THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID THE COMPLETE AIRMAN ' THE mm^ COMPLETE AIRMAN / BY G. G. BAILEY D.S.O., R.A.F.,Vsc., A.M.I.C.E. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.G. LONDON First Published in 1920 CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION ....... ix CHAP. I. MECHANICS ........ i II. THEORY OF FLIGHT ...... 10 III. FURTHER THEORY OF FLIGHT . .18 IV. THE AEROPLANE .... .25 V. MATERIALS OF CONSTRUCTION . .33 VI. PRINCIPLES OF CONSTRUCTION . .41 VII. THE MAIN PLANES. ..... 48 VIII. THE CONTROL SYSTEM ...... 56 IX. THE FUSELAGE ....... 64 X. STRUTS AND WIRES . .73 XI. THE PROPELLER . ..... 81 XII. THE AERO-ENGINE . .90 XIII. DETAILS . ENGINE . 99 XIV. THE CARBURETTOR . .106 XV. IGNITION ....... ,\ . 117 XVI. PETROL, OIL, AND WATER SYSTEMS . '. 128 XVII. ENGINE STARTING AND RUNNING . .138 XVIII. ENGINE FAULTS . , . .144 XIX. THE CARE OF ENGINES . '. 151 XX. INSTRUMENTS . .' . 158 b v vi THE COMPLETE AIRMAN CHAP. PAGE XXI. THE COMPASS AND AIR . THE SPEED INDICATOR . 165 XXII. RIGGING . , . .173 XXIII THE ERECTION OF A MACHINE . .181 XXIV. FLYING . INSTRUCTION v . .187 AERIAL , . XXV. MANOEUVRES . .193 XXVI. PRACTICAL FLYING . ... .202 XXVII. AERIAL NAVIGATION . .210 XXVIII. AERODROME AND BUILDINGS . 220 XXIX. THE EFFECTS OF ALTITUDE . .228 XXX. INSPECTION ....... 236 XXXI. OTHER AIRCRAFT . 242 XXXII. THE WEATHER . .. , . 251 APPENDIX . , . , 259 INDEX . , . , .265 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PLATE I. VICKERS - VIMY COMMERCIAL AEROPLANE ROLLS - ROYCE ENGINES . Frontispiece FACING PAGE II. ROLLS- ROYCE ENGINE EAGLE SERIES VIII 350 HORSE- POWER ........ 16 III. BENTLEY ROTARY ENGINE 200 HORSE-POWER . -32 IV. AIRCO 18 COMMERCIAL AEROPLANE NAPIER LION ENGINE . 48 V. SIDDELEY-DEASY PUMA ENGINE 240 HORSE-POWER . 64 VI. SOPWITH CAMEL AEROPLANE BENTLEY ROTARY ENGINE . 80 ' VII. BRITISH THOMSON-HOUSTON TYPE AV 12 MAGNETO . 100 CYLINDER BLOCK SHOWING VALVE GEARING NAPIER LION ENGINE ........ 100 VIII. THE ZENITH CARBURETTOR . .116 , IX. ABC DRAGONFLY LA. RADIAL ENGINE 340 HORSE-POWER . 130 X. MARTINSYDE SCOUT ROLLS-ROYCE ENGINE . .150 AIRCO LA. (1916) AEROPLANE BEARDMORE 120 HORSE- POWER ENGINE . .150 XL AIR SPEED INDICATOR DIAL AND HEAD '. 172 AERO TYPE COMPASS . .172 XII CLERGET no HORSE-POWER ROTARY ENGINE . .180 XIII. SOPWITH DRAGON DRAGONFLY ENGINE . , .. .192 XIV. NAPIER LION ENGINE 450 HORSE-POWER . .210 XV. THE SUPERMARINE BABY FLYING-BOAT .... 226 XVI. RIGID AIRSHIP SIR W. G. ARMSTRONG, WHITWORTH & Co. 248 INTRODUCTION book aims at providing the airman with a reason- ably complete outline of such knowledge as he ought " THISto possess. The title, Airman/' designates primarily the pilot, together with all who actually fly, but it is also intended in its wider application to include the director, the manager, etc., of commercial enterprises connected with aviation, as well as that very important person, the mechanic, the value of whose interest and intelligent co-operation is, unfortunately, often under-estimated. It is hoped that the book may also prove of interest to persons less directly concerned with its subject. The ideal airman must necessarily be somewhat versatile. He must have in him something of the sailor, the engineer, and the scientist, added to which he must possess more than an average share of common sense. " The title, Complete Airman," is inevitably somewhat mis- leading, since it is obviously impossible to compress within the limited space available in a book of this type more than a very small proportion of the matter which covers so wide a field. The fact that it is written with a view to being of use and of interest to such widely differing classes of airmen further adds to the difficulty of choosing what to include and what to omit. Theory as such has as far as possible been everywhere avoided. The aim throughout has been to enunciate fundamental prin- ciples and to point the way to their development rather than to describe the actual practices ultimately resulting from them. No catalogue of isolated facts, however complete, is to be com- pared, from the point of view of general utility, with a sound knowledge of principles, backed by common sense in their practical application. The illustrations are mainly diagram- x THE COMPLETE AIRMAN matic, and are in all cases designed to make principles clearer and more obvious. of The subject-matter the book has been split up into sections. Each chapter aims at dealing with one of these. The chapters, while thus available separately as a brief study of the particular subject with which they severally deal, nevertheless follow one another in such a way as to form a continuously developing course, which gives to the whole a certain element of com- pleteness. The first four chapters are devoted entirely to theory. The first consists of a brief survey of certain principles of elementary mechanics, together