GB369228A - Improvements in or relating to a system of and apparatus for transferring articles and/or fuel between one aircraft and another when in flight - Google Patents

Abstract

369,228. Refuelling aircraft in flight. LORD, J., The Chesters, Castle Road, Cowes, Isle of Wight, and NICOLSON, D., 51, Corfton Road, Ealing, London. Dec. 16, 1930, No. 37926. [Class 4.] For transferring articles or fuel from one aircraft to another during flight, a cable is let down from one aircraft into the path of another which has means for directing the cable to be within reach of an operator after which parcels can be lowered along the cable or, when the relative levels of the two aircraft are reversed, the free end of a hose pipe for refuelling the first aircraft may be drawn along the cable. The aircraft to be refuelled has a cockpit 1, Fig. 1, preferably at its rear end containing two winches 3, 4 for cables 5, 6 and a pipe 12 communicating with the petrol tank. The cable 5 is let down and is engaged by guards 14, 16, Fig. 3, on the supply aircraft, to direct it towards a door 17, on one or other side of the fuselage, where it is seized and secured by an attendant. Mail bags or other parcels are then secured to a clip 9 on the cable 6 and the clip hooked over the cable 5 so as to guide the load as it is lowered. For transferring articles in the opposite direction the supply aircraft takes station above the first aircraft and the parcels are lowered by a similar winch to the winch 4 or allowed to fall by gravity. The nozzle of a hose coiled on a drum in the supply aircraft is then drawn along the cable 5 and connected to the pipe 12. The hose communicates through the axis of its drum with a fuel tank on the supply aircraft. Fig. 8 shows a modification of the cockpit of the receiving aircraft wherein the hose is introduced at a point external to the fuselage. The hose 19 is introduced through a pointed tube 25 pivoted to a bracket 26 and its end 27 is held in engagement with a coned seat on the pipe 12 by levers 34 engaged by a conical surface 33 on a member carried by a lever 31. A detent 37 on the lever 31 holds the parts in their engaged position but the detent can be released by a lever 38 or by connections to an arm 41 on'the tube 25 so that the hose is released automatically if the pull upon it becomes sufficient to raise the hinged tube 25. An automatic valve is provided on the hose-end to stop the flow of petrol as the hose is disconnected. The guards 14 of the supply aircraft may have members which can be drawn along them to bring the depending cable within reach of the operator. Alternatively the guards may extend from the wing tips towards the tail of the machine. When the supply aircraft has engines and propellers above the wings, guards are provided to prevent entanglement of the cable with the propellers.