Abstract
PHOTOGRAPHS of German Heinkel III aircraft, shot down recently, reveal the fact that these machines are fitted with a balloon cable fender not very different from designs tried by both sides during the latter part of the War of 1914-18. It consists of a metal rail, V-shaped in plan form, attached to the wing tips with the point of the V carried on a pylon forward of the nose of the machine. Thus, when meeting a cable it is fended off by being slipped round the wing tip. The weight and drag of the device is considerable, and has an appreciable effect upon the performance. British machines now use a row of small cable cutters along the leading edge of the wings. If the cable strikes between the cutters it slips along until it reaches the nearest one. This device is considered to be better, in that it releases the balloon, and clears the way for any following machines. The weight is less than that of the German fenders, although the comparative aerodynamic effects are not certain. The problem of ice formation on either type is likely to be serious, and in this case the British design, placing the cutters in the wing, which is probably already fitted with de-icing devices, is less likely to accumulate serious ice formations than the German exterior structure.
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Aircraft Defence against Barrage Balloon Cables. Nature 149, 73 (1942). https://doi.org/10.1038/149073b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/149073b0