts and. landing gear. Airplanes Smaller and Larger ‘O definite trendea in airplane design toward smallor and toward larger units are perceptible to Hinea Bosal, proaident of the Amerloan Aeronautical Corporation as reported in Acro Digest, The frat tendency, toward small planes fa_aimed for the use as sport and individual flying. These planos according to Mr. Boss! will have ® power of from B80 to 100 horsepower. They will bo light, swift<and inexpensive. The second tendency toward the heavy powerful craft is’ for. use in commercial and mail: service. These planen ars belng built with power plants of 1,000 horsepower or mors, They aro however more efficiont; per pound of plane, than the smaller units. build- ing of the powerful plane: is particularly necessary for seaplane service whore the rough water will often hinder the talco-off, unless sufficient power fs developed. New Monster of Air to Come 8 a result of the alt mancuvers of the Army ‘Air Corps a new monater es - plane of the air is likely to. evolve -whicl will make warfare a more tetrible thing than ever, — It will: be a great armored bomber carrying a heavy load of destructive bombs and yet equipped with plenty of machine guns to protect itself against light enemy aircraft. It was found in ‘the last war. that the heavy moving bombera were casy prey to the light pursuit planes of the ‘enemy, and the bomber could be destroyed before: its protecting planes could get into ac fosters aud-tnviaeite suntan -allendiaary ‘sie ector; and. in’ le a ordinary airy craft it will sweep over enemy territory with its great bombs released on the way. Then _ peel wil be in ie ay poe a fare: Rotor carrying er bombs, as rsuit plane, and high altitude es for, making observa- tions. © Tactico-and- strategy of the’ air mass movements. will be the feature of the next war, instead of individual feats of mastery, = OGY alae? tava Gye