SURPRISE 'PLANE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 245, 15 October 1936, Page 9

SURPRISE 'PLANE.

FOLDS ITS WINGS. FRENCH EXPERIMENT. SPEED OF 280 M.P.H. (Special.—B3* Air Mail.) LONDOX, September 19. Locked in a hangar near Paris is the most astonishing aeroplane ever built. It represents France's attempt to capture the Xorth Atlantic air route. It has retractable wings. On the ground the machine, a monoplane, has a large wing span. This means that it can take olf with a large load of fuel or freight. But a large span also means

that the aeroplane cannot go very fast. So, when in the air, the pilot can wind the'wings in, shortening the span, and the machine can then reach a speed of 280 m.p.li. The retracting mechanism Works on a telescopic principle, the outer section of the wing sliding into the inner section, the fuselage, when in (light. The aeroplane has been built secretly, not by the French Government, but by a private company, with the sole intention of using it for a Paris to New York air service. Few people know that the machine has reached any more than the designing stage. It has, however, done several hundred hours' flying-, and has successfully passed all the usual tests., Atlantic services with machines of this type will probably start next year. People concerned are anxious to hasten construction, as Germany lias already started her North Atlantic air service, and Britain and America mean to begin next spring.