FIRST FLIGHT, 1927
was successfully taken into the air for its first
flight at the Bristol field yesterday
| GIANT ARMORED BOMBER FIRST FLIGHT, 1927 |
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The Super-Cyclops, five tons of steel, fuel and fabric was successfully taken into the air for its first flight at the Bristol field yesterday |
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AND NORTH AMERICAN PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY MORNING, AUGUST 25, 1927 FIVE-TON ARMY BOMBER MAKES "DEBUT" IN AIR Super Cyclops Soars on Two Test Flights at Bristol BIG SHIP TAXIS ONLY 100 YARDS AND RISES Skims Barn Roof on First Flight and Settles in Perfect Landing CAN CARRY 6 MACHINE GUNS, 2700 POUNDS OF EXPLOSIVE Will be Shipped to McCook Field, Dayton, After Further Experiments All morning, mechanics had hovered about the big ship while Walter E., Lees, representative of the Packard Motor Company, went over the two engines. The clouds were whisked across the heavens by a brisk northerly wind, and by noon the sun was covering the field and a small knot of interested spectators had appeared. Lieutenant Frank B. Tyndall, of McCook Field, Dayton, O., special Government representative at the aircraft factory, slipped on his parachute a little before 2 o'clock, fastened his helmet and climbed into the pilot's seat. A mechanic turned the crank of the inertia starter and the port motor roared. In a few seconds, the starboard motor was keeping it company. As the blocks were pulled away from the wheels and the great ship's eighty-five feet of fuselage swung around, the photographers scattered downfield for pictures. The Super Cyclops rode easily; its tail lifted expectantly as it moved toward the eastern end of the green. Last week, of course, it had taxied as nicely as this. But this was to be the test. Lieutenant Tyndall gave it the gun., the ship came toward the newsmen and, far short of the mark where they had looked for it to leave the ground, it sailed from the earth. The distance was less than 100 yards from its starting point. Every one was amazed at the ease with which five tons of steel and fabric had mounted toward the skies. For twenty minutes then it flew. Once its pilot throttled down the engines and the ship's nose came down slightly, and a few of the uninitiated on the ground held their breaths. Lieutenant Tyndall was testing for minimum speed at that time. Round and round it flew, banking like a lazy buzzard, mounting higher and higher until it was hardly bigger than a pursuit ship. And then it came down, slowly, slowly, going in big circles and finally skimming a barn roof and landing perfectly. There was an interval of an hour and a half and then it rose again. The Super Cyclops is made to carry 2700 pounds of explosives and six Lewis machine guns. It will carry a crew of five or six and its explosives carrying capacity can be raised to 4000 pounds. There are two water-cooled Packard engines, twelve-cylindered, of 560 horsepower each. The wings measure fifty-five feet. After it has been given five or six hours in the air here, it will probably be sent by rail or flown to McCook Field. Army Inspector FInds Super Cyclops Easy to Handle on Its First Trial in the Air Special to The New York Times BRISTOL, Pa., Aug. 24.---Heading at sixty miles an hour into a brisk wind, the Keystone Super-Cyclops, third of the big bombing planes to be completed for the United States Army competition, cruised about on two twenty-minute trips here this afternoon. It responded perfectly to the touch of Lieutenant Frank B.Tyndall, army inspector attached to the Keystone Aircraft Corporation, builder of the mammoth ship. Walter E. Lees, the Packard expert who has been getting Lieutenant Alford William's plane ready for the Schneider Cup races, went over the motors again after Lieutenant Tyndall's descent. Then an hour later, he climbed into the cockpit with the pilot and the plane was given another twenty-minute trial, with the take-off and landing as graceful as before. C. T. Porter, chief engineer of the Keystone Corporation, designed the plane, and Clayton L. Roloson is works manager. The project engineer is Ludwig Mudder. 
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