M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)

Журнал Flight

Flight, February 25, 1911

FROM THE BRITISH FLYING GROUNDS.

   The Grahame-White School. - Monday morning of last week was not all that one could wish as far as temperature was concerned, but happily there was a dead calm. The three Grahame-White instructors gave an impressive demonstration of flying, all three being in the air together at times.
   Hubert opened proceedings at 10 o'clock by bringing out the Wolseley-Farman, which he had intentions of flying for one hour. After 20 minutes circling the aerodrome at a height of about 100 feet he was forced to come down owing to an air-lock forming in the petrol pipe. As soon as he had descended Martin brought out the "New Baby," the new racer built to Grahame-White's designs, and made a most excellent little trip of 20 minutes duration. During his first half-dozen circuits he maintained a good altitude, finishing his flight by three circuits not 6 feet from the ground, showing off effectively the little machine's speed. He was not content to rest over long, soon getting away again practising right-handed turns. On landing he expressed the opinion that the right-handed turn was decidedly more awkward than turning to the left, but it was in all probability simply due to the fact that the left-hand turn had become a habit and that it only required a little practice to render the righthand turn equally simple.
   Hubert was soon at work again on his Farman with the Wolseley motor, and getting off the ground quickly covered two laps of the aerodrome at an altitude of about 200 ft. Clement Greswell, with hopes of making a cross-country trip to Brooklands on the Gnome-Bleriot, ascended after lunch to ascertain if the weather conditions were suitable for the trip. Finding that a slight mist rather obscured landmarks he decided to postpone the attempt. Soon after he was up again, climbing steadily until an altitude of 200 ft. was reached, passing the boundaries over the country in the vicinity of the aerodrome.
   Passing over Edgware, he doubled back, following the main Edgware Road until he came to West Hendon. Here he steered at a sharp turn, and cutting off his engine made a superb vol plane right back on to the aerodrome, a distance of approximately a mile and a half. J. V. Martin in the meantime was making some very good flights on the "New Baby" racer. On one occasion he took the head mechanic as passenger for a single circuit, thus demonstrating the weight-carrying capabilities of this small-surfaced machine.
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Flight, March 25, 1911

THE GRAHAME-WHITE BIPLANE.
THE "NEW BABY" TYPE.

   ALTHOUGH belonging to a very conventional type - the Farman - the latest Grahame-White biplane is full of interesting constructional details that well repay a close study on the part of those who are concerned in the aeroplane development of the day. So soon as any one particular type becomes popular because of its extended success, progress is necessarily confined more or less to minor features, and in this way detail design and workmanship steadily improves, and a fund of useful experience is gradually built up to enhance the chances of success with any new model that may be ultimately evolved. Most of the high-class machinery of the present day is useful only because it is well made, and the excellence of engineering workmanship nowadays is not only a matter of relative superiority as between one machine and another, but is absolutely a fundamental necessity to the success of the type as such. The internal combustion engine, for example, would be a complete failure but for the fact that it is well made, and thus it is that there is a distinct interest attaching to an investigation of a number of aeroplanes of the same type. At the present time the Farman biplane represents a type of machine that is most popular. Many manufacturers very wisely adopted it as a basis of their own design, because for one thing it is a line along which they are assured of success; and secondly, which is equally important, the popularity of the type itself is more or less a guarantee of some measure of commercial prosperity as a reward for such labours. Notwithstanding the fact that there are so many machines on the market of the Farman type, however, each one of those that we have illustrated in FLIGHT has had some detail or other that has been worthy of the attention of our readers, and the present machine is no exception. Its broad feature of interest is its small size, for the span is only 27 ft., and the overall length only 32 ft. 3 ins. It is intended for a light, fast flyer, and it has been beautifully built throughout. Most of the timber is silver spruce, with the exception of the central struts and the under-carriage, which are made of ash. It will be noticed, too, that the under-carriage does not extend very far below the main planes, consequently the machine as a whole is not very high; indeed, when standing on the ground it is only 8 ft 6 ins. to the edge of the upper main plane.
   In order to allow the propeller to clear the ground, too, it has been necessary to raise the engine, which now occupies a position midway in the gap. A very neat sloping frame supports the engine and the pilot's seat.
   Among constructional details, the most interesting feature of this Grahame-White biplane is the use of steel fittings throughout, instead of the aluminium sockets and lugs that are commonly employed in aeroplane construction. Some examples of these steel fittings are illustrated in the accompanying sketches; and one that is of particular interest, inasmuch as it is called upon to withstand very severe shocks, is that forming the sockets that carry the struts supporting the machine upon the skids. The sketch itself gives a very good idea of the neatness and lightness which is so characteristic of the actual appearance of these details on the machine itself. Another place in which a steel bracket is used is for the attachment of the leading spar of the tail plane to the outrigger, and this also is shown in one of the illustrations. The method of hinging the rudder plane to the tail strut is likewise shown in detail in a similar manner, as also is the safety wiring by means of which the guy-wires in the vicinity of the propeller are prevented from fouling the propeller blades should one of them accidentally break. Experience has taught that some precaution of this sort is eminently desirable, not because breakages are frequent but because the consequences of one are so very unpleasant if the wire gets tangled up in the propeller. Moreover, the propeller is not the least expensive part of the machine, and there is also the engine to be considered. On one occasion on which we witnessed a rather indifferent landing with a standard type Farman biplane we recollect noticing that one of the guy-wires had in some extraordinary way been jerked under the rock-lever operating the exhaust valve on one of the cylinders of the Gnome engine, and it is to guard against consequences of this sort that these simple precautions are taken by experienced constructors, and are therefore, of general interest, although apparently of such a minor character. The system of control on the Grahame-White model is the standard system, but the arrangement of the control-lever is uncommon and interesting. The lever is duplicated so that one lever is fitted on the left and another on the right of the pilot's seat. These levers are coupled together by a cross-bar, which can be hinged out of the way whilst the pilot is mounting to his seat. In flight the pilot has the cross-bar immediately in front of him, and can thus use either or both hands in the control; the movements themselves, however, are of course of the usual kind, and the cross-bar, being pivoted at both ends, interferes no more with the sideways balancing movement than it does with the to-and-fro operation of the elevator. In connection with this detail, again, the use of steel sockets constitutes a prominent feature, and although the design has incorporated an additional member, nevertheless the characteristic lightness and neatness in appearance has been retained.


Flight, November 11, 1911.

AIR EDDIES.

   Claude Grahame-White has arrived back in England for a short period in order to take a slight respite from his strenuous work on the other side of the Atlantic, and to direct his rapidly-growing undertakings at Hendon. His firm's factory at Hendon is now in full working swing, and is replete with all the labour - saving machinery necessary for the economical production of all types of air-craft. He intends to return to the States on the 18th of this month, sailing by the "Lusitania." Both his 70-h.p. Nieuport and his 50-h.p. Indian-engined "Baby" biplane have been dispatched to California, which he will make the scene of his operations on his return.

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   The Indian aero motor, which was mentioned in last week's notes, has been undergoing rigorous tests at the hands of Mr. Grahame-White in America, and I have it as his opinion that as soon as one or two minor modifications have been made the engine bids fair to attain a reputation as the best of its type.