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DETAILED examination has now been made of the materials used in, and methods of construction of, several captured enemy aircraft; the following report deals with components from the Messerschmitt 109 (header tank and fuel tank), Heinkel III (fuel tank), Fiat Cr.42 (fuel tank) and Focke Wulf 190 (drop tank).

ON December 20th, 1910, Mr. E. W. Dunne, the inventor of the arrow‐headed, tail‐less, twin screw biplane, made an experimental flight which deserves greater recognition than it has perhaps received. In order to demonstrate the inherent stability of the design, he flew a circuit at Eastchurch “hands‐off” while writing his observations of its behaviour. To do this he provided the controls with a set of locking levers designed to give a small number of set positions to correspond with turns, climbing, etc. The test was completely successful and Mr. Dunne returned safely to terra‐firma albeit this was the first time that he had turned this particular machine at any height !

THE advent of the integral fuel tank over twenty years ago presented considerable sealing problems, due to both deficiencies in design and lack of suitable sealing compounds.

The paper outlines the growth in low friction materials, the various elastomers available and the seal designs which have evolved around the utilisation of these materials.

THE techniques employed in the sealing of different types of fluid systems used in today's aircraft have been developed over many years. These systems contain equipment which incorporates seat configurations designed to give maximum sealing efficiency. High performance polymers have been used for the basis of these seals together with the continuing development of plastics have combined to give new life to older seal shapes while providing the opportunity for entirely new designs.

In the manufacture of Republic aircraft the use of forged parts has increased from one 12 × 12 in. component in the P47 Thunderbolt to a total of 436 forged units in recent designs.

In UK patent 2238026 British Aerospace plc describes an externally mounted fairing arrangement for bridging an aircraft fixed structure such as a wing and a control surface comprising an aileron, hingedly mounted upon and angularly displaceable with respect to the fixed structure. The fairing arrangement includes a single element sealing diaphragm which maintains continuity of the fairing aerodynamic shape whilst permitting differential movement between the respective parts of the fairing. The sealing diaphragm may be of fabric material or a moulded plastic material such as nylon, and incorporates stablising elements comprising grouped layers of flexible rods in single or stacked layers.

Accles & Pollock Ltd. of Oldbury, Worcestershire, a TI Steel Tube Division company, will be exhibiting a comprehensive range of precision steel tube and tubular products, including plain, annularly convoluted and thin wall tube, at Farnborough.

The increasing use of helicopters has naturally created demands for improved safety and performance from many of the aircraft’s systems. If the passengers and crew are to survive a crash or even a “heavy landing”, especially from the effects of a ballistic attack, it is vitally important that the aircraft fuel system is also crashworthy. Traditionally, flexible fuel cells have been employed which were constructed of fabric coated with nitrile rubber, with the emphasis being on constraining the forces involved, particularly in a forced landing. This understandably led to heavy fuel cells that were inflexible and difficult to install. Examines the new materials and techniques and the development of significantly lighter, more flexible systems in the construction of crashworthy cells and compares their characteristics and specifications.