The idea of intermodal containerized freight was in its infancy. Containerized air freight, from what I can glean, didn't come about for another sixty or so years.
A cruising speed of 72mph sounds slow, but for a 1920 trash-hauler between London and Paris, that would have been a marvel at the time.
I bet the downfall of that design would have been control continuity. Materials science in that time period would have likely left whatever pin or clip system they designed too vulnerable to fatigue or human error. It is a pretty insightful design thou.
ReplyDeleteDuring ww1 the Germans had a bomber called the Zeppelin Staaker R.V1 that could carry a load of over 4000 lbs. But comparing the pictures it looks like the freight hauler doesn't have enough wing for the engine power available at that time. The rearward fuselage propellers must be chain or shaft driven with the engines inside. It seems like the best it could do would be to push the plane around the ground while the engines overheated and worked themselves to death.
ReplyDeleteDan, the design is using an “Alula” form wing, with forward edge airfoils, which was proposed to be more efficient. I suspect the projections likely resulted in overly optimistic projections of performance. After a bit more research, the overall weakness of the wing design was uncovered as it was running at about 1.75, which would cause it to fail in a 50 degree bank. I therefore retract my concern about control connections and move to the damn thing wouldn’t fly.
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea, and yes, WELL before its time!
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