Ideas
and available technology don’t always go side by side.
The ever-reducing wing area of racers needed a solution to avoid
high speeds when they weren’t desirable, i.e. on landings.
One solution is a variable camber mechanism, intended to deal with
the speed envelope of a plane making the wing as efficient as possible through
the whole range of those speeds, especially during take-off and landings, when
slats and flaps are deployed to increase lift and be able to fly at low speed
without stalling.
The variable camber mechanism of the Dayton-Wright RB-1 racer (RB
for Rhinehart-Baumann, pilot and designer, respectively), a wonderful concept,
didn’t quite make it in real life, adding mechanical complexity, weight, drag
and unreliability to an otherwise sound idea. Same for the retractable landing
gear. The wing was solid light wood further lightened by way of partial carving.
A very strong structure no doubt, and the fuselage was of monocoque
construction.
But fellows, this was 1920! and those ideas were very good ones.
The plane was built to compete on the Gordon Bennett prize, and
those technical features were implemented to improve performance, and although
the plane quit the race, later in time in the aviation realm they demonstrated
their value.
The machine was powered by a Hall-Scott L-6 inline engine and had
the pilot hidden inside the fuselage with limited vision, a la Ryan NYP.
Click on
images below to see larger images
There are a
number of photos showing alterations on the plane. If you are making a
model of it, look at your references. The model was Mattelized from
basswood masters, and a styrene sheet endoskeleton was built –see
images-. Interior details and painting were done before gluing the
fuselage shells. A prop wood was carved, stained, and a photoetched boss
added.
After some pondering I decided to cut the very front
section of the nose and build a separate unit made of two laminations.
Aeroclub white metal wheels of the proper style and diameter were used. I
made a sill for the windows inside the fuselage, so those could be added
at a later time. For them, masks were cut and laid on clear plastic. Alu
color was sprayed, and then the windows cut leaving a frame, as seen in
the images, One pic shows the other side of the clear plastic as I was
making sure that no paint got under the masks.
An alu soda can was used to cut the very tiny control
horns. Decals were home made and a decal stack was used to represent the
radiator, again as per in-process images.
As it is some times the case, all the plans and 3 views
I could get a hand on differed in some regard from the original photos, in
a few cases on rather important details.
This
visionary design, although not smiled upon by the goddess Fortune, is an example
of cutting edge thinking on the very early stages of aviation development, and
points out to the important roll that air races, record flights, good will
flights and aviation meetings played on that wonderful era (not in vain called
“Golden”) of aviation.
Gabriel Stern
Click on
images below to see larger images
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