The Continental pusher biplane is one of the comparatively few machines of the pusher type turned out in this country. A pusher aeroplane is one in which the propeller is back of the planes and thrusts the machine forward instead of pulling it as in the tractor type. It will be recalled that the original Wright machine was a pusher biplane and most of the biplanes built in the three to five years succeeding its advent were similarly designed, while the French monoplanes were the forerunners of the present tractor biplanes.
Specifications from “Practical Aviation,” by Charles Hayward, 1919
An unusual feature of the machine described here is that, despite the reduced amount of leverage exerted by the tail unit owing to the much shorter distance intervening between it and the main planes, as compared with the ordinary tractor, it flies with apparently the same balance whether or not an observer occupies the forward cockpit.
Planes
The span of the main surfaces, which are both of the me length, is 36 feet; both the chord and the gap are 5 feet 3 inches; and there is no stagger. The wings are designed according to the U.S.A. No. .5 curve and are set at an angle of incidence only 1 ½ degrees, or almost horizontal. Neither sweep back nor ledral is given the supporting surfaces. Ailerons are fitted to th the upper and the lower wings and at the point at which they are hinged to the main wings, the rear main beam is beveled so that no space occurs between the wing and the control surface, gardless of the angle assumed by the aileron in laterally controlling the machine.
Tail Unit
In place of the usual body, the tail unit is ounted at the end of a pair of 3-inch steel tubes, or outriggers, the forward ends of which terminate in built-up steel struts of triangular form. These outriggers are 10 feet 9 inches long, are spaced 12 feet apart, and are braced by extra heavy double cables running to the upper and lower extremities of the … struts placed between the rear beams of the main wings. The horizontal stabilizer, or tail plane, measures 2 feet in width and is attached to the outriggers at its forward beam, which is 6 inches back of the leading edge of the plane.
The elevators are of the same depth as the stabilizer and are hinged with a beveled spar, which leaves no gap between the hinged surfaces when operated, this also being true of the rudder. Both the rudder and the vertical fin have their surfaces spaced equally above and below the center line of the horizontal stabilizer, the rudder measuring 2 feet in width by 5 feet in height, which gives a total surface of slightly less than 10 square feet. Streamlined sheet-steel control tillers arc used. Strut
Fuselage
The fuselage is of the type developed at an early day in the Karman biplanes and usually termed a nacelle, the adoption of which marked a long step forward in the reduction of head resistance of an aeroplane. In the earliest biplanes, the pilot was completely unprotected and his body added substantially to the drag-producing surface of the machine as a whole. The nacelle of the Continental pusher measures 12 feet 5 inches from the forward end of the observer’s cockpit to the metal nose at the rear added to give it a true streamline form. This nose, or cap, is of aluminum and is attached to the propeller so that it revolves with it.
Both the observer’s and the pilot’s cockpits are further protected by small but effective windshields, while the observer’s seat is mounted on a swivel. The pilot’s seat is hinged so that it may be raised to give access to the starting crank of the motor just back of it.
Power Plant
The motor is a four-cylinder water-cooled Hall-Scott rated at 135 h.p. at 1300 r.p.m. and is employed to drive a three-blade propeller, though there is ample space between the outriggers to permit the use of a two-blade propeller of larger diameter. The fuel supply of 45 gallons is carried in two tanks laced on either side of the motor. From these tanks, the gasoline elevated by means of a wind-wheel operated gear pump to a 4 gallon gravity tank built into the upper central wing panel and informing to the wing section. The pump is located under the nacelle. The fuel supply and 5 gallons of oil are sufficient for a flight of four hours.
Landing Gear
The chassis consists of a pair of skids spaced 4 feet 6 inches apart carrying four wheels, the forward pair measuring 20 by 3 inches and having a tread of 5 feet while the rear pair are 20 by 4 inches and are spaced 5 feet 5 inches. Both axles are bound to the skid with elastic shock absorber cord while the axles themselves move in sheet-steel guides. The connections are of heavy gage steel plates, beveled and drilled, while the landing gear structure is braced with heavy stranded cables. The rear ends of the skids are curved downward and shod with steel spurs at their tips, so that when the machine tilts back on them in landing, they catch the ground and check the rolling speed.
Weight
The complete machine weighs 1500 pounds empty or 2600 pounds fully loaded. It has a speed range of 95-55 miles per hour.