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67-653: The Do J had a high-mounted strut-braced parasol wing with two piston engines mounted in tandem in a central nacelle above the wing; one engine drove a tractor and the other drove a pusher propeller . The hull made use of Claudius Dornier 's patented sponsons on the hull's sides, first pioneered with the earlier, Dornier-designed Zeppelin-Lindau Rs.IV flying boat late in World War I. The Do J made its maiden flight on 6 November 1922. The flight, as well as most production until 1932, took place in Italy because of

134-427: A cabin in the nose, offering space for up to 12 passengers, while the open cockpit was moved further aft. Main users of this version were Germany, Italy, Brazil and Colombia. The Do J was first powered by two 265 kW (355 hp) Rolls-Royce Eagle IX engines. Later versions used nearly every available engine on the market from makers like Hispano-Suiza , Napier & Son , Lorraine-Dietrich , BMW , and even

201-606: A Dornier Wal (D-2053) called the "Grönland Wal" (Greenland Whale) on a round-the-world flight. In 1926 the captain Ramón Franco became a national Spanish hero when he piloted the Plus Ultra on a trans-Atlantic flight, following the route pioneered by Portuguese aviators Sacadura Cabral and Gago Coutinho in the first flight across the South Atlantic in 1922 . His co-pilot was Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz ;

268-592: A World War I scout like the Fokker D.VII , one bay is usually enough. But for larger wings carrying greater payloads, several bays may be used. The two-seat Curtiss JN-4 Jenny is a two-bay biplane, while large heavy types were often multi-bay biplanes or triplanes – the earliest examples of the German Albatros B.I , and all production examples of the DFW B.I two-seater unarmed observation biplanes of 1914 were two of

335-617: A compromise between the high drag of a fully cross-braced structure and the high weight of a fully cantilevered wing. They are common on high-wing types such as the Cessna 152 and almost universal on parasol-winged types such as the Consolidated PBY Catalina . Less commonly, some low-winged monoplanes like the Piper Pawnee have had lift struts mounted above the wing, acting in compression in flight and in tension on

402-420: A lot of heavy reinforcement. Making the structure deeper allows it to be much lighter and stiffer. To reduce weight and air resistance, the structure may be made hollow, with bracing connecting the main parts of the airframe. For example, a high-wing monoplane may be given a diagonal lifting strut running from the bottom of the fuselage to a position far out towards the wingtip. This increases the effective depth of

469-482: A single jury strut connecting the main strut to an intermediate point on the wing. A braced monoplane with 'V' struts such as the Fleet Canuck may have a complicated assembly of jury struts. Bracing, both internal and external, was extensively used in early aircraft to support the lightweight airframes demanded by the low engine powers and slow flying speeds then available. From the first Wright flyer of 1903,

536-408: A two-bay biplane, has only one bay, but has the midpoints of the rigging braced with additional struts; however, these are not structurally contiguous from top to bottom wing. The Sopwith 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 Strutter has a W-shape cabane; however, as it does not connect the wings to each other, it does not add to the number of bays. Where an aircraft has a wing running clear above the main fuselage,

603-402: A typical biplane was significantly affecting performance, while the heavier but sleeker strut-braced parasol monoplane was becoming practicable. For a period this type of monoplane became the design of choice. Although the strut-braced high-wing monoplane was outpaced during the 1930s by the true cantilever monoplane, it has remained in use throughout the postwar era, in roles where light weight

670-604: Is a bracing component stiff enough to resist these forces whether they place it under compression or tension. A wire is a bracing component able only to resist tension, going slack under compression, and consequently is nearly always used in conjunction with struts. A square frame made of solid bars is not rigid but tends to bend at the corners. Bracing it with an extra diagonal bar would be heavy. A wire would be much lighter but would stop it collapsing only one way. To hold it rigid, two cross-bracing wires are needed. This method of cross-bracing can be seen clearly on early biplanes, where

737-643: Is more important than high speed or long range. These include light cabin aircraft where downward visibility is also important, and small transports. Braced high-aspect-ratio wings were used by French Hurel-Dubois (now part of Safran ) with the Hurel-Dubois HD.10 demonstrator in 1948, and then the HD.31 /32/34 airliners, still used by the French Institut Geographique National until the early 1980s. A turbojet-powered HD.45

