OCEAN AERODROME.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 266, 10 November 1933, Page 7

OCEAN AERODROME.

German Atlantic Scheme In

Operation.

FIRST 'PLANE CROSSES,

VANCOUVER, November 9,

A message from Natal, Brazil, states that a German flying boat, piloted by Rudolph von Klausbruch, with four companions, landed there yesterday afternoon after a one-stop flight across the South Atlantic, nine hours after the machine had been catapulted from the German steamer Westphalen in midocean.

The flying boat reached the Westphalen on Tuesday after a six hours' flight from Bathurst, Africa. The airmen are testing the proposed regular mail service between Europe and South America.

The Westphalen is maintaining a position 050 miles east of Natal. Aeroplanes will land alongside her and be hoisted to her deck. Then the mail will be transferred to another aeroplane, which will be catapulted off the ocean aerodrome.

'PLANE'S GUN TURRET.

NEW BRITISH NIGHT BOMBERS

LONDON, November 3,

"Flying Dustbins" is the nickname members of the Royal Air Force have given to the twin-engined Heyford nightbombers, which eventually will replace the existing night-bombers because of their superiority for defence purposes.

The new machines are so called because they possess a duralumin turret, containing a machine-gun which swings to all angles. The turret can be lowered into the centre of the fuselage for action, and can be drawn up in a few seconds."

AIR MAIL SPEEDS.

A • SLUR ON BRITAIN?

LONDON, November 2.

"It would be most exasperating for passengers if the Dutch machine passed them, reached Batavia and then passed them again on its 'way back to Europe," said Sir Keith Smith, on arrival at Croydon, commenting on the proposed schedule of the England-to-Australia air mail. Sir Keith, who had flown to Europe in a Dutch air liner, said, that the journey had convinced him that the service to Australia would have to be most efficient.

"I met Ulm in Singapore," he said. "Vickers, Ltd., had entrusted him with letters to me, knowing that they would not be delivered unless he maintained his record-breaking schedule. Ulm justified that confidence. The brilliance of this flight is not fully recognised by the public, which forgets tie delays."

Speaking further of the EnglandAustralia service, Sir Keith said that American aviation was an example to the Empire. Americans had realised that traffic followed the provision of facilities; this was common sense.

An air authority questioned agreed •with Sir Keith's praise of American efficiency, and declared- that the Australian air mail service ought to be planned for five years ahead, with the fastest machines employed. -British manufacturers were preparing blueprints for fast 'planes for the centenary race in the event of a philanthropist contributing to the cost. They had not the incentive to do more. The Imperial policy of carrying mails and passengers together was unwise.