Electric Drive for Aircraft

The use of large amounts of power in aircraft becomes a power-handling problem; and electric transmission from the turbines mounted in the fuselage, to the propellers on the wings, has the same advantages as in handling very large amounts of power in industry. The advantages of electric power transmission are discussed, principally flexibility, reliability, ability to shut down prime movers, and lessened drag. Also the disadvantages-principally weight. An outline of an acceptable airplane and the calculation of fuel savings resulting from electric operation of a given flight plan are given, showing that it is possible to save enough fuel to cancel out the extra weight of the electric drive. Also, a discussion of weights of apparatus is given.