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804-787: The Lake of Constance after having covered over 44,000 km (27,000 mi). In 1934 he became the president of the Aeroclub von Deutschland and in 1935 vice president of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale . Von Gronau was posted to the German Embassy in Tokyo as air attaché shortly before the outbreak of World War II . He lived as a diplomat in Japan until the end of the war, having reached

871-600: The Third German Antarctic Expedition of 1939. The biggest and last versions of the Wal , the eight and ten tonne variants (both versions also known as Katapultwal ), were operated by Lufthansa on their South Atlantic airmail service from Stuttgart, Germany to Natal, Brazil. On route proving flights in 1933, and a scheduled service beginning in February 1934, Wals flew the trans-ocean stage of

938-874: The Westland IV or the undercarriage as on the Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer . Lift struts remain common on small (2/4-seat) high-wing light aircraft in the ultralight and light-sport categories. Larger examples include the Short 360 36-passenger aircraft and the de Havilland Twin Otter 19-seater. A lift strut can be so long and thin that it bends too easily. Jury struts are small subsidiary struts used to stiffen it. They prevent problems such as resonant vibration and buckling under compressive loads. Jury struts come in many configurations. On monoplanes with one main strut, there may be just

1005-600: The Westland Lysander used extruded I section beams of light alloy, onto which were screwed a fore and aft pair of duralumin fairings. Later aircraft have had streamlined struts formed directly from shaped metal, like the extruded light alloy struts of the Auster AOP.9 , or from composites, for example the carbon fibre lift struts of the Remos GX eLITE . Designers have adopted different methods of improving

1072-463: The Germans had succeeded in establishing the world's first regular intercontinental airline service before their competition was due, in no small part, to the sturdy and seaworthy Wal and its reliable BMW engines. (This section is based on "Graue & Duggan", Gandt and Nicolaou.) Data from: General characteristics Performance Related lists Note: Official RLM designations had

1139-645: The Luftwaffe liaison staff in Japan . Wolfgang von Gronau was born in Berlin in a family hailing from the ancient dynasty of the House of Berg . He was the son of artillery General Hans von Gronau (1850–1940) and Luise Gerischer (1867–1926). On 1 April 1911, he joined the Imperial German Navy as an officer candidate where he was put in charge of a flying boat squadron during World War I . After

1206-535: The Netherlands for use in their colonies; examples were also sent to Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union and to the end of production Italy and Germany. The main military users, Spain and the Netherlands, manufactured their own versions under licence. Several countries, notably Italy, Norway, Portugal, Uruguay and Germany, employed the Wal for military tasks. The civil version ( Kabinenwal or Verkehrswal ) had

1273-524: The South Atlantic to Natal aboard converted destroyers . The ocean crossing alone took five days, the whole trip eight days. From 1930 Aéropostale began trying to make the ocean crossing by air, but kept losing planes and crews and suffered from a lack of political support. Air France , of which Aéropostale had become a part, only began operating an all air service between Europe and South America in January 1936, nearly two years after Lufthansa . That

1340-786: The US-built Liberty V-12 engine. The 10 to-Wal used by Deutsche Lufthansa for their mail service across the South Atlantic from 1934 to 1938 had a range of 3,600 km (2,200 mi), and a ceiling of 3,500 m (11,480 ft). Over 250 Wals were built by CMASA and Piaggio in Italy, CASA in Spain, Kawasaki in Japan, Aviolanda in the Netherlands and Dornier in Germany. Numerous airlines operated Wals on scheduled passenger and mail services with great success. The source Robert L. Gandt, in 1991, (pages 47–48) lists

1407-562: The advent of more powerful engines in 1909, but bracing remained essential for any practical design, even on monoplanes up until World War I when they became unpopular and braced biplanes reigned supreme. From 1911, the British researcher Harris Booth working at the National Physics Laboratory and the engineer Richard Fairey , then working for J.W. Dunne 's Blair Atholl Aeroplane Syndicate, began to develop and apply

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1474-523: The aerodynamics of the strut-wing and strut-body connections, using similar approaches to those used in interplane struts. Sometimes the streamlining is tapered away close to the wing, as on the Farman F.190; other designs have an extended, faired foot, for example the Skyeton K-10 Swift . Lift struts are sometimes combined with other functions, for example helping to support the engines as on

