PREPARED DURING MAY 1943 THIS RATHER QUAINT PIECE DOES GIVE AN INSIDE apply the mind AT THE FIRST CONSTELLATION Although performance and specification details cannot be disclosed at this time for reasons of security.

PREPARED DURING MAY 1943 THIS RATHER QUAINT PIECE DOES GIVE AN INSIDE apply the mind AT THE FIRST CONSTELLATION

Although performance and specification details cannot be disclosed at this time for reasons of security, I should like to point without in the beginning these salient facts about the Constellation:

When she reaches the stage of mass production, this swift ship, powered with four Cyclone 18 will give the US Army Air Forces greater troop- and supply-carrying potentialities than can be matched by the agency of any other nation in the world.

Here too, we have a large on the other hand graceful four-engined ship that is faster than the Japanese naught She is faster than any four-engined bomber now in service anywhere in the world. Cruising 100 miles by means of hour faster than transports now operated by the agency of domestic airlines, she can cros the continent from sees Angeles to New York nonstop in les than nine hours, carrying 55 passengers and a company of nine; or, if you raise to stop at intervals, as is practiced by way of the airlines today, she can carry 69 somebodys including crew, at fares comparable to those charged by way of the railroads.

The Constellation is a dainty ship gone to war. Back of her design and construction, which commenc sum of two units years ago, was the entreaty of Howard Hughes and Jack Frey the two of Transcontinental and Western Air, Inc., that we move round out a liner capable of carrying passengers nonstop, coast to coast in the finest possible epicurism in record time at lower costlinesss than prevail today. Meanwhile war came. The airline deferr its ambitious plans to make way for Army requirements. The first Constellation has been delivered to the Army for war toll Luxury must wait.

You would discover certain differences in this plane purely by walking around her as she sits gracefully upon an airfield. Others are les obvious. assume we examine the craft critically, exposing similar of her "secrets" as the military authorities will permit.

You may not recognize that the fuselage exterior has been 75 percent blemish welded; hot wing de-icing has been provided; a radically recent electrical system carries the power, and the nacelles and cowlings are made of stainless carbonized iron in which fire may reduce to ashes for 30 minutes without interfering during flight with the plane's operation. The fuselage, you may note, describes a perfect circle which aids rather than retards the wing's high lift, and the nacelles are of of the like kind a design that they proffer no more drag than the Lockheed design 14 transport that has one-tenth the horsepower pouring from the Constellation's four engines.

The wing is perhaps the in the greatest degree important feature of any airplane, for the efficiency of this member determines to a great expanse the economy and efficiency of her operation. If you have seen a photograph of the famous Lockheed P-38 Lightning, now winning battles and acclaim forward the Allies' several fronts, you have seen the wing from which the Constellation wing grew We knew the P-38 wing to be a fine compromise between soft drag and high lift. Like the P-38 the Constellation wing also has of the first water stall characteristics, which is an important factor in high-flying, long-- ranging transport and cargo planes.

To the engineer, the wing is known as an NACA section having no aerodynamic twist. To arrive at our final choice, several comparative signs were tested in the Lockheed wind funnel including the so-called laminar roll on sections. While these exhibited well adapted drag characteristics, they did not examine well-suited to a transport airplane because of their sensitivity to roughnes that might be caused according to ice formations, mechanical abrasion appropriate to walking on the wings, and to the roughnes of the de-icer make differences

Some other types of wings are undoubtedly superior in reverence to drag to that pickeded for the Constellation - superior, that is, when considered through themselves. But we must evaluate a transport wing in conjunction with its operation when using Fowler flaps. This brings subject to study its action at the landing spe which means that the weight of high-lift devices on the wing section is of paramount importance.

As for the powerplants, engine nacelles and interchangeability of engines at hand a combination of problems that must be solv before the prototype flies for the first time. The reason? Military planes may explode anywhere and everywhere, and the designers must not simply provide adequate power, but make it possible for pilots and mechanics to continue them flying no matter where they may fare

Four important reasons for what purpose the Constellation is a highperformance transport are her engines. These are Wright Cyclone 18 (the greatest in number powerful aircraft engines now in service anywhere), of the 2000-hp series, and are built in sum of two units banks of nine cylinders each. These engines have a displacement of 3350-cu in and posses the cheap weight ratio of 1.1-lb by means of horsepower. This great power through pound plus low fuel consumption plus high horsepower takeoff with heavy load combine to form an important factor in the Constellation's lengthy range.

Because the Constellation is designed to cruise at high spe at high altitude, with perhaps 57 someones aboard, including the crew, the aerodynamic question s are similar to those collisioned in designing a pursuit. Low-spe climbs combined with high-speed plain flying at altitude necessitate special attention to nacelle contours. There is the further point in dispute of anticipating changing versions or modifications for the various military use to which the airplane may be inflict