© Wonders of World Aviation 2015-
Part 17
Part 17 of Wonders of World Aviation was published on Tuesday 28th June 1938, price 7d.
This part included a colour plate showing the four Bristol Jupiter engines of the Imperial Airways liner Scylla. It formed part of the article on Modern Aero Engines.
This colour plate previously appeared as the cover to part 10.
The Cover
This week’s cover illustration, based on a photograph supplied by KLM, shows a Douglas low-wing monoplane at Schipol Airport, Amsterdam.
Contents of Part 17
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (Part 2)
Civil Flying as a Career
Royal Dutch Air Lines
Modern Aero Engines - 1
The Four Bristol Jupiter Engines of the Scylla (colour plate)
Reading Weather Charts
Survey in the Empire (Part 1)
Royal Dutch Air Lines
It is a tribute to the enterprise and efficiency of the Dutch that the initials KLM are known throughout the world as representing high standards of progress in civil air transport. The Dutch were among the first people in Europe to make a commercial success of fast, long-distance transport by air. Although Holland is a small country, her colonial possessions are large, populous and valuable. The extensive Netherlands East Indies have been brought within six days of Amsterdam by air and the whole of Europe within one day. This chapter is by Sidney Howard.
(Pages 463-467 )
Modern Aero Engines - 1
The normal aero engines of today works on the same principle as the ordinary motor car engine. This chapter describes the various types of aero engines in use today. These are gnerally in-line, V or radial types of power unit. There is no need to stress the importance of the power unit of the modern aircraft, and this series will deal authoritatively with the many different types of aero engine now in use. This first chapter is by N. S. Muir and is the first article in the series on Modern Aero Engines.
(Pages 468-474 )
KLM Routes to the Far East
THE KLM ROUTE TO THE FAR EAST. During the winter months the tack followed to Athens is nearly 200 miles longer than the summer route, which is via Leipzig, Vienna and Budapest. This greater distance, however, is justified by the finer weather generally experienced when the aircraft are flying via Marseilles and Naples. After Athens the route is the same for winter and summer services.
(Page 466)
European Routes of KLM
THE EUROPEAN ROUTES of the KLM services. Many countries are served by these routes, which begin at the Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam. The dotted lines indicate the summer and winter routes taken by the air liners on the long-distance route to Batavia. There are three routes from Amsterdam to England. Two of these are to London, one direct and the other via Rotterdam. The third route is to Doncaster, Manchester and Liverpool.
(Page 464)
Details of the Special BA Double Eagle
DETAILS OF THE SPECIAL B.A. DOUBLE EAGLE designed for air survey work. The numbers represent the following items: 1. Elevator unit; 2. Rudder unit; 3. Accumulator; 4. Air drier; 5. Drift sight control; 6. Generator; 7. Air-pressure gauge; 8. Test cock; 9. Oil reservoir; 10. Pitch control; 11. Lateral trim lever; 12. Pitch control; 13. Course change cock; 14. Main control cock; 15. Drift sight; 16. Aileron gyro unit; 17. Azimuth control; 18. Williamson camera (cross supports not shown); 19. Photographer’s place; 20. Cable and pipe runs; 21. Gipsy Six (series II) engine; 22. Air compressor; 23. Air expansion chamber; 24. Auxiliary fuel tank.
(Page 480)
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (Part 2)
The romantic story of Colonel Lindbergh who, by his superb flight from New York to Paris in 1927, earned a place among the immortals. This chapter is by H. G. Castle, and is concluded from part 16.
(Page 457)
A Giant Air Liner
THE COMMAND OF A GIANT AIR LINER is open to ambitious pilots. Experience and a record of safe flying are the chief requirements for the higher paid positions. A pilot may continue active flying until the age of 45 or more, and he thus has ample time in which to become widely experienced and to obtain a responsible post in the higher grades. The Imperial Airways liner Horatius is illustrated here.
(Page 462)
Civil Flying as a Career
SHORT AIR ROUTES such as from the English mainland to the Isle of Wight may provided a pilot with his first post. Such routes do not make the same demands on a pilot as long overseas routes. This picture shows an Airspeed Envoy, Series II, with a Wolseley Scorpio II engine, in flight above the Solent.