1541-404: The air. However, landing on the big ocean swells tended to damage the hull of the flying boats, especially the smaller 8-tonne Wal . From September 1934 a second merchantman was available, so that Lufthansa now had a support ship at each end of the trans-ocean stage, providing radio navigation signals and catapult launchings. When they did not have to take off from the water under their own power,

1608-948: The aircraft carrier HMS Eagle of the British Royal Navy . The Portuguese military aviator major Sarmento de Beires and his crew (captain Jorge de Castilho as navigator and lieutenant Manuel Gouveia as flight engineer) made the first aerial crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by night in a Dornier J named Argos . The crossing was made on the night of the 16 to 17 March 1927, from the Bijagós Archipelago in Portuguese Guinea to Fernando de Noronha island in Brazil . Two Dornier Wals (D-ALOX Passat and D-AKER Boreas ) also played an important role in

1675-408: The airflow. N-struts replace the incidence wires by a third strut running diagonally from the top of one strut to the bottom of the other in a pair. V-struts converge from separate attachment points on upper wing to a single point on the lower wing. They are often used for the sesquiplane wing, in which the lower wing has a considerably smaller chord than the upper wing. I-struts replaces

1742-488: The airframe both light and strong, the bracing is fitted externally. This was common in early aircraft due to the limited engine power available and the need for light weight in order to fly at all. As engine powers rose steadily through the 1920s and 30s, much heavier airframes became practicable, and most designers abandoned external bracing in order to allow for increased speed. Nearly all biplane aircraft have their upper and lower planes connected by interplane struts, with

1809-581: The basic loads imposed by lift and gravity, bracing wires must also carry powerful inertial loads generated during manoeuvres, such as the increased load on the landing wires at the moment of touchdown. Bracing wires must be carefully rigged to maintain the correct length and tension. In flight the wires tend to stretch under load, and on landing some may become slack. Regular rigging checks are required and any necessary adjustments made before every flight. Rigging adjustments may also be used to set and maintain wing dihedral and angle of incidence , usually with

1876-464: The cabane is replaced by a single thick, streamlined pylon. On a high-wing aircraft, a lift strut connects an outboard point on the wing with a point lower on the fuselage to form a rigid triangular structure. While in flight the strut acts in tension to carry wing lift to the fuselage and hold the wing level, while when back on the ground it acts in compression to hold the wing up. For aircraft of moderate engine power and speed, lift struts represent

1943-605: The disbandment of the imperial military in 1919, von Gronau had reached the rank of Oberleutnant zur See , highest lieutenant grade in the German Navy. On 18 August 1930 von Gronau flew on a transatlantic flight on a Dornier Wal —the old D-1422 flying boat that Amundsen had flown earlier. He took off from Sylt (Germany) through Faroe Islands , Iceland , Greenland and Labrador , reaching New York City after covering 7,520 km (4,670 mi) in 47 flight hours. On 21 July 1932 von Gronau flew from Germany around

2010-511: The early years of aviation, bracing was a universal feature of all forms of aeroplanes, including the monoplanes and biplanes , which were then equally common. Today, bracing in the form of lift struts is still used for some light commercial designs where a high wing and light weight are more important than ultimate performance. Bracing works by creating a triangulated truss structure which resists bending or twisting. By comparison, an unbraced cantilever structure bends easily unless it carries

2077-626: The end, six crew members were packed into the N-25. Riiser-Larsen took off, and they barely became airborne over the cracking ice. They returned triumphantly after widely being presumed dead. On 18 August 1930, Wolfgang von Gronau started on a transatlantic flight in the same Dornier Wal (D-1422) Amundsen had flown, establishing the northern air route over the Atlantic, flying from Sylt (Germany)-Iceland-Greenland-Labrador-New York 4,670 mi (7,520 km)) in 47 flight hours. In 1932 von Gronau flew

Dornier Do J Wal - Misplaced Pages Continue

2144-464: The engineering analysis of individual bays in a biplane, to calculate the structural forces and use the minimal amount of material in each bay to achieve maximum strength. Analytical techniques such as this led to lighter and stronger aircraft and became widely adopted. At the same time, the amount of bracing could be progressively reduced. At low speeds a thin wire causes very little drag and early flying machines were sometimes called "bird cages" due to

