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Страна: Великобритания

Год: 1912

Варианты

H.King Sopwith Aircraft 1912-1920 (Putnam)

At this point we may reconsider the American-built Burgess-Wright biplane already briefly mentioned, for in 1912 this was quite extensively rebuilt by Sopwith - to such a degree, indeed, that the present writer was at one time led to contemplate a separate study of the machine. Such treatment was, in fact, quite understandably accorded it by Mr Peter Lewis in his Putnam book British Aircraft 1809-1914, under the heading 'Sopwith-Wright Biplane'.
   Fred Sigrist, it seems, was largely, if not primarily, responsible for the reconstruction, which was undertaken in the interests of ‘school', or instructional, work, in which Sopwith became quite heavily involved at Brooklands during 1912. (To the credit of the American biplane, in its more-or-less original form, it must be recorded that among its passengers had been a Capt F. H. Sykes, later an eminent figure in the development of British military and civil aeronautics, and better known perhaps to certain readers as Sir Frederick Sykes).
   One especially notable modification made to the American aeroplane was to give it side-by-side seating, in a sizable nacelle, with the pilot to starboard. In side elevation the nacelle drooped like a Concorde's nose - though permanently. Of no less interest was the fitting (after a 35 hp Green) of an A.B.C. engine instead of the original 50 hp Gnome. Together with its petrol tank, this A.B.C. engine was offset to port; it was nominally of 40 hp, though was sometimes credited with 45, and it drove two pusher propellers by means of crossed chains, housed in tubes.
   Thus, by virtue of this last arrangement, Sopwith could now add contra-rotating propellers to his repertoire of exotic powerplant installations.
   On the aeroplane just mentioned (which was described contemporaneously, if somewhat dubiously, as a 'Sopwith British-built biplane' or as a "Sopwith-Wright") Harry Hawker secured the 1912 British Empire Michelin Cup No.1 (and ?500) by staying airborne for 8 hr 23 min. The date of this performance, which constituted a new British record for duration, was 24 October, 1912.
   That the foregoing was not Sopwith's first association with A.B.C. engines is affirmed by this report, published as early as March 1912: "The 40-50 h.p. vertical four-cylinder A.B.C. engine, which earlier in the year was put through some severe tests by its makers, has recently been put into one of the earlier Deperdussin monoplanes, and without any tuning up of the machine it flew at the first attempt, Lieutenant Porte. R.N., who piloted the machine, said that he had never flown at such a speed.
   ‘The same engine has now been refitted into Sopwith's Howard Wright monoplane and is provided with a new water-heated While and Poppe carburetter which has been specially tuned up by the makers, with the result that the engine is giving about twenty per cent, more power than ever.'
   Thus here we find yet one more seemingly exotic powerplant - an A.B.C.

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Описание:

  • H.King Sopwith Aircraft 1912-1920 (Putnam)
  • M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)
  • P.Lewis British Aircraft 1809-1914 (Putnam)
  • Журнал Flight
  • Журнал - Flight за 1912 г.

    THE SOPWITH-WRIGHT BIPLANE. - Sketches illustrating various constructional details: 1. The nacelle, which protects the pilot from the wind. 2. Portion of the short length of chain which is used as a link in the warp wires where they pass over the pulleys. 3. Method of mounting the engine on the lower plane. 4. Pivoted lever for gearing up the elevator to the control lever. 5. The toe portion of one of the skids. 6. Another sketch showing how the warp wires are carried round their pulleys.

  • P.Lewis - British Aircraft 1809-1914 /Putnam/

    The Sopwith-Wright biplane.

  • Журнал - Flight за 1912 г.

    Elevation and plan of the Sopwith-Wright biplane.