Modelling > 1920s/1930s GB or Between the Wars GB
D.H.88 Comet Follow-Ons
GTX_Admin:
--- Quote from: Buzzbomb on July 03, 2021, 07:38:37 AM ---Nice work.
The Airfix Dh-88 must have been one of those kits that nearly every modeller of a certain age must have done at some stage
--- End quote ---
Nope.
jcf:
DH.88 PP, the Chiropractic Special.
;D :icon_fsm:
apophenia:
--- Quote from: jcf on July 04, 2021, 02:48:50 AM ---DH.88 PP, the Chiropractic Special.
--- End quote ---
"It's just this crick in me neck, Doc ... " ;D
--- Quote from: GTX_Admin on July 04, 2021, 01:17:57 AM ---
--- Quote from: Buzzbomb on July 03, 2021, 07:38:37 AM ---Nice work.
The Airfix Dh-88 must have been one of those kits that nearly every modeller of a certain age must have done at some stage
--- End quote ---
Nope.
--- End quote ---
"The Airfix Dh-88 must have been one of those kits that nearly every modeller [other than scale absolutists] must have done at some stage." ;)
apophenia:
'Plan B' - Arthur Hagg is Reacquainted with his Creation
In early 1936, Arthur Hagg left de Havilland Aircraft to pursue his passion - boat building. [1] Hagg had set up his own shipyard at Walton Bridge near Shepperton in Middlesex. Hagg's new Walton Yacht Works submitted one of its designs to the RAF as a new fast tender type. This seaplane tender concept was awarded a prototype order but this contract came with a 'rider'. The Air Ministry had seen an opportunity to reacquaint Hagg with his most famous aeronautical creation - in the form of the RAF's ruined Comet K5084 airframe.
Renewed design work on the D.H.88 Comet was certainly outside the quotidian for Walton Yacht Works. But Hagg was not averse to further aviation work - indeed, he just become a consultant to D Napier and Son, Ltd. [2] Accepting the D.H.88 assignment meant taking on two distinct redesign contracts. The first was assessing whether the A&AEE's prone-pilot testbed concept was feasible. The second was a study for a much faster, single-engined redesign as a possible land-based mount for a revived RAF High Speed Flight. Hagg elected to address the more challenging, single-engined rebuild first.
The Need for Speed - RAF High Speed Experimental Flight
The new High Speed Experimental Flight (HSEF) was being formed under Squadron Leader Sidney N. Webster, AFC - raised to (T) Wg Cdr for his new command. Whereas its namesake had been aimed at the Schneider Trophy, [3] the new High Speed Experimental Flight would be dedicated to introducing higher-speed flight to service pilots. The thin wing of the D.H.88 suggested its suitability for 'pushing the envelope' on high-speed flight without the compromises of pending service types like the Hawker Hurricane. With his new Napiers connection, Hagg chose the high-powered engine he was most familiar with - the Napier Lion. Although rather dated, the Lion W-12 engine was readily available unlike the still largely experiment Rolls-Royce PV-12 V-12.
Arthur Hagg produced two High Speed concepts fairly quickly. Both eliminated the Comet's underwing nacelles and introduced a single-seat cockpit under a sleek, forward-sliding canopy. [4] The first design represented a near-complete redesign of the airframe. The formerly low-set DH.88 wings were repositioned as mid-mounted. New engine bearers (attached to the undersides of the wings) extended forward to support a geared Napier Lion. Above the wing was a new main fuel tank. Below the wing were attachment points for a new, retractable main undercarriage. A retractable and neatly-faired tail wheel was also introduced.
Hagg's Hotchpotch - Contrasting Comet Concepts
Walton drawing staff dubbed this first design the 'DH.88 (HSH)' - for 'High-Speed Hagg'. The mid-positioned wing allowed the main landing gear to be retracted up into the sides of the lower fuselage. The wings themselves were faired into the cowling extension from the W-12 Lion's lower pair of cylinder rows. This, Hagg had concluded, was the ideal aerodynamic layout for the airframe. The trade-off was in visability from the rear-placed cockpit. The sliding-canopy allowed the pilot to look past the wings (and engine cylinder side fairings). Persepx windows were also let into the fuselage belly to give the pilot some degree of downwards vision.
The second design was regarded as a back-up scheme by Arthur Hagg. The basic low-winged arrangement of the D.H.88 airframe was retained. Powerplant options were the geared Lion offered in the first design or an ungeared derivative of the Sea Lion boat engine (the latter being an attempt at cost savings). Removal of the original wing nacelles presented the problem of how to incorporate a retractable undercarriage. The wing, it was judged, was simply of too thin a profile to accommodate a sidewise hinged main gear. Hagg's solution was to install streamline fairings into which the main legs would retract. This solution paid a penalty in increased drag but allowed for a much simpler style of main undercarriage compared with the first design.
(To be continued ...)
______________________________________
[1] Hagg's former position as Chief Designer of de Havilland Aircraft would be taken over by Ronald Bishop.
[2] This consulting was as much about maritime applications for Napier's Sea Lion W-12 engine. However, Hagg would also later be involved in the preliminary design of the Sabre-powered Napier-Heston Racer.
[3] Based at RAF Calshot seaplane base near Southampton, the original RAF High Speed Flight had been disbanded once the Schneider Trophy had been secured in 1931. The new High Speed Experimental Flight would be land-based at RAF Martlesham Heath in Suffolk.
[4] In aerodynamic form, if not construction or operation, the shape of this canopy anticipated Hagg's work on the later Napier-Heston Racer.
jcf:
--- Quote from: apophenia on July 04, 2021, 03:10:21 AM ---
--- Quote from: jcf on July 04, 2021, 02:48:50 AM ---DH.88 PP, the Chiropractic Special.
--- End quote ---
"It's just this crick in me neck, Doc ... " ;D
--- Quote from: GTX_Admin on July 04, 2021, 01:17:57 AM ---
--- Quote from: Buzzbomb on July 03, 2021, 07:38:37 AM ---Nice work.
The Airfix Dh-88 must have been one of those kits that nearly every modeller of a certain age must have done at some stage
--- End quote ---
Nope.
--- End quote ---
"The Airfix Dh-88 must have been one of those kits that nearly every modeller [other than scale absolutists] must have done at some stage." ;)
--- End quote ---
"The Airfix Dh-88 must have been one of those kits that nearly every modeller in the English speaking world outside of the US [other than scale absolutists] must have done at some stage." ;)
;D :icon_fsm:
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