with a few remarks on the flow of air. It is designed to refresh the reader's memory as to matters prob- ably less familiar now than in former days. It is further intended to emphasise the fact that there is no mystery in the phenomenon of flight, and that a comparatively elementary knowledge of ordinary mechanics suffices to explain the problems of flight in general. Chapters II, III, and IV deal with the theory of flight. They lay no claim to completeness, but should, it is thought, be sufficient to put the reader in the way of understanding the theoretical aspect of most practical problems, chiefly by referring him to first principles. He is therefore urged thoroughly to master these chapters if not already familiar with their subject-matter. The care and construction of machines have been dealt with in subsequent chapters, and this from an essentially practical point of view. The principles of actual flying and of instruction in this are elsewhere discussed. A certain amount of space has been devoted to rules and advice which, while by no means new to the average pilot, are unfortunately less often acted upon than should be the case. Chapters dealing with such matters as may be described as auxiliary equipment, namely, sheds, aerodromes, etc., have been included. Airships, seaplanes, etc., have also received brief mention. The financial value of a sound knowledge of aeronautics will be apparent to all airmen engaged in commercial enterprise. INTRODUCTION xi The general cost of wear and tear in any flying concern must inevitably form a very high percentage of the working expenses. Nothing can so effectually reduce the amount of this outlay as a good practical grasp of the principles of aeronautics generally " " on the part of all concerned. For example, wear and tear " includes crashes," which are nearly always the result of either ignorance or carelessness. Owing to the wide field which has to be covered, even in an elementary work such as the present one, it is impossible to more than touch on the various subjects involved. It is no easy matter to allot the available space amongst these, or to decide as to their relative importance. In this the personal equation which can never wholly be eliminated adds a further complication. Points which present considerable difficulty to one airman, and are therefore of the greatest importance to him, are relatively unimportant to another whose difficulties perhaps lie in quite a different direction. Herein lies the main problem from the writer's point of view, namely, what to include, what to exclude, what to emphasise, and what to pass over with as brief a mention as possible. Suggestions as to modifica- tions in these respects will be welcomed. A further difficulty lies in the fact that the aeroplane must necessarily undergo a certain process of evolution as the result of the change from war to peace conditions. Whereas in " war-time the chief necessities were speed climb and manoeuvre- ability," the main needs of peace-time aviation are reasonable speed combined with capacity for weight-carrying, and economy of running and upkeep. In any case, however, it is tolerably certain that many years must elapse before this evolutionary " " process results in the production of the fool-proof aeroplane, the flying and care of which necessitates no technical knowledge whatsoever. In conclusion the author wishes to thank all the various makers who have so kindly supplied photos of machines, engines, etc., as illustrations for this book. He wishes also to express his gratitude to Mr. G. Watts for his valuable help in reading through some of the chapters, and for making many valuable suggestions with regard to them. THE COMPLETE AIRMAN CHAPTER I MECHANICS chapter is intended to put before the reader the minimum amount of theoretical mechanics required THISto enable him to understand the terms and explanations which occur in other parts of the book. The vector method of indicating forces and velocities graphi- cally is very commonly used in mechanics. A force or velocity may be fully represented by a straight line. The angle at which it is drawn shows its angle relative to other forces or velocities. The sense in which it acts is indicated by an arrowhead. The line is " termed a Vector." Diagrams of forces only will be here dis- cussed. Consider the simple case of a system of weights supported by strings over pulleys, as shown in Fig. i. The forces acting at the centre are the pulls of the two strings and the force of its gravity (i.e. own weight) acting vertically downwards. Supposing that the weight of the body be 3 Ibs., the vector diagram representing the forces acting on it is as shown. Obviously the system will move into such a position that it is in equilibrium. That is to say, it will i THE COMPLETE AIRMAN move so as to adjust the angles at which the various forces act until they balance one another.