Stirling-flying

Short S.29 Stirling
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	Of benefit to modifiers of flight simulators - here is some information I gathered about the flight characteristics of this huge beast. There are some good flight sims about- of which Microsoft's Flight Sim series are perhaps the easiest to mod. There is a flight sim 95 Stirling but I , so far have been unable to get it functioning - there seems to be a problem with the 3D model. Below is a graph produced in MS Excel. It shows the best climb against altitude - the red line is Excel's smooth interpolation of the data. I couldn't get the graph to extend to the max altitude - 18,500, but perhaps the pilot has to "climb the steps". This means once the climb has levelled out, pulling the flaplever for a short while to get some extra altitude, the trick being to close the flaps as soon as the airspeed drops below an optimum amount. This operation can be repeated 1/2 a dozen times until about 1,000ft extra are gained. Some texts describe the max ceiling at 12,500 ft. This later changed when fuel loads were reduced, amour plating taken out of the area around the navigator and ammunition was reduced. Initially, 1,000s of rounds per gun were carried, but the average used was only 350 per gun. So various reductions were made, depending on squadron & mission requirements. Fuel load was initially at least 25% surplus too. It is easy to underestimate how much petroleum spirit can weigh. The descent to land must be an interesting procedure. Again, there are design features that result from this behaviour elsewhere in the machine. As can be seen from the previous page- the landing gear is extremely long. with it's complex of struts, levers and doors, the aerodynamic drag must have been very large. Trim changes and the rate of descent once the wheels were lowered will have been immediate for the pilot. An ideal landing will place all the wheels on the runway at the same time. With the Stirling's high nose attitude, pilot visibility would have been lost had the plane not had the dramatically sloping nose profile. I am however awaiting data on the rate of descent in various flight configurations, speed, flaps up/down, wheels up & down etcetera.
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	Much of the appearance of this aeroplane is a direct result of the design specification and the spin-off problems it causes to other areas of the airframe. In turn the "spin-offs" need solutions to make a workable machine. It is this complex of interwoven issues that need consideration before the type can be dismissed in historical accounts. The same is true of that other British underrated aircraft the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley. Britain could not have known in 1939/40 how long the war would last & how much investment to make in it - a country remember, that was still deeply in debt from the First World War. The problem was so serious that British money reserves were reduced to £6 million in gold just before the USA intervened. This factor alone would have lost the war had the US not become involved.
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	references: Plans, flaps6, render 8, render12, render 13, British Warplanes of WWII, ed. Daniel J. March Pilots & Flight Engineer's notes- Stirling I, III, IV. Air Data publications © 1973 The Stirling Bomber - Michael J.F. Bowyer

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