2211-692: The fact that the airplane itself, plus the technical expertise were foreign. Throughout the Spanish-speaking world, the Spanish aviators were wildly acclaimed, particularly in Argentina and Spain where thousands gathered at Plaza de Colón in Madrid . In 1929 Franco attempted another trans-Atlantic flight, this time crashing the airplane in the sea near the Azores . The crew was rescued days later by

2278-545: The flying boats could carry more fuel. Once the incoming mail from Europe had arrived in West Africa (also by Wal from the Canary Islands), the support ship would steam out to sea in the direction of South America for 36 hours before using its catapult to launch the airplane. On the return trip a Wal would fly the stage from Natal to Fernando de Noronha, and then be carried out to sea overnight. The same airplane

2345-534: The following carriers: SANA and Aero Espresso of Italy; Aero Lloyd and Deutsche Luft Hansa of Germany; SCADTA of Colombia; Syndicato Condor of Brazil; Nihon Koku Yuso Kaisha of Japan. According to Nicolaou, 1996 the Dornier Wal was "easily the greatest commercial success in the history of marine aviation". The Colombian Air Force used Wals in the Colombia–Peru War in 1932–1933. The Dornier Do 18

2412-451: The fuselage was no more than a braced framework and even fore-aft diagonal bracing was used to hold the wings at right angles to it. Some very early aircraft used struts made from bamboo . Most designs employed streamlined struts made either from spruce or ash wood, selected for its strength and light weight. Metal struts were also used, and both wood and metal continue in use today. The need for fore-aft wing bracing disappeared with

2479-416: The fuselage. This could be used both to provide some protection to the pilot if the craft overturned on the ground, and also for the attachment of landing wires which ran out in a slightly inclined vee to fore and aft points near the wing tips. In parasol wing monoplanes the wing passes above the fuselage and is joined to the fuselage by cabane struts, similarly to the upper wing of a biplane. On some types

2546-543: The ground. Sometimes each wing has just a single lift strut, as on the Cessna 152, but they often come in pairs, sometimes parallel as on the Catalina, sometimes splayed or as V-form pairs (e.g. Auster Autocrat ) joined to the fuselage at a single point. Many more complicated arrangements have been used, often with two primary lift struts augmented by auxiliary interconnections known as jury struts between each other or to

2613-400: The help of a clinometer and plumb-bob . Individual wires are fitted with turnbuckles or threaded-end fittings so that they can be readily adjusted. Once set, the adjuster is locked in place. Internal bracing was most significant during the early days of aeronautics when airframes were literally frames, at best covered in doped fabric, which had no strength of its own. Wire cross-bracing

2680-434: The need arises, and/or wires , which act only in tension. In general, bracing allows a stronger, lighter structure than one which is unbraced, but external bracing in particular adds drag which slows down the aircraft and raises considerably more design issues than internal bracing. Another disadvantage of bracing wires is that they require routine checking and adjustment, or rigging , even when located internally. During

2747-477: The number of wires present. However, as speeds rise the wire must be made thinner to avoid drag while the forces it carries increase. The steady increase in engine power allowed an equally steady increase in weight, necessitating less bracing. Special bracing wires with flat or aerofoil sections were also developed in attempts to further reduce drag. The German professor Hugo Junkers was seriously interested in doing away with drag-inducing struts and rigging around

Dornier Do J Wal - Misplaced Pages Continue

2814-644: The other crew members were Teniente de Navio (Navy Lieutenant) Juan Manuel Duran and the mechanic Pablo Rada. The Plus Ultra departed from Palos de la Frontera , in the Province of Huelva , Spain, on 22 January and arrived in Buenos Aires , Argentina, on 26 January. It stopped over at Gran Canaria , Cape Verde , Pernambuco , Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo . The 10,270 km journey was completed in 59 hours and 39 minutes. The event appeared in most major newspapers worldwide, although some of them underlined

2881-424: The prefix "8-", but this was usually dropped and replaced with the manufacturer's prefix. Bracing (aeronautics)#Lift struts In aeronautics , bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of struts , which act in compression or tension as

2948-751: The rank of Major general when the Third Reich was disbanded. In 1947 von Gronau moved to Upper Bavaria . He died in Frasdorf in 1977 while he was living in retirement. His remains were buried in List auf Sylt , close to the tomb of his wife. Wolfgang von Gronau won the Harmon Trophy in 1931 (national) and 1932. In List auf Sylt stands a stone memorial to his flying boat exploits. The Gronau Nunataks ( 69°27′N 30°15′W  /  69.450°N 30.250°W  / 69.450; -30.250 ) and

