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The Radial Engine
How the radial aircraft engine works. In the early days, automobile engines were modified for use in flying machines. The designs are:Inline, as in most car engines today – and in older aircraft engines (think DH Gipsy Major); Vee engines, such as pioneered by the Ford V-8 – and the Rolls-Royce Merlin; and Horizontally-opposed auto…
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Instrument Flight Trainers
Why do we need devices to teach pilots how to fly in bad weather? For thousand of years the cavalry galloping across the plains, or the mariners in sailing ships never needed such things – why do we need them now? When walking along a trail in a forest at night without any light we…
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TechTalk: de Havilland Tiger Moth
The CMF Tiger Moth is prepared for a day of flying by George Serviss at Members’ Day 2011.(Photo by Vic Bentley) History of de Havilland The de Havilland Aircraft Company was a British aviation manufacturer founded in 1920 when Airco, of which Geoffrey de Havilland had been chief designer, was sold. De Havilland then set…
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TechTalk: Waco AQC-6
The Museum’s Waco Custom Cabin biplane in its element over the Fraser Valley. (Photo by Mike Luedey) First, the Waco name WACO (referring to the aircraft) is usually pronounced “wah-co” (the first syllable pronounced as in “water”), not “way-co” like Waco, Texas, whose name is entirely unrelated. The name comes from a field near Troy,…
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TechTalk: Harvard
The Museum’s Harvard 2 waits for the fog to lift before a busy day of flying.(Photo by Vic Bentley) The History of North American Aviation In December, 1928, North American Aviation was incorporated in Delaware to become a holding company. North American Aviation, Inc., had interests in a number of leading airlines and aircraft manufacturing…
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TechTalk: Fleet Finch and Canuck
The Museum’s Fleet Finch over the Fraser Valley(Photo: M. Luedey) Reuben Fleet was born on March 6, 1887, in Montesano, Washington. The Fleets were a prosperous family; his father was city engineer and county auditor for Montesano, and owned large tracts of land in the Washington Territory. Reuben grew up in Grays Harbor, Washington. At 15, Fleet…
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The Sopwith Camel
CMF Sopwith Camel Replica The Museum’s Sopwith Camel is often on display in the Fraser Valley. There are several questions that are often asked when the Camel is on display;“How come the engine turns when the propeller is moved?” “What is the little propeller on the strut used for?”“Why was the propeller not shot off when…
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Flying the Douglas DC-10
Flying the DC-10 by Vic Bentley DC-10-30, Canadian Airlines The DC-10 is one of the second-generation of large jetliners. The first was the Boeing 747, the 4-engine behemoth that is still flying today. In its footsteps came the trijet Lockheed L-1011 and Douglas DC-10. The latter, first flown in 1970, was a long-lived…
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From The Left Seat – Boeing 767
From the Left Seat – A Night Flight with the Venerable Boeing 767-300 by Mark Wensrich Boeing 767-300, WestJet Flying a heavy has saved my smart phone. Instead of trying to smash its built-in alarm with my fist at 2 or 3 a.m. when I occupied the left seat of the Boeing-737NG, my…
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TechTalk: Barkley-Grow T8P-1
Barkley-Grow CF-BMW of Yukon Southern. CP Air photo. The Barkley-Grow Aircraft Corporation was a U.S. aircraft manufacturer established by Archibald St. Clair Barkley and Captain Harold Bartley Grow in Detroit in 1936 to produce a small civil transport. The Barkley-Grow T8P-1 used Barkley’s patented wing design. Although it saw limited production, the type was well-received…
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Ask the Mechanic – Weight and Balance
Ask the Mechanic – Weight and Balance A subject that pilots study in training is Weight and Balance. It is obvious too much weight will make it difficult for a plane to lift off the ground, but what is the ‘balance’ part of this topic? How does it affect the pilot as he/she loads the…
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Ask the Mechanic – Piston engine development
Ask the Mechanic – The history of aircraft piston-engine development The first and most important requirement for an aircraft engine is that it must be reliable. At the end of WWI, the Curtis OX-5 often failed after only 30 hours of operation, but 30 years later, the Wright R-3350s ran for 3,000 hours. Airlines used multiple…