Complete Britannia Fuselage Carried by Trailer
Page 67
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METICULOUS planning preceded the movement of a complete Britannia 300 fuselage, with a section of wing attached, from the Fitton aircraft erecting hall to the watertank test site less than a mile away. The internal transport section of Bristol Aircraft, Ltd., undertook the task, and used a 14-ton mobile crane to check the descent of trailer and load down a 1-in-I2 gradient.
Placed on a 30-ft. trader, the 106-ft. long fuselage overhung 30 ft. to the rear and 20,ft ahead, of the David Brown tractor. When the load was removed, 300 lb. of ballast Was placed in the nose of the fuselige to balance it as it travelled up the gradient. This movtment was planned in
I N a new type of hot-spray plant produced by Atlas Cope° (Great Britain), Ltd., Beresford Avenue, Wembley, Middx., the material to be sprayed is kept hot between the unit and the spray guns by a constant flow of hot water through a jacket encasing the paint hoses.
The paint is delivered to the guns at the rate of 15 gal. an hour. The heat loss between the unit and the guns on a hose length of 30 ft. is only 1°F. A 2.7 kW. heater is used in the unit, the temperature of the paint being therrnbstatically controlled at between 86' hand 203° F. A knob on the outside of the unit controls the setting of the thermostat and the circuit incorporates a signal lamp and a fusible plug, which prevents the possibility of trouble as the result of the unit boiling dry.
There is, however, a water-level indicator and such trouble could arise only through carelessness. The two guns can be used simultaneously to spray one colour or each gun a separate colour. Compressed air to the unit passes through an air cleaner and a reducing valve to the guns and pressure container, where the pressure is still further reduced to meet requirements. Paint from the pressure container passes through the -paint coils in which it is raised to the correct temperature.
The unit is known as the H3C and was designed to overcome the problem of wear normally associated with hot-spray equipment in which gear pumps are used in the fluid circuit.
The company also make catalyst equipment for use with finishes incorporating resin. The plant is capable of thoroughly mixingthe catalyst and resin. With the Atlas two-gun hotspray unit, two colours can, if necessary, be sprayed at one time, one through each gun. 18 separate stages. The fuselage weighed over 6 tons and was supported on a special cradle.
When a 35-ft. section of a Britannia fuselage was moved by the transport department of the company across the Irish Sea, cranage at Preston was incapable of lifting the load together with the four-wheeled trailer. The section was therefore unloaded and placed on cradles. When the trailer was shackled to the deck of the ferry vessel, the load was replaced.
The reverse procedure took place at Larne during strong winds. The section was the largest load ever moved to Belfast by the department, and the journey from Filton to Preston was 180 miles: the remaining road section from Larne to the Belfast factory of Short Bros. and Harland, Ltd., was 25 miles. • On the road routes in both England and Ireland, police escorts were provided.