A couple interesting airplanes

Everskyward

Everskyward

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Everskyward
How would you like to fly this?

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We decided that the gears change the pitch of the prop.

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Many more pictures here.

I thought this was a very interesting aviation museum, I've had my eye on it as someplace I wanted to visit on one of our trips here. You can even fly in if you want. It's located on a small airport.

Canada Aviation and Space Museum
 
Ah yes a Heinkel He 162 Volksjager. Nice. But I prefer the ME 163 Komet. :D
 

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I'd be interested to see the hidden parts of the pitch change mechanism. I'd guess that there are more gears inside the spinner, then a shaft straight back through the crank to the cockpit. The engine appears to be a rotary, BTW.

Dave
 
cessna182b said:
I'd be interested to see the hidden parts of the pitch change mechanism. I'd guess that there are more gears inside the spinner, then a shaft straight back through the crank to the cockpit. The engine appears to be a rotary, BTW.
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I know that the airplane is an Avro 504K and the prop is called a Turnbull variable pitch propeller but I haven't been able to find any diagrams of how it works.
 
No diagram, but

From:

http://www.aaronsklar.com/aaronskla...dian_Innovations/Variable_Pitch_Propeller.htm


W.R. Turnbull, born in St. John New Brunswick, first proposed using an electric motor to vary the pitch of the propeller. The advantage to this design was that it did not require any modifications to the engine itself to provide the oil to power a hydraulic mechanism. He designed his first system in 1925 and tested it in 1927. The tests were successful and the American company Curtiss-Wright licensed the design and began to modify it, but it took several years before the company began to incorporate the new propeller into its Navy and Army Air Force aircraft.

Everskyward said:
I know that the airplane is an Avro 504K and the prop is called a Turnbull variable pitch propeller but I haven't been able to find any diagrams of how it works.
Click to expand...
 
Steve said:
In the video biography of Bob Hoover he talks about flight testing the 162. AT one point he describes a series of photos taken of one disintegrating while being tested by another pilot.

another rather detailed technical video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhNHPghJjpY

too bad it's in Russian....

and a short video of a takeoff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFqts2FaQmQ
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The Me 163 Komet was one of the few fighters of WWII that was more dangerous to its pilots than the enemy!!
 
Capt.Crash'n'Burn said:
The Me 163 Komet was one of the few fighters of WWII that was more dangerous to its pilots than the enemy!!
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Ah yes.... How about the great idea they had for canons mounted in the roots of the Komet's wings pointed straight up, triggered by solar cells? The idea was for them to fly under enemy bombers and the shadow of the bomber would fire the canons. As I recall, several german pilots died 'cause of those things being set off accidently, by the shadow of a passing cloud or whatever.
 
Capt.Crash'n'Burn said:
The Me 163 Komet was one of the few fighters of WWII that was more dangerous to its pilots than the enemy!!
Click to expand...


Tell that to the guys in the Mosquito an ME-163 shot down in a dogfight, plus the bomber crews that were downed by them. If they had been deployed in significant numbers along with the ME-262 there would have been a lot longer war, if not a very different outcome.
 
OK - thanks! Looks like it had an electric motor in the hub - the ancestor of the Curtiss Electric Propeller. I've read that the Curtiss props had a bad reputation among WWII pilots for their tendency to malfunction at inopportune times. Here is a link to more info about Mr Turnbull and his work:http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/16w-16e/nr-sp/index-eng.asp?id=183

Dave
 
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