CARGOES BY AIR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 114, 16 May 1942, Page 6

CARGOES BY AIR

A DEVELOPMENT of far-reaching importance, in peace and war is V*. foreshadowed in the report that the United States Government is considering the construction of a huge fleet of giant transport planes to replace the cargo capacity of ships sunk by enemy action. The Americans have led the world in the development of long-distance air transport of passengers and mails, but in air transport of cargo they have not made tho same progress as some of the air lines of Europe. In 1937 ocean 8 , y r K ma " of *1?® Maritime Commission that transocean aircraft, for example, the Clippers, should be designated as vessels, which wouldl have made them eligible for subsidies. The proposal was rejected, but it is now being realised that if the manufacturers of large flying-boats had been so encouraged the United States would now have had a fleet of such ships, which, fitted to carry cargoes instead of passengers, would have been invaluable for war purposes But how much can they carry? Obviously, their capacity is verv small compared with that of a cargo ship; but their speed is so great Via t , heory least, and under war conditions, they are not disqualified frorn competing. It has been estimated that, whereas a steamer make well under present conditions to 21- « #n . ha,f r ° und J ri P« ,n ■ year from New York to the Red bea, a cargo plane could make fifty round trips in the same time, and fifteen such planes could deliver about the same quantity of carso as !l e „M e iI n !r t -.,T h 4 * J ,d , v,,ntagM £ lalmed •"> that the submarine menace would be eliminated, large numbers of warships would be released from could be delivered at once where they were } n the Pacific it is estimated that a plane could deliver 27 tons of cargo In Sydney from San Francisco in two days, over a route which ass, as,!; Iff Byl^ U " ui * ;,r p " * clual developments in the