ONE OF THE ATTRACTIONS of an airline pilot’s career is the opportunity to visit overseas countries. This picture shows the Imperial Airways liner Hanno, at Gwadar, on the coast of the Baluchistan Agency, India. The Hanno is a four-engined liner of the Handley Page 42 type. It has a wing span of 130 feet, a length of nearly 90 feet and a height of 27 feet. The weight when fully loaded is a little over thirteen tons.
(Page 458)
A Douglas DC-3 Air Liner used by KLM
ONE OF THE DOUGLAS DC-3 AIR LINERS used on the KLM long-distance service to Batavia. These aircraft, of American design, are built in Holland under licence, by the Fokker Company. The passenger’s comfort is increased by the provision of only twelve seats in the cabin instead of the twenty-one for which the machines were designed. These aircraft carry a useful load of 8,120 lb at a cruising speed of 178 miles an hour. In Dutch the letters IJ and Y are interchangeable; thus Maatschappij and Maatschappy (partly seen in the photograph) are both correct.
(Page 463)
Reading Weather Charts
The study of the weather uses as its raw material the observations made at numerous stations distributed over a wide area. Each country has an official weather service, which maintains a number of stations. All the observations are sent to the headquarters of the meteorological service and the observations are plotted on large-scale charts. This chapter describes this process and explains what the symbols, lines and figures mean on meteorological diagrams. This chapter is by Professor D. Brunt.
(Pages 475-478 )
The Area of a Depression
THE AREA OF A DEPRESSION generally has a warm sector distinct from the remainder. The air in the warm sector is forced to climb up over the cold air in the rear of the depression. The warm air often climbs to a great height and forms heavy cumulo-nimbus clouds such as those seen in this picture.
(Page 475)
Survey in the Empire (Part 1)
Few people realize that only a small area of the world has been accurately surveyed and mapped. The greater part of the world is inadequately surveyed, as the maps are on scales smaller than 1:100,000. In the British Empire about four-fifths of the total area is inadequately mapped. The work of the pioneers of air survey has brought the science to the stage where its benefits are available not only to Governments, public bodies and large mining, engineering, railway, electrical and other undertakings, but also to the individual farmer, prospectors and citizen at a cost within his means. This chapter, by Sidney Howard, describes the work of the air survey companies used throughout the British Empire. The article is the fourth in the series on Air Photography and is concluded in part 18.
(Pages 479-480 )
Checking the Engine
CHECKING OVER THE ENGINE before his great flight. Lindbergh used a Wright Whirlwind engine of 220 horse-power. It was of the radial type and had nine cylinders. Although Lindbergh had every confidence in his engine, he did not overlook the possibility of a forced landing. He reckoned that the air in the petrol tanks would keep him afloat on the sea if the weather was not too rough.
(Page 457)
Civil Flying as a Career
Well paid positions are available to the civil pilot of long experience, and the career offers a degree of freedom and responsibility not often equalled in other walks of life. In this chapter many important practical aspects of the career of the civil pilot are reviewed. Details of the qualifications necessary and of the prospects are clearly outlined, and the many subjects upon which this chapter touches indicates how varied and interesting is the work of the civil pilot.
The chapter is by Arthur Clark.
(Pages 458-462 )
FULL SUPER-
Modern Aero Engines
THE FOUR BRISTOL JUPITER ENGINES of the Imperial Airways liner Scylla. At a height of 5,000 feet these air-cooled radial engines develop a maximum of 600 horse-power each at 2,200 revolutions a minute. Each engine is mounted in the font of a metal nacelle which is supported by two vertical tubes, one at the front and one at the back. An oil tank for each engines is contained in the streamline nacelle behind the engine; each tank holds sixteen gallons. The petrol tanks, of which there are three, are in the centre section of the upper plane; these tanks feed petrol to the engines by gravity. The total capacity of the petrol tanks is 720 gallons. The Scylla has a cruising speed of approximately 105 miles an hour at 5,000 feet.
(Facing page 468)
