de Havilland D.H.88
The De Havilland DH88 Comet was an aircraft of the British aircraft manufacturer de Havilland and was developed specifically for the Victorian Centenary Air Race - designed and built air race from Mildenhall, England to Melbourne, Australia from 1934. Although the aircraft had two engines with relatively modest power of only 234 per hp, it has won the race.
Overall, only five of them were built to order. Geoffrey de Havilland, who absolutely wanted the racing cup of the Victorian Centenary Air Race to Britain went, offered in newspaper ads, to build a racing aircraft for 5,000 pounds. The orders were "blind" one, because until then there was not even a sketch.
The aircraft ultimately cost more than 50,000 pounds apiece, so that de Havilland had to see the whole thing rather than good image advertising - were sold only a few copies. A DH88 has remained in the Shuttleworth Collection, Old Warden, United Kingdom obtained.
Construction
The Comet was built entirely of wood; the outer skin was designed load-bearing. The machine had a long, aerodynamic hull, who recorded the fuel tanks, since the non- desired high aspect ratio wings for it were too thin. It two-stage variable-pitch propeller and retractable landing gear were used. The design was very advanced for its time.
The aircraft was difficult to fly because of its extreme interpretation. It had a high landing speed, which (about 120 km / h) was not far above the stall speed; the two-stage variable-pitch propeller automatically set from low to high pitch around without the pilot was able to influence when that happened. This operation is not synchronized between the two motors and passed virtually never at the same time.
Development
In 1934 the Royal Air Force tried to care for a fast bomber version of the DH88, which could bring a bomb load of 1000 lbs (454 kg) to the finish with a crew of two de Havilland. Since the RAF the concept of heavily armed large aircraft gave preference at this time, the proposal was rejected. De Havilland attacked the concept of the wooden unarmed fast bomber later despite the continued lack of interest of the RAF back on and developed the successful De Havilland Mosquito.