FLIGHT, MARCH 15,

1934

Oik

&

The Liore et Olivier 24-2

INTENDED for the Marseilles-Algiers route of Air-France, * the LeO 24-2 is a cantilever monoplane flying boat, with four Gn6me-Rh6ne K.7 engines mounted in tandem pairs above the wing. The aircraft has been developed from the LeO 24 commercial flying boat, the good aerodynamic characteristics of which are preserved. The wooden monoplane wing, which is in three sections, tapers both in chord and thickness, and is divided into a number of watertight compartments which would support the machine in the event of a forced landing. Plywood covering is used for the wing. All members of the empennage are of duralumin covered with fabric. All metal construction is used for the hull. It is a single step flat-sided structure, close attention having been given to the question of accessibility to the interior. A mooring position is in the bows, and immediately behind this is the pilots' cabin with dual controls. The position for the navigator and the wireless compartment is behind and below the cockpit. To the rear of this, below the wing, is the passenger cabin which may be arranged to accommo-

date from ten to fifteen passengers. Behind the cabin is a lavatory and a baggage compartment. Four Gnome-Rhone K.7d radial engines of 370 h.p. each are mounted in two nacelles above the wing, where the metal airscrews are well clear of the spray. In place of the four K.7's, two Gnome-Rhone 14K. engines may be used, when the boat is known as the type 24-3, and a top speed of nearly 175 m.p.h. is obtained. The machine flies easily with one engine stopped.
THE LIORE ET OLIVIER 24-2
Span Length Height Wing area Weight empty Disposable load Gross weight .. Wing loading .. Power loading Max. speed (ground le vel) .' Climb to 9,840 ft. (3 000 m) Take off Range . . .. ,
31 ft Tn in MR m\

. . . . . . . . .

60 ft. 6 in. (18,450 m) 20 ft. 0 in. (6,100 m) 1,237 sq. ft. (116 m2) 10,330 lb. (4 685 kg) 4,818 1b. (2 185 kg) 18,522 1b. (8 400 kg) 14-81b./sq.ft.(72,4kg/m2) 13-2 1b./h.p. (6kg/h.p.) 137-3 m.p.h. (221 km/hr.) IS min. . 16 sec. . 620 miles (1 000 km)

A SPEED-UP ON THE EMPIRE AIR ROUTES

FOLLOWING the policy of gradual acceleration which has * already brought India within six days of London, and Cape Town within ten days, Imperial Airways will institute, during April, a further speed-up on the Empire air routes. These will have the effect of reducing the time schedule from England to India to five days, to Singapore to eight days, and to Cape Town to nine days. On the route to India and the East, by the existing time-tables, the air service leaving London each Saturday reaches Brindisi on Monday morning and Athens on Monday night. By Tuesday it is at Gaza, and on Wednesday evening at Basra. Thursday's stage takes it to Sharjah, and on Friday it is at Jodhpur, Calcutta being reached on Saturday, Rangoon on Sunday, Alor Star on Monday, and Singapore on Tuesday, 9J days after leaving London. By the new accelerated schedules on the Indian and Eastern routes, which come into operation with the service from London on Saturday, April 14, Brindisi will be reached very early on Monday morning, after which a speed-up on the flying-boat sections will enable the Mediterranean to be crossed in one day instead of in two, the night halt at Athens being eliminated and Cairo being reached on Monday evening, instead of on Tuesday. Continuing on by the quickened schedule, Baghdad will be reached on Tuesday, and by Wednesday the air mail will have reached Sharjah. On Thursday the stage will be to Jodhpur, and on Friday to Calcutta ; after which there will be a speed-up on the Calcutta-Singapore stages, these being accomplished in two days instead of in 2J days, Rangoon being reached on Saturday and Singapore on Sunday eight days after leaving London. Accelerations in the reverse direction, from Singapore to London, will begin with the departure from Singapore on Sunday, April 15. This service will be due in London eight days later, on Monday, April 23, and thereafter the weekly arrival at Croydon of the air mail from India and the East will be changed regularly to Monday instead of Wednesday. The speed-up on the air mail from England to South Africa begins with the departure from London on Wednesday, April 11, the Mediterranean stages being accomplished as in the case of the accelerated service to India and the Eastin one day instead of in two. Cairo will be reached on Friday, and Khartoum on Saturday, and on Mondayonly five days after leaving Londonpassengers will be at Nairobi, in the heart of the African big-game country. After which this accelerated service will reach Cape Town on Friday, April 20, nine days after leaving London, instead of in the ten days of the existing schedule. The first accelerated service from South Africa will be that which leaves Cape Town on Tuesday, April 10, and is due in London on Thursday, April 19, and the arrival of the African air mail at Croydon on Thursday each week, instead of on Saturday, will be a feature of the schedules thenceforth. To cope with the continued growth of traffic along the Africa route, a duplicated service is to be operated regularly over the sections between Salisbury and Johannesburg, commencing with the service northbound on Saturday, April 7, and that flying southward on Tuesday, April 10.

244