FAST TRAVEL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 128, 1 June 1936, Page 12

FAST TRAVEL.

SUCCESS OF AIR LINER.

FLYING IN AUSTRALIA,

Some interesting comments on aviation in Australia and New Zealand were offered' on Saturday by Major V. Bertrandias, a noted American aviator, and export manager for the Douglas Aircraft Company, who lias been supervising tlie assembly of the new big Douglas airliner which is now running on regular service between Melbourne and lasmania and Melbourne and Sydney.

Major Bertraiulias carried out all the test flights with the Douglas air liner and he states that she performed excellently. She carried 500 official passengers 011 demonstration flights, including the Governor-General and his wife. Tlie fastest flight was made between Melbourne aint Tasmania, a distance of 300 miles, which was covered in 1 hour 22 minutes. Referring to Australian flying conditions, Major Bertrandias expressed himself as very impressed with the possibilities of the Commonwealth for aviation development. The country was ideal for night flying, but as yet therewas no equipment for that phase.

The knowledge he had gained of conditions had convinced him, he said, tha. the best machines for a trans-Tasman service would be multiple-engined aeroplanes and not flying boats. They would be faster and would be able to ride above any storms. The violent storms that occasionally lashed the Tasman would make the landing of a flying boat almost an impossibility, in any case, and there was a safety factor in the lighter, faster and higher altitude flying of aeroplanes. He gave as his opinion, too, that the Governments of Australia and New Zealand should co-operate in a regular Tasman service. That was the only way in which they could control the development of the service to meet the need of the two countries.