Douglas Cloudster
The Davis -Douglas St Cloud was the only aircraft of the U.S. American manufacturer Davis - Douglas. The single-engine biplane was built to cross to try with him the first non-stop flight across the USA.
History
In June 1920 Donald Wills Douglas first started alone in a back room of a hair salon with the design of the cloud Rochester. Soon after, his partner David R. Davis joined them and five months later, another five former colleagues of Douglas by the Glenn L. Martin Company: George Borst, Ross Elkins, James Goodyear, Henry Guerin and George Strompf.
In Los Angeles, began the construction of the machine on the second floor of a memory of Koll Planing Mill Upon completion were fuselage, wings and tail brought by truck to the Goodyear Field in whose Airship Hanger cloud ester was assembled.
The aircraft received the serial number 100 ( a smaller used Douglas not ), and in the spring of 1921 she was finished. Shortly thereafter, Eric Springer took the first short " hop ", but ended with a crash landing. After the repair, then was on 24 February 1921, the actual first flight, which lasted 30 minutes. On March 19, 1921, the Rochester cloud reached a height of 5840 meters.
The record attempt
In early June they were ready to cross the United States. The flight was to begin on March Field in Riverside (California ) and end on the Curtiss Field on Long Iceland (New York).
The aircraft was refueled, and in the early morning hours they wanted to start, but it came on the fog. As at June 27, 1921 clarifying the mist, Springer and Davis started at 6:00 clock in the morning. At noon they were in 1830 m height above Tucson, Arizona. We went to El Paso, Texas which they reached at 15:45 clock. But soon the engine failed due to a gearbox failure. It was an emergency landing at Fort Bliss, Texas.
Later used
Three weeks later, the aircraft was repaired and returned to March Field, where they should be prepared for a new trial. During this time David Davis lost interest in the project, and the small team began on DT project to work.
Once on 2/3 May 1923 Lieutenant Kelly and MacCready had performed the first successful long-haul flight from New York City to San Diego in a Fokker T -2, the Air Services, sold to the cloud Rochester to T. Kinney and B. Brodsky, which for scenic flights over the seaside resort of Venice, wanted to use California. There was modified and could now hold five passengers in open seats. The front two passenger areas were located where originally the fuel tanks were mounted. In these two compartments later even four per passengers could be accommodated, for a total of 10 people, but this proved to be not very successful. 1925, the machine was sold to T. Claude Ryan, who is it for passenger flights Los Angeles - San Diego wanted to use. During landing, the aircraft was damaged on one of these flights.
Douglas repaired the wing and Ryan built the machine now to come up with a closed passenger cabin. Five people sat in a row with a center aisle. The exhaust system has been modified. After the conversion, the passenger flights between Los Angeles and San Diego were resumed. Later, the machinery for the so-called " beer transports" was used.
Christmas 1926 J. J. accident the pilot Harrignan when he attempted an emergency landing on the beach of Ensenada, Baja California. The machine, however, came close to the water and he could not stop them, so that the cloud Rochester slipped into the water. The pilot and his passenger managed to escape unharmed from the machine.
Construction
The cloud Rochester was a single-engine biplane with a 400 -horsepower Liberty engine. The front fuselage was constructed in timber and received a cladding plywood. Here, the engine and the cooler is installed, the lower part protruding from the hull. The rear part of the fuselage, the tail and the wings were covered with wood and fabric. Behind the engine there were two fuel tanks, the preconceived together 2,498 liters, which should be enough for a distance of 4500 km. The oil tank took 189 liters. The machine had two open pilot seats that lay behind the wings.