BEFORE XMAS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 251, 23 October 1935, Page 8

BEFORE XMAS.

UNION AIR SERVICE. TWO FAST 'PLANES BOUGHT. SQ.-LDR. MoGREGOR'S TESTS. Returning by the Rangitiki last night after a six months' visit to England, Squadron-Leader M. C. McGregor, service manager of Union Airways, stated that two 12-seater De Havilland 'planes for the company's service between Palmerston North and Dunedin were to have been shipped from London by the motor ship Waipawa, which was to leave there on October 16, and was due' at Dunedin on November 16. The 'planes would be landed at Lyttelton and assembled at Wigram aerodrome in time, he thought, for the service to commence before Christmas.

While he was in England, SquadronLea,der McGregor made test flights both in the 12-seater type which will be used in the Palmerston North-Dunedin service, and .the 7-seater type which will be used in the Cook Strait service between Wellington and Nelson. The larger 'planes, he stated, had four engines, which gave them a top speed of 170 miles an hour and made them very safe, as any two of the engines would keep them in the air. They carried two pilots, and were equipped with wireless. The smaller 'planes, with two engines, were not quite as fast.