7/28/2019 1936 - 1657

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67 0 F L I G H T . JU NE 25, 1936.

Three hundred plus : The HawkerF36/34 fighter, with its Rolls-RoyceMerlin, does over 300 m.p.h.justhow much may not be said. It hasbeen adopted for service.

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continual ly improved and in the form in which i t wil l beseen at He ndon is designated the Bulldog Il a . An evenmore h ighly developed model was entered for the las t day-and-night f ighter competi t ion .The al terat ions made to the Bulldog during the past fewyears hav e not resul ted in an increased perform ance. Inactual fact , the machine is probably s lower than when i tfirst enter ed service. B ut all the modifications hav e increased its all-rou nd efficiency. Bra kes are fitted to thewheels , being operated by pedals on the rudder bar andperm it t ing easier manoeuvring on the ground . The tai lsk id has been replaced by a wheel . Fro m the p i lo t ' s pointof v iew perhaps the most notable advance is the systemof cockp it heat in g which has been incorpo rated . Thiscollects air in a heater muff on each exhaust pipe and feedsi t in to the cockpit throu gh the bot tom of the fuselage. Th eam oun t of warm air thu s fed is control led by a va lve.The muffs are lagged to retain as much heat as possible forhigh-al t i tude work and a fabric bulkhead fi t ted across thefuselage behind the p i lo t prevents the warmed air escaping along the tai l .The s tandard engine of the Service Bulldog is the Bris to lJup i te r V I I F , g iv ing 490 h . p . at 8 ,000ft. I t is a supercharged, un-geared nine-cyl inder radial and, l ike themac hine in which i t is ins tal led , is obsolescent . Thisengine g ives the Bulldog a maximum speed in the neigh

bourhoo d of 170 m .p. h . and when operate d at ful l thr ot t leat 15,000ft. permits a range of about 350 miles.At the d isplay the Bulldog wil l be seen in the headquar te rs race ; a t t ack ing the s leeve t a rge t in the gunneryt ra in ing even t ; mak ing pa t t e rns wi th smoke; and de l iver

ing a low at tack on" n a t i v e s . " ,The Gloster Gauntlet is equipping anumber of squadrons and wil l be seenat Hendon in the capable hands of thepilots of No. 19 (F) Squadron, fromDux ford . W hen the Ga untle t f irstappeared (i t was known as the GlosterS.S.19B a nd w as, descended direct lyfrom an interceptor fighter calledthe Gloster S.S.18) i ts performance,for a machine in i ts category , wasquite as tounding, part icularly so because al though the whole machine wasa del ight to the eye and had a beaut ifully streamlined fuselage, its wingswere of the two-bay type which aregeneral ly regarded as being incompatible with high performance because ofthe resistance offered by the two setso f b rac ing s t ru t s wi th the i r a t t endan twires . This arrangem ent , of course, make s for except ionals t r e n g t h .Its engine was also notab le. Of the Bris to l Mercurypat tern , and designated the type VIS, i t was bui l t expressly for insta llatio n in high-spe ed fighters. Alth oughsomewhat s imilar to the Pegasus type found in so many ofthe R.A.F. 's machines , th is model was of smaller d iameter(offering less resistance) and gave a maximum output of645 h .p . at 15 ,500ft. At tha t heigh t the Gaun tlet wascapable of abou t 230 m. p.h . The service cei l ing wasgreater than that of any Service aircraft in exis tence atth at t ime , the f igure being 35,500ft . In the Gauntle t wehave, without doubt, the finest machine of its class in serv ice anywhere .

Better StillBu t eve n . t he G aun t le t is overshadowed by the l a tes tday- and -nigh t f ighter ordered for R. A .F . squa dron s. Themachine concernedthe Gladiatoris v irtual ly a development of the Gauntlet and represents the h ighest p i tch towhich th e single-seater da y-a nd- nig ht fighter a s we know-i t in th is country has been developed.The majo r i ty o f mi l i t a ry equ ipmen t and the ou t s tand ingfeature s of its design are readily app arent? in the accom pan ying special ly prepare d draw ing. See how, in comparison with the Gauntlet , one set of s t ru ts has been

el iminated (i t is claimed that in the matter of r ig id i ty theGladiator 's wings are equal to those of the Gauntlet) andhow the famil iar cross-axle undercarriage has g iven way toa cant i lever type with Dowty in ternal ly sprung wheels .Beneath the engine cowling (of longer chord and greaterefficiency tha n the Ga unt let 's) is a4^ Mercury IX which wil l del iver 840h . p . at 14 ,000ft .a great improvement even over the VIS in theG a u n t l e t .From the exterior another s t r ik ingfeature is the enclosed cockpit for thepilot. A fitment of thi s na tu re isl ikely to become s tandard equipmenton all sub seq uen t fighters. In conjunct ion with special cockpit heat in-systems it enables the pilot to fig!11and patro l at great al t i tudes almost inarmchai r comfor t .

Old faithful : The Bristol Bulldog Haday-and-night fighter with 490 h.p.Jupiter VIIF engine is scheduled forreplacement