3015-598: The restrictions on aviation in Germany after World War I under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles . Dornier began to produce the Wal in Germany in 1931; production went on until 1936. In the military version ( Militärwal in German), a crew of two to four rode in an open cockpit near the nose of the hull. There was one machine gun position in the bow in front of the cockpit and one or two amidships. Beginning with Spain, military versions were delivered to Argentina, Chile and

3082-472: The route, between Bathurst , the Gambia in West Africa and Fernando de Noronha , an island group off South America. At first, there was a refueling stop in mid-ocean. The flying boat would land on the open sea, near a converted merchant ship. This vessel was equipped with a "towed sail" onto which the aircraft taxied. From there it was winched aboard by a crane, refueled, and then launched by catapult back into

3149-487: The same forces of lift and gravity. Many later monoplanes, beginning in 1915 , have used cantilever wings with their lift bracing within the wing to avoid the drag penalties of external wires and struts . In many early wire-braced monoplanes , e.g. the Blériot XI and Fokker Eindecker (both wing warping designs), dorsal and sometimes ventral strut systems or cabanes were placed either above, or above and below

3216-474: The start of World War I, and by mid-1915 his firm had designed the Junkers J 1 all-metal "technology demonstrator" monoplane, possessing no external bracing for its thick-airfoil cantilever wing design, which could fly at just over 160 km/h with an inline-six piston engine of just 120 horsepower. By the end of World War I, engine powers and airspeeds had risen enough that the drag caused by bracing wires on

3283-510: The two components are often connected by cabane struts running up from the top of the fuselage or crew cabin to the wing centre section. Such a wing is usually also braced elsewhere, with the cabane struts forming part of the overall bracing scheme. Because cabane struts often carry engine thrust to the upper wing to overcome its drag, the loads along each diagonal between fore and aft struts are unequal and they are often formed as N-struts. They may also have cross-braced torsion wires to help stop

3350-467: The upper wing running across above the fuselage and connected to it by shorter cabane struts. These struts divide the wings into bays which are braced by diagonal wires. The flying wires run upwards and outwards from the lower wing, while the landing wires run downwards and outwards from the upper wing. The resulting combination of struts and wires is a rigid box girder -like structure independent of its fuselage mountings. Interplane struts hold apart

3417-417: The usual pair of struts by a single, thicker streamlined strut with its ends extended fore and aft along the wing. The span of a wing between two sets of interplane or cabane struts is called a bay . Wings are described by the number of bays on each side. For example, a biplane with cabane struts and one set of interplane struts on each side of the aircraft is a single-bay biplane. For a small type such as

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3484-490: The very few single-engined, three-bay biplanes used during World War I . Some biplane wings are braced with struts leaned sideways with the bays forming a zigzag Warren truss . Examples include the Ansaldo SVA series of single-engined high-speed reconnaissance biplanes of World War I, and the early World War II-era Fiat CR.42 Falco . Other variations have also been used. The SPAD S.XIII fighter, while appearing to be

3551-481: The wing or the fuselage. Each pair of the inverted V struts of the Pawnee, for example, is assisted by a pair of vertical support struts. From early times these lift struts have been streamlined , often by enclosing metal load bearing members in shaped casings. The Farman F.190 , for example, had its high wings joined to the lower fuselage by parallel duralumin tubes enclosed in streamlined spruce fairings and

3618-422: The wing root to the height of the fuselage, making it much stiffer for little increase in weight. Typically, the ends of bracing struts are joined to the main internal structural components such as a wing spar or a fuselage bulkhead, and bracing wires are attached close by. Bracing may be used to resist all the various forces which occur in an airframe, including lift, weight, drag and twisting or torsion. A strut

3685-405: The wing twisting. A few biplane designs, like the British 1917 Bristol Fighter two-seat fighter/escort, had its fuselage clear of the lower wing as well as the upper one, using ventral cabane struts to accomplish such a design feature. Early monoplanes relied entirely on external wire bracing, either directly to the fuselage or to kingposts above it and undercarriage struts below to resist

