June 1, 1918

June 1, 1918

View Full Issue Table of Contents

News of the Fortnight

The Electric Dynamometer

By C. F. Scott11 min

The Friedrichshafen Bombing Biplane

View Full Issue
More Features
610611

News of the Fortnight

Inauguration of the Air Mail The inauguration of the regular air mail service between Washington, D. C., and New York took place, as scheduled, on May 15. Although no formal ceremonies attended the inauguration of the service, there was a large gathering of officials at both terminals.
596597

The Electric Dynamometer

The extensive use of electric dynamometers for aviation motor testing prompts the presentation of these notes on the operation of dynamometers for the benefit of those who are called upon to operate them. The operator finds the electric dynamometer so radically different in most respects from the propeller or club test which he may have seen elsewhere that he is at first apt to regard his task as difficult or complicated.

By C. F. Scott11 min

592593

The Friedrichshafen Bombing Biplane

This machine, which bears the marks F.D.H. G.3. 326/17, was brought down by anti-aircraft fire at Isbergues on the night of February 16. A shell made a direct hit on the righthand engine at a height of 8,000 to 9,000 feet, after which the machine covered about six miles and made a fairly good landing.
608609

Digest of the Foreign Aeronautical Press

Flight (London), April 18, 1918 The Pfalz Pursuit Biplane—Among the more recent German pursuit machines there is one which up to the present has been little known to the general public, although it is employed to a considerable extent by the enemy.
590591

Air Propulsion

Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois This paper describes experiments with propellers, asserting that the accepted screw theory of air propulsion does not accord with the facts. Air is impelled by a propeller at a speed approaching twice the screw advance for small blade angles, hence the theory of reflection or batting action should replace the screw theory.

By Morgan Brooks9 min

606607

The 1917 Fokker Triplane

The following report has been issued by the British Air Ministry on the Fokker triplane, which was briefly described in the last issue of AVIATION. A fuller report may be issued in the near future, if further inquiry shows that the machine has features of interest.
600601

International Aircraft Standards Conference

The American Aircraft Commission, which spent several weeks in Europe recently in conference with engineering representatives of the Allies, on the formulation of harmonious specifications of materials and mounting and other dimensions of parts for aircraft, was constituted of three representatives from the Society of Automotive Engineers, three from the International Aircraft Standards Board, two from the United States Signal Corps, and one each from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the Bureau of Standards, the United States Navy, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the American Society for Testing Materials.

By Coker F. Clarkson8 min

598599

The S. E. 5A Pursuit Biplane

In the March issue of the German aviation magazine Luftwaffe the following description of the British S. E. 5A pursuit biplane was published, a translation of which is here reprinted by courtesy of The Aeroplane: The airplane in question was built by Vickers, Ltd., and was numbered B.507, bearing further the initial A as well as a white circle.
608609

International Aircraft Standards

2W2—Mill Specifications for Aircraft Spruce TIMBER.—1. The following species of spruce may be used in aircraft construction: Sitka spruce (Picea sitkensis), red spruce (Picea rubens), white spruce (Picea canadensis). The trees from which the logs are cut shall be in a healthy condition at the time of felling.
602603

Official Description of the Liberty Engine

The first official description of the Liberty aero-engine was issued on May 15 by the War Department, after many fanciful reports as to its characteristics had generally gained credence. The official statement makes highly interesting reading on several accounts as one is able to judge that the Liberty engine does not embody any revolutionary feature in either method of construction or operation.
May 151918 June 151918