SEPTEMBER 12,

1935.

FLIGHT.

285

TECHNICAL ASPECTS of the KING'S CUP RACE

:

Importance of Glossy Finish : Tapered Wings and Efficiency : The Undercarriage Question : Popularity of Wing Flaps : Variablev""v;V' pitch Airscrews '":::. :-" ,"'-::*-'-\
;;

- - ' ' ^..--.'.*-; ;:-

NE more King's Cup air race has been flown, and once more it becomes desirable to study the results with a view to discovering any useful technical lessons which may have emerged in order to see how far they can be applied to future development. First and foremost, the speed of " T o m m y " Rose's Falcon surprised everyone, including the handicappers, and one naturally asks how Mr. Miles managed to get such an amazing speed out of this particular machine. There was little enough to distinguish it from Mr. Upton's Falcon, except that it had smaller wheels and did not carry navigation lights. It is believed that some relatively small changes were made in the windscreen arrangement of the two Falcons, but although the particular form used is probably sensitive to quite small changes, it is scarcely to be assumed that the whole explanation is to be found there. The finish of the Falcon flown by Miles was rather more glossy than that of Lipton's machine. This may hav accounted for a few m.p.h.. Individual engines of any given type do differ among themselves, and " Tommy " may have been fortunate in having a particularly good specimen. One can but assume that the very great improvement in performance must have been due to the cumulative effect of several small items. It is. perhaps, too much to expect Mr. Miles to disclose the full details!

For several years designers have been divided on the question of undercarriages. The retractable type has found a few adherents, but in the race one found "trousered" and " s p a t t e d " undercarriages in the majority, and certainly the speeds put up by some o( the machines so equipped do not lead one to regard them as serious obstacles to efficiency. They are probably lighter than .the retractable type, and less complicated mechanically. Against that may perhaps have to be placed a certain tendency to clogging the wheels with mud when the machine is operated from soggy aerodromes. Mr. Miles has plumped for the "trousered" type, and thw aerodynamic efficiency of his machines cannot be denied. It is somewhat curious that this type of undercarriage has taken so long to establish itself in view of the fact that it was used twelve or thirteen years ago on the German Aachen gliders, one being flown by Mr. Jeyes at the Itford glider meeting in 1923. Differences were to be observed in the " spatted " undercarriages. Capt. Percival, for example, lets his " s p a t s " follow the contour of the wheel part of the way down, and then adds a tail fairing ending in a short vertical knife edge. Others curve the. top of the " s p a t ' away from the top of the wheel, to end in a point at the tail of the " s p a t . " It seems likely that in view of the* flow around a "spatted " wheel the Percival type may be veiy slightly the better arrangement. " .:,-..,

SIX R

p for the oil supply under pressure to the variable-pitch airscrew, and the higher compression ratio, this engine is similar to the Gipsy VI installed in the winning Falcon monoplane on which T. Rose won the King's Cup Race. The engine is rated at 205 b.h.p. and has a capacity of 9,186 c.c