AIRSHIP SERVICE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 77, 11 January 1928, Page 5

AIRSHIP SERVICE

ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. THE LATEST DEVELOPMENT. BRITISH COMPANY FORMING. (Pe<- Press Association— Copyright.) (Received This Day, 12.40 p.m.) LONDON, January 10. The airship RIOO is to be sold to a company which Commander' Burney, M.P., is organising for experimental trans-Atlantic flights prior to forming a company with a capital of £7,000,000, t-> run a regular service between Britain, Canada, and the United States, crossing from England to North America in 48 hours and back in- 38. Commander Burney explains that the airship mail surcharges will be sixpence per ounce for letters, and two shillings per pound for parcels. The passenger faers will be £l2O in a single berth cabin and £IOO in a two berth cabin. There will be eight four berth cabins. -If the flights of RICO succeed it is proposed to build a new vessel of a larger and faster type, with a maximum speed of 100 miles, and a cruising speed of 95 miles an hour. The cruising endurance will be 6400 miles, carrying 168 passengers.

PASSENGERS AND CARGO. VENTURE IN INDIA AND BURMA. (Per Press Association— uot.ynnnt.) (Received This Day, 8.20 a.m.) LONDON, January 10. Plying Officers Newell and Vincent, accompanied by a mechanic and photographer, left Stag Lane aerodrome in a twlo three-seater Siddeley aeroplanes' for Singapore, via Marseilles, Brindisi, Athens, Mesopotamia, India, Burma and the Malay States. They are taking Mrs Wix-Parker as a passenger as far as Cairo. The flight it* a free lance venture with the object of a general reconnaissance of civil flying prospects, and exploitation of the possibilities of an air survey by means of aerial photographs, the collection of flying data, stimulation of interest in aviation by means of lectures', and a demonstration of the use of aircraft in spraying crops and mosquito-infested waters. The pilots intend to pick up passengers and special cargo, and become a sort of tramp ship, of the air as opportunities offer, operating chiefly in Buiv mai, India, Ceylon and the Malay States.