The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-07-20
German Contractors DiCkef
With Allison Company
for Equipment.
CRAFT TO CROSS OCEAN
Colossus of sky to Have
Wings 800 Feet Wide,
Double FuSelage.

horsepower engines LOT a huge
trans Atlantic passenger airplane
under construction in Germany may
be obtained by the Allison Engineer
ing Company, Indianapolis.
The Allison company just has
shipped a 500-horsepower, "a
cylinder air-cooled engine, of a type
similar to those used at army air
service experimental station at Will
bur Wright field, Dayton, o. Lind
berghs trans-A Atlantic motor had
220 horsepower. 1t was a Wright
Whirlwind J-5.
After block tests, this engine, the
largest ever built for aircraft will
be installed in an army bomber
plane, originally designed for three
smaller engines.
Known as Allison X-452O
The engine, designed and built
entirely in the Allison shops, Speed
way City, is known as the Allison
X-4520, the figure 1920 represent
ing the cubic inch piston displace-
ment
1t is of the perfect K type, hav-
ing four rows of six cylinders each.
the rows extending on four sides
from a central crankshaft, giving
the appearance of a large x when
viewed from the end.
The engine weighs only $500
pounds, less than two pounds a
horsepower unit. 1t has double ig-
milton, the twenty-four cylinders re-
curing forty-eight spark plugs. The
length of its crankshaft is six feet,
With wide open throttle, it will con-
sumo 125 gallons of gasoline an hour.
The engine was ordered by the
Government to determine if one
large engine in plane is more eff
Gent than three smaller motors for
bombing and similar type planes.
Safety Is Lesser Factor
In bombing planes, it was ex-
planned by N. H. Gilman. general
manager and chief engineer of the
Allison plant, the object is for the
plane to travel the farthest with
the heaviest load.
The safety factor does not enter
into this type of aircraft perform
ance as much as in passenger planes.
A feature of the engine of inter-
est to radio fans is that all iqnf-
ton wires and coils are shielded to
prevent interference with radio re-
ception.
Wires and coils, which set up in
reference by sending out small
spark waves, are covered with metal,
which is grounded.
The German company building
the huge transatlantic passenger
plane is interested greatly in the
new Allison engine, and has been
in close touch with Gilman for sew
eral months. The ten engines on
the German plane, however, if the
order is landed by the local firm,
will be water-cooled.
Wings 300 Feet Wide
The plane, which is expected to
be ready for service probably early
next spring, will have wings 300
feet wide and eight feet deep, with
a length of 1872 feet.
Passengers, crew, and engines will
be located in the commodious wings
OF the monoplane. Across the en-
tire front of the wings will be a
companionway with a glass front in
the wing. Aside from permitting
clear vision and light, the glass front
Will prevent ice and sleet from COL
Letting and weighing down the
plane.
Back of the companionway will
be the cabin sections. Farther back
will be an air-tight compartment, to
prevent sinking in case the pontoons
fail.
At the rear of the wings will be
the ten 1,5O0-horsepower engines.
propellers extending from the rear
and pushing the plane, instead of
pulling 1t from the front, as in most
land planes.
Six POntOOns Used
Six pontoons, sixty feet long and
eighteen feet wide, will keep the
ship afloat on the water. In the
pontoons will be oil and gasoline. 4,
food, mail, express, freight and
other supplies
Connecting the wings and pom
toons will be six large struts. or
wells, hollow to permit access to
the supplies in the pontoons.
The plane will have a double
fuselage. In the ordinary airplane
the fuselage contains the pilot, fuel,
freight and engine.
One fuselage, fifteen feet wide
and 1872 feet long, will be the dining
hall. The other will serve as a
recreation room for dancing and
other entertainment.
Total Lift 1913 Tons
Total lift Of the plane is 1913 tons.
Empty, it weighs about sixty tons.
With ten l,5o0-horsepower engines
it will have a cruising speed, across
the Atlantic, of 100 miles an hour.
Originally it was built for ten $50
horsepower engines, to attain q
speed of 1870 miles an hour.
Another German company is plan
ming an even larger ocean plane,
with a wing span of 400 feet, to
carry probably 300 passengers. Ger
man companies are understood se-
cretly to be designing airplane en-
gines as large as 5000 horsepower.
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Tot Hunts Cats, Kills Brother
ANNAPOLIS, Md, JULY 20.-Mary