3752-498: The wings and interplane struts form a rectangle which is cross-braced by wires. Another way of arranging a rigid structure is to make the cross pieces solid enough to act in compression and then to connect their ends with an outer diamond acting in tension. This method was once common on monoplanes, where the wing and a central cabane or a pylon form the cross members while wire bracing forms the outer diamond. Most commonly found on biplane and other multiplane aircraft, wire bracing

3819-418: The wings of a biplane or multiplane, also helping to maintain the correct angle of incidence for the connected wing panels. Parallel struts : The most common configuration is for two struts to be placed in parallel, one behind the other. These struts will usually be braced by "incidence wires" running diagonally between them. These wires resist twisting of the wing which would affect its angle of incidence to

3886-463: The wings up when they are not generating lift. (The wires connecting a basket or gondola to a balloon are also called flying wires.) Thinner incidence wires are sometimes run diagonally between fore and aft interplane struts to stop the wing twisting and changing its angle of incidence to the fuselage. In some pioneer aircraft, wing bracing wires were also run diagonally fore and aft to prevent distortion under side loads such as when turning. Besides

3953-615: The world on another Dornier Wal flying boat —named "Grönland Wal" (Greenland Whale)— with a crew of three people. He returned 111 days later, on 10 November, after having taken off from List auf Sylt westwards across Iceland, Greenland, Canada, the Aleutians , Alaska , the Kurils , Japan , China , the Philippines , Indonesia , Malacca , Burma , Ceylon , India , Iran , Iraq , Cyprus , Greece and Italy , landing finally in

4020-508: Was a completely updated successor to the Wal but shared little more than the general configuration. The Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen accompanied by Lincoln Ellsworth , pilot Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen , and three other team members used two Dornier seaplanes in his unsuccessful attempt to reach the North Pole in 1925. His two aircraft, N-24 and N-25 , landed at 87° 44' north. It

4087-415: Was also common on early monoplanes . Unlike struts, bracing wires always act in tension. The thickness and profile of a wire affect the drag it causes, especially at higher speeds. Wires may be made of multi-stranded cable, a single strand of piano wire , or aerofoil sectioned steel. Bracing wires primarily divide into flying wires which hold the wings down when flying and landing wires which hold

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4154-421: Was extensively used to stiffen such airframes, both in the fabric-covered wings and in the fuselage, which was often left bare. Routine rigging of the wires was needed to maintain structural stiffness against bending and torsion. A particular problem for internal wires is access in the cramped interior of the fuselage. Often, providing sufficient internal bracing would make a design too heavy, so in order to make

4221-527: Was not a success, only two being built. The six 10-tonne Wals flew the South Atlantic from 1934 until late 1938, although aircraft of more recent design began replacing them from 1937. From 1925 the French airline Compagnie Générale Aéropostale operated an airmail service on much the same route, from France to Brazil. The mail was flown only as far as Dakar in Senegal, West Africa, and then shipped across

4288-655: Was the SS Westfalen , a freight and passenger liner that became out-dated for carrying mail and passengers shortly after World War I due to its small size and low cruising speed. The second vessel was the MS Schwabenland . In 1936 a new support ship went into service, the MS Ostmark , which Lufthansa had purpose-built as a seaplane tender. Wals made over 300 crossings of the South Atlantic in regular mail service (Gandt, 1991, pages 47–48). The 8-tonne Wal

4355-457: Was the northernmost latitude reached by any aircraft up to that time. The planes landed a few miles apart without radio contact, yet the crews managed to reunite. One of the aircraft, the N-24, was damaged. Amundsen and his crew worked for over three weeks to prepare an airstrip to take off from the ice. They shoveled 600 tons of ice while consuming only one pound (454 g) of daily food rations. In

4422-423: Was then catapulted off to fly to West Africa the following morning, i.e. , after twelve hours travel on the ship. From April 1935 the ships no longer carried the flying boats out to sea. The Wal was launched offshore, and flew the entire distance across the ocean. This cut the time it took for mail to get from Germany to Brazil from four days down to three. The first ship converted to a mid-Atlantic refueling stop

4489-526: Was unsuccessfully proposed to compete with the Sud Aviation Caravelle , maybe due to the high-speed turbojet mismatched to a slower airframe. Wolfgang von Gronau Hans Wolfgang Gronau , as of 1913 von Gronau (25 February 1893 – 17 March 1977), was a German aviation pioneer and Luftwaffe general. During World War II he was the German air attaché and the chief of

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