OUR FUTURE IN THE AIR.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16479, 24 March 1919, Page 4

OUR FUTURE IN THE AIR.

.•blazing the TRAIL." girdling the empire. (,t.om oi n owx cokmstosdekt.) LONDON, January 10. \ most inspiring discussion of the lorii'ito ovospects ot aviation as fin at tho London Ph amber ot" Commerce by Major-Gen-S Si' r H. srk«, cbirf of tl,o Ansu"ff: . 1„, Tvas a child of war, on' the threshold of a new but it - realms ot civil arid exist en-e , 1)m opportunity is Co,, ir,Uoi the conditions ideal, and Z nlst "'idc " alon S n , sