The Knowledge Bank at The Ohio State University

Ohio State Engineer

Title: Some New Aircraft Types

Creators: Ewing, Robert M.

Issue Date: Oct-1930

Publisher: Ohio State University, College of Engineering

Citation: Ohio State Engineer, vol. 14, no. 1 (October, 1930), 10, 26-30.

URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1811/34850

Appears in Collections: Ohio State Engineer: Volume 14, no. 1 (October, 1930)

10 THE OHIO STATE ENGINEER

SOME NEW AIRCRAFT TYPESBy ROBERT M. EWING, M.E. 3

The past year has been very productive so faras new aircraft types are concerned. There havebeen departures from the old established rules fordesign, as there should be, and not all of themhave been even partially successful. However, anumber of new planes have been put on themarket and some of them have been able toweather the period of industrial depression. Thesenew planes have been developed in every fieldfrom that of the light sport and training ship tothe massive transport and air liners. The Gug-genheim Safe Aircraft Competition has done moreto stimulate new developments along this linethan any other single thing during the past year.

Before discussing in detail the types broughtout for entry in the Guggenheim contest it mightbe well to read over the tests which the planeswere required to pass before they could competefor the prizes which aggregated $150,000.00. Atthe first announcement of the competition manydesigners professed their intention to enter planesbut a study of the requirements caused the greatmajority of them to change their minds. Thetests were as follows:

1. The aircraft must maintain level and controlledflight at a speed not greater than 35 miles an hour andmust be able to glide for three minutes with all powerswitched off, at a speed not to exceed 38 miles an hour.

2. The aircraft must come to. a complete stop within100 feet of the spot where it first touches the ground inlanding.

3. A steady glide must be made over an obstruction35 feet high and the aircraft must come to a completestop within 300 feet of the base of the obstruction. Thisis to test the ships ability to make a forced landing in asmall space surrounded by wires, houses or trees.

4. The aircraft must take off after not more than a300 foot start along the ground and must then clear a35-foot-high obstruction 500 feet from the starting point.

5. To test its ability to approach an uncertain landingplace in event of engine failure, the aircraft, with allpower switched off, must glide at an angle of not morethan 8 degrees to the horizon and must also be able toglide at an angle of more than 16 degrees to the horizonat a speed not greater than 45 miles an hour.

6. In normal flight, at a speed of 45 to 100 miles anhour, the pilot must take both hands off the controls, leav-ing them entirely free for at least 5 minutes to demon-strate the ability of the craft to right itself after dis-turbances from wind gusts or from the application ofcontrols.

7. The aircraft must show that if the engine suddenlyfails on a steep climb, no abnormal attitude, such as a stailfollowed by a nose dive, will result and that the craft willdescend on a steady, easy glide, without intervention bythe pilot. A frequent error following engine failure is the

18 Passenger Curtiss "Condor"

pilot's tendency to pull back on his controls instead ofnosing down the craft into a glide. The aircraft mustdemonstrate that it is foolproof against such an error, andone of the tests requires that the power shall be switchedoff on the climb, the elevator control pulled back towardthe maximum extent, and that the craft shall under suchconditions, descend on a steep glide at a speed of not morethan 40 miles an hour and under perfect control.

8. The ship must be provided with three controls, whichare independently effective about corresponding axes ofthe aircraft at all attitudes.

9. The aircraft must show its ability to take off andto land on a plot 500 feet square surrounded by a 25-footobstruction. To test this properly a portion of the fieldwill be marked off, and four observers placed 25 feet abovethe ground will sight across the boundaries of the plot.After the craft has left the ground, the observer willswitch off the engine when he pleases, and the pilot willland the craft within the square without passing throughthe imaginary obstruction. The test will demonstrate theability of the craft to use restricted territory with badapproaches. The aircraft must be able to taxi under itsown power in any direction in a wind whose mean speedis at least 20 miles an hour.

These requirements are enough to give anyaeronautical designer a bad chill. The prize waswon by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Com-pany with their Curtiss "Tanager" which was theonly ship entered in the contest which could passall the above requirements.

It seems fitting that, in view of the last namedfact, we should first discuss the Curtiss "Tan-ager."

Basically the "Tanager" is a three-place cabinbiplane departing from conventional design prin-cipally by the addition of three safety devices—anentirely new type of aileron, automatic wing slotsand controllable wing flaps. While the aileronsmay be moved relative to each other in maneuver-ing the plane, they are automatic in every otherrespect for regardless of the plane's altitude orposition in the air, they at all times automaticallyassume a position parallel to the air currents setup by the motion of the plane in flight. Theseailerons insure control in a stall as well as duringnormal flight, reduce yawing and spinning tend-encies, and make rudder correction and controlunnecessary. They are mounted at the tips ofthe lower wing where they operate in air undis-turbed by the wings and where they do not dis-turb the lifting characteristics of the wings. Athigh speed the tip of the lower wing fairs into theaileron section giving clean streamlining. Themechanism which operates this aileron is as sim-ple as normal aileron control.

Front slots and controllable rear flaps are fittedalong the entire length of the wing. Each flaphas a small aperture forward of its leading edge,which prevents the flap from reaching the burblepoint at the high angles necessary for maximumlift. Tunnel tests were made in order to securethe best lift when using automatic slots, and anew type of roller support was developed in thisconnection. This installation is entirely auto-matic and is easily adjusted so that all slots overthe span open simultaneously. The slots startopening at about 12 degrees angle of attack of theairplane; they open gradually to their maximumposition of 16 degrees. There is no sudden open-

(Continued on Page 26)

OCTOBER, 1930

26 THE OHIO STATE ENGINEER

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NEW AIRCRAFT TYPES(Continued from Page 10)

ing, and since they are provided with buffers,there is no jar caused by their operation. Flapsat the trailing edge of the wing are operated bya hand crank, the only added control.

The "Tanager" has been landed repeatedlyfrom a height of 200 feet by rolling the stabilizerall the way tail heavy, pulling the stick all the wayback and holding this position until the landingis effected. This condition will throw many shipsinto a spin. When the controls are in these posi-tions the "Tanager" settles in a landing attitudeand lands itself with no greater shock to the shipthan accompanies a normal landing. The engineis a six cylinder, staggered, radial air-cooled Cur-tiss Challenger of 170 h.p. and is fitted with shortexhaust stacks. The plane has a high speed of110 miles an hour and a minimum speed of 35miles an hour. Its absolute ceiling is 15,000 feet.

Other planes entered in the Guggenheim com-petition but unable to meet all the requirementswere a Cunningham-Hall, Ford-Leigh, Uppercu-Burnelli, Handley-Page, Schroeder-Wentworth,and Taylor Brothers.

A new plane recently introduced by an estab-lished company is the Boeing "Monomail." It isa low wing monoplane of all-metal constructionand is characterized by its ability to carry largepay loads at high speed. The ship is equippedwith retractable landing gear. Powered with aPratt & Whitney Hornet, Series B, rated at 575h.p. at 1,950 r.p.m., the plane can make 158 milesan hour and cruises at 140. Its landing speed is60 miles an hour. With a cruising radius of 600miles the plane can climb 850 feet per minute. Itsservice ceiling is 14,000 feet.

There has sprung up in the last year a numberof very small, light planes of either one or twopassenger capacity. Among these is the newAmerican Eaglet Monoplane. This ship, manu-factured by the American Eagle Aircraft Cor-poration of Kansas City, is a featherweight para-sol monoplane built in either one or two placemodels. Powered with a Cleone, two cylinderengine of 25 h.p. it has a speed of approximately60 miles per hour. This is the one place model.The two place Eaglet uses a three cylinderSzekeley engine of 35 h.p. The landing gear isa conventional rigid inverted V type and isequipped with 7" x 16" Airwheels on 4-inch hubs.

(Continued on Page 28)

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THE OHIO STATE ENGINEER 27

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NEW AIRCRAFT TYPES(Continued from Page 26)

The ship's payload is 175 lbs. and it can cruiseunder this load for 3*/£ hours. The AmericanEaglet will sell for $995 with the Cleone power-plant and $1,395 with the Szekeley.

Transport ships also come in for their share ofthe new developments. One of the most notableplanes of this type recently built is the all-metalBurnelli transport. Built to carry 20 passengersand two pilots, the new ship borders closely on theflying wing principle. The fuselage is of airfoilcontour 12' wide x 36' long x 6' 8" deep, and hasrectangular cross section. In plan it tapers from12 feet at the rear of the cabin section to 1' 6" atthe trailing edge, from which the tail outriggersare attached. All main wing, landing gear, andtail fittings are of heat treated chrome-molyb-denum steel or forgings of similar material.46" x 20" Goodyear Airwheels with brakes areinstalled. They use only 12 lbs. pressure and pro-vide safe bearing surface to allow landing on asoft surface. Two 600 h.p. water cooled motorsare used mounted side by side in the unusuallywide nose of the ship. The pilot's cockpit is infront of the cabin and is of the open type. Whenloaded the gross weight of the monoplane is17,000 pounds.

Probably the most peculiar looking new planeis the Curtiss-Bleecker Helicopter. This machineconsists essentially of four large wings or bladesmounted at right angles to each other and revolv-ing in a horizontal plane. The wings are revolvedby means of four four-bladed propellers, onemounted forward of the leading edge of eachwing, about nine feet from the center of themachine. The propellers are driven through agear and shaft arrangement from one centralPratt & Whitney Wasp air-cooled engine which ismounted horizontally with the propeller shaftpointing upward. To each of the wings areattached outriggers on which are mounted eleva-tors or tail surfaces. The fuselage is in the formof a small car mounted beneath the wings, thepilot's cockpit in front of the center attachmentand the passenger's place behind. Conventionalstick and rudder controls are used. Althoughtests have not been completed, the normal highspeed is expected to be about 70 miles per hour.

One of the few American-built low wing cabinmonoplanes is the Alexander "Bullet," produced

(Continued on Page 30)

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THE OHIO STATE ENGINEER 29

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30 THE OHIO STATE ENGINEER

NEW AIRCRAFT TYPES(Continued from Page 28)

by the Alexander Aircraft Co. It is powered witha Wright J-6 5-cylinder, 165 h.p., radial engineand carries four people. During flight tests theBullet took off in 17 seconds with full load.Among the plane's features are a retractable land-ing gear with a double safety lock to be used whenthe gear is in extended position. The landinggear is of the combination spring and eleo type;visibility is excellent from all seats. The "Bullet"has a high speed of 148 m.p.h., cruises at 124 andlands at 48.

AUTHOR'S NOTE : The author wishes to acknowledge certain detailssecured from Aero Digest.