No one knows when or where the legend of Pegasus first became popular. Nor does the date really matter. For as long as history records, men of the world have seen the flying beast of burden as the epitome of mortal ambition. Now Consolidated-Vultee has come forward with a single vehicle which moves through the air on the power of 30,000 winged horses-to prove conclusively that the sky alone is the limit where practical airplane size is concerned.
That the recently announced Model 37 is far and away the largest flying machine on the immediate post-war docket is obvious. Although size alone does not spell greatness in aviation, it is interesting to note that the single slender wing of the Model 37 would outreach a 21-story building if upended on a metropolitan street corner. Similarly, the single fin and rudder stands approximately five stories above the runway. Twice as large as the Consolidated-Vultee Liberator, the Model 37 has a wing span of 230 feet and measures 182 feet in length. Nearly ten Piper Cubs could be parked in the tarmac space occupied by a single Model 37.
Actually this new transport is something more than a very large airplane, with external lines and internal design unlike anything previously offered to the commercial airline operators of the world. It has, first of all, six engines buried in the wing to match the largest pre-war German, French and Russian commercial types in number of engines. Unlike the latter types, however, the Model 37 carries the engines in the trailing edge of the wing and becomes the first pusher type likely to see commercial service. Because the Model 37 is derived from a new Consolidated design, all information on power plants is necessarily restricted at the present time. However, the manufacturer has announced total power output equal to that of 353 automobiles-approximately 30,000 hp if we accept 85 hp as the average for American motor cars. It would be possible to obtain this output in one of two ways. The Model 37 may have a pair of inline engines in each nacelle, with a long uni-twin head and shaft driving the three-blade propellers. Or it may be fitted with individual engines each developing 5,000 hp for take-off. The former would seem impractical in the light of Consolidated's thin wing with maximum camber inadequate for accommodation of the Allison 3420, the only announced inline, which develops more than 2,500 hp. It is possible that wartime ingenuity has brought radial engines which develop considerably more than the 3,000 hp announced some time ago. However, air-cooled engines, never too successful in pusher mountings, could hardly obtain sufficient cooling on the ground while buried in the Model 37 wing. So this sky gargantua is probably powered by either a gas turbine or a diesel engine of 5,000 hp efficiency-a remarkable power plant if it exists.
In operation, the Model 37 follows a performance pattern which is more Or less general in projected multi-engine transports, although its load is obviously greater than that of the Boeing Stratocruiser, the Douglas DC-7, the Lockheed Constellation, and the Martin Mars. Cruising at speeds between 310-342 mph, the big ship will carry a payload of 50,000 pounds composed of 204 passengers and seven and one-half tons of mail or express. Operating above the weather at 30,000 feet, the Model 37 is designed for a range of 4,200 miles with the previously-mentioned load. A double-deck interior will embrace two-passenger staterooms, oversize berths, two lounges, and a number of rest rooms, with Henry Dreyfuss interiors assuring color and comfort for passengers on the long over-water routes.