The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-03-30

ing from continent to continent, on it's
 own power.
 Tn the same way the seaplane which
 can cross the Atlantic from west to east
 because the winds are on it's tail but
 must come back on steamship be-
 cause from east to west the winds are
 against it, is not going to achieve a
 crosses from South America to Africa
 out of the regular trade paths will in the
 same manner be doing half job. And
 people will wait for the half jobs to go
 and the jobs to arrivei For this reason a land machine will never be the trul?
 successful transatlantic aircraft. It might get across safely, but it would be help less if it had to descend to the water for only few minutes.
 'The crossing, then, may be assumed to be a real one, and not an imitation
 How can we state with certainty the type or aircraft which will make it?
 We can fix on the type becaue the flight is purely physical matter, like the
 transcontinental trip of an engine or
 motor car. Gasoline is the great prob
 lem. And since we know how much
 aeroplanes of different sizes will carry,
 we make some very accurate caleula-
 tions
 "The maximum that any aeroplane will safely carry as a load Gncluding
 crew. oil, gasoline, food, etc) is the
 amount of it's own weight. In other
 words, the load of a machine must not
 exceed 50 per cent of the total weight to be carried. It we start out with the 90 horsepower motor, and ask what it's
 performance would be. Eve will find cer-
 tain condition dictating its performance The minimum distance to be flown Tn crossing the ocean is acknowledged to be 1900 miles. Allow 15 per cent for drift etc, and we have the equivalent Of
 20Oo miles, At 100 horsepower which is
 certainly a high rate of speed, 99 horsepower motor would require ~ hours supply of gas. Consuming about 9 gallons an hour, the motor would thus
 need 1s0 gallons as it's total supply, or in pounds, 6.2X1S0, or 3 total of 1ll6 lbs
 This would make the aeropiane weigh
 bout 5000 pounds which is too heavy
 load for a 90 horsepower motor to carry
 economically.
 "A i50 Ii. p. machine might lift the re-
 quired load, but two facts prevent 1t
 from doing so in any practical manner. The first is that space is not available in the machine for the gasoline. The second is that the head resistance which would be occasioned if it were loaded on would not permit successful flight. 400 h D. Liberty or the Curtiss K-12 engine requires 36 gallons of gasoline per hour, and this revves the question of weight, as 990O pounds of gasoline would have to be carried-obviously an impossiblity. Even the three-motored type of mammoth 1 flying boat would not be altogether feas- ! ible In round figures 12,000 pounds Of | gasoline would have to be carried. This | could be done; the N-C-1 can carry l load of over 24000 pounds, so that l2,oOO pounds would not pass the 50 per cent l load limit previously discussed, but diff | ficulty not mentioned as yet would arise 1 Suppose one motor should cease to func- 1 ticn. The triple-motored aeroplane would I be in the same position as the single 1 motored machine, for the two motors would not support it in flight-certainly | rot until it had completed one-half of the trip and accordingly lessened the load or gasoline. and probably not until 1t had
 covered three-fourths of the required 1906 miles. 1 to- a four-motored flying boat we have | every reason to believe that the problem would be solved The proportion or weight carried to power gradually in- creasing, it would here reach a point where three motors could support fly l ing craft which would carry ample gas 1 olne to fly from New Foundland to I 1 make the more difficult trip against the west to east winds which prevail at prac- I tically all times. The problem of what aeroplane can make the transatlantic l flight thus finds it's solution. And need l not say that boats are now being con l structed on both sides of the water which l will meet the requirements of the great 1 journey Theff builders know why they have waited, and when an adequate aero plane makes the journey the public will 1 realize what aeronautical engineers had in mind when they put off the attempt | at crossing so long"
 Mr. Russell has been connected with flying ever since 1909. As general man ager of the Curtiss Engineering corpora tion he has been in close touch with the men who have designed and built the lbig flying boat types for the United States l navy, and is in a position to discuss with authority the transatlantic flying situa-