Under the American system of training aviators, the pupil goes into the air directly on completing his course of ground instruction, that is, in the details of the mechanism, theory, and assembly of the aeroplane, instead of as in the French system, being obliged to get his preliminary “flying in a penguin, or practically wingless machine. The latter is only capable at the most of exaggerated hops off the ground, whereas the American training plane is a standard machine designed for instruction.
The Burgess training plane is of the tractor type and differs from most of the machines designed for the same service in that the cockpit is arranged so that the pupil and instructor sit side by side instead of tandem.
Specifications from “Practical Aviation,” by Charles Hayward, 1919
Planes
In order that the machine may be handled safely by the novice, it must be comparatively slow in responding to it- controls, and, to insure this as well as to keep its flight speed down, it is provided with, a large wing area. The span of the machine is 41 feet 6 inches, the lower plane, however, measuring but 34 feet. The chord is 6 feet 6 inches, giving a total area for the main planes of 437 square feet. The gap is 6 feet and the upper wing is staggered forward 1 foot 9 inches, while both planes are given a dihedral of 3/4 degree and an angle of incidence of 1 ¼ degrees. The wing curve is the R.A.F. No. 3 and the planes are raked at an angle of 16 degrees. Both the upper and the lower plane are in two sections, the upper plane having an area of 219 square feet without the ailerons, and the lower plane having an area of 182 square feet.
In the construction of the planes, the ribs are spaced 4 feet apart and the forward main beam is centered 9 inches back of the leading edge, while the rear beam is 21 inches forward of the trailing edge at its center. Owing to the great difference in the length of the upper and the lower planes, the interplane struts are inclined away from the fuselage to prevent an excessive overhang, which is thus reduced to 4 feet on the upper wing and 3 feet on the lower.
The fuselage struts are spaced 5 feet 4 inches apart, the central struts 6 feet 5 ½ inches from the fuselage struts, and the outer struts 7 feet 7 ½ inches from the central struts.
Tail Unit
The horizontal stabilizer has a total area of 40 feet divided into two sections at either side of the body, leasures 14 feet along the rear spar and is 3 feet 6 inches deep, elevators measure 15 feet 5 inches along the trailing edge and 2 feet 6 inches deep, giving an area of 32 square feet, while vertical fin is 6 feet long and 2 feet 6 inches high at the rudder, ving an area of 15 square feet. A balanced type of rudder is employed. This has an area of 13 square feet, the height at the rudder post being 5 feet 6 inches, while the balanced portion extends 1 foot 6 inches forward of the pivot and 2 feet 7 inches to the rear of it. Steel tube braces support the horizontal stabilizer at the forward edge while guys from the rear beam of the latter serve to brace the rudder post and fin. Transverse control is by means of ailerons on the upper main planes only. These have an area of 18 square feet each.
Fuselage
The length over-all is 21 feet 2 inches, while the greatest width is 4 feet at the cockpit, at which point is also the maximum depth, 3 feet 7 inches. The depth tapers forward to 2 feet 2 inches at the radiator and to 1 foot at the rudder post. The upper longerons are slightly over ½ foot above the center of the propeller and are carried back at the level of the line of flight. the lower longerons being curved in forward and tapering back from the point at which the rear beam of the lower wing is attached to the fuselage.
Power Plant
The machine is driven by an eight-cylinder V type water-cooled Curtiss motor having a bore of 4 inches by a stroke of 5 inches and rated at 90 h.p. It drives directly a propeller 7 feet 9 inches in diameter. The carbureter is placed under the forward end of the motor and is braced to the crankcase by means of steel struts. It is a Zenith “double” type, that is, with two manifold connections, each manifold supplying a group of four cylinders independently. An auxiliary air intake is provided in the manifolds with a hand control for altitude adjustment, the lower ends of the manifold being water-jacketed. A single-spark eight-cylinder magneto provides the ignition.
Landing Gear
The landing gear consists of a three-wheel assis with a tread of 5 feet 4 inches. The main wheels, 26 by 3 inches, are equipped with spring shock absorbers, the axle moving in steel guides. The landing gear is attached to the fuselage by means of tubular steel struts, the two forward pairs of which streamlined by attaching wood extensions to the forward of the tubes. The front wheel is rigid and is held at a point 3 feet 1 inch forward of the main wheels by steel tubes placed horizontally. The usual tail skid is attached to the fuselage at a int 2 feet forward of the rudder post.