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The Angus Aquila was a 1930s unique
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
single-seat
monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...
designed and built by
Arthur Leighton Angus, an Australian-born
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
a passion for
aviation
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...
in the early
1930s
File:1930s decade montage.png, From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Owens Thompson, Florence Thompson shows the effects of the Great Depression; due to extreme drought conditions, farms across the south-central Uni ...
. The airplane had a
low-wing
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing config ...
design with an
open cockpit that provided an unobstructed view of the surroundings. It was powered by a
Salmson AD.9 radial engine
The radial engine is a reciprocating engine, reciprocating type internal combustion engine, internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinder (engine), cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. ...
with 40
hp (30
kW), which gave the airplane ample power to climb and maneuver. On 23 January 1931 the Angus Aquila was officially registered as ''G-ABIK'' and assigned the
Certificate of Registration number 2995. Arthur Leighton Angus was listed as the constructor and
owner
Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as ''title'', which may be separated and held by diffe ...
of the airplane, which was based at
Hanworth Aerodrome in
Hanworth
Hanworth is a district of West London, England. Historically in Middlesex, it has been part of the London Borough of Hounslow since 1965. Hanworth adjoins Feltham to the northwest, Twickenham to the northeast and Hampton, London, Hampton to the ...
,
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...
. The Angus Aquila was designed to be lightweight and powerful, capable of high-speed flights at high altitudes. Its low-wing monoplane design provided excellent stability, and the open cockpit gave the pilot an unobstructed view of the surroundings.
Construction
The
wings were of a quite conventional
wood
Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...
en construction and featured a
plywood
Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...
skin running from the
leading edge
The leading edge is the part of the wing that first contacts the air;Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 305. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. alternatively it is the foremost edge of an airfoil sectio ...
to the leading edge spar, the use of the
RAF 34 aerodynamic profile, which provided it with a very small
transverse velocity. The wing was reinforced by wide
streamlined
Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow.
They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady flow, steady.
Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the f ...
chords
Chord or chords may refer to:
Art and music
* Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously
** Guitar chord, a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning
* The Chords (British band), 1970s British mod ...
with inverted V-shaped braces. The
strut
A strut is a structural component commonly found in engineering, aeronautics, architecture and anatomy. Struts generally work by resisting longitudinal compression, but they may also serve in tension.
A stay is sometimes used as a synonym for ...
s together with the wing could
swivel
A swivel is a connection that allows the connected object, such as a swivel gun, gun, swivel chair, chair, Caster, swivel caster, or an anchor rode to rotate horizontally or vertically.
Swivel designs
A common design for a swivel is a cylindr ...
back to the sides of the
fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...
, turning around the point of the rear spar articulation. The
trailing edge
The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...
of the wing and
aileron
An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement aroun ...
s pivoted and released the fuselage in an unusual way: the trailing edge closer to the fuselage was pivoted down and the ailerons pivoted up using an articulating device.
As previously mentioned, the source of power in the aircraft was a
40 hp Salmson AD.9 radial engine; the
cabover engine was mounted on a structure consisting of a
frame
A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent.
Frame and FRAME may also refer to:
Physical objects
In building construction
*Framing (con ...
made of
steel pipes and a disk with a central
flange
A flange is a protruded ridge, lip or rim (wheel), rim, either external or internal, that serves to increase shear strength, strength (as the flange of a steel beam (structure), beam such as an I-beam or a T-beam); for easy attachment/transfer o ...
, which was the front part of the central fuselage structure. The engine thrust line was very low and only a few inches above the wing chord line and below the fuselage centerline. Undoubtedly this was done to place the line of action of the engine thrust as close as possible to the chords of the wing and
tail
The tail is the elongated section at the rear end of a bilaterian animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage extending backwards from the midline of the torso. In vertebrate animals that evolution, evolved to los ...
. This concept was successfully applied to aircraft such as the
Aeronca C.3 and the later
SAC-1VW Stewart Headwind, but this choice gave the Aquila an odd profile with a straight underline and a steep hump from the engine to the
cockpit
A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle.
The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...
. A 5.5 gallon (25 L)
fuel tank
A fuel tank (also called a petrol tank or gas tank) is a safe container for Flammability, flammable fluids, often gasoline or diesel fuel. Though any storage tank for fuel may be so called, the term is typically applied to part of an engine sys ...
was located at the front of the cockpit, with enough capacity for two hours of flight. The
weight of the empty aircraft with a full set of spare equipment and accessories was 488 pounds (221 kg), the
weight with a full load - 700 pounds (317 kg).
The
chassis
A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...
cushioning
Package cushioning is used to protect items during shipment. Vibration and impact shock during shipment and loading/unloading are controlled by cushioning to reduce the chance of product damage.
Cushioning is usually inside a shipping container ...
was provided entirely by
donut-shaped wheels with a
Goodyear low-pressure tire
A tire (North American English) or tyre (Commonwealth English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineeri ...
; the wheels were mounted on divided
landing gear
Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...
, reinforced with struts extending from the fuselage and intersecting. The tail unit of the aircraft was the usual fabric-covered frame of welded pipes. Two small struts connected the base of the fixed
keel
The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...
to the
stabilizer.
The Crash
According to available sources, the Angus Aquila had only one flight, which took place on 21 March 1931 at
Hanworth Aerodrome. During the flight, the aircraft took off smoothly, and Angus climbed to a height of 100–150 feet (30–45 metres) before entering a steep
left
Left may refer to:
Music
* ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006
* ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016
* ''Left'' (Helmet album), 2023
* "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996
Direction
* Left (direction), the relativ ...
turn. However, the aircraft entered an almost vertical roll, and Angus was unable to recover before the plane crashed. Sadly, the plane's sole designer and constructor lost his life in the accident.
Specifications
References
{{reflist
1930s British civil utility aircraft
Low-wing aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1931
Aviation accidents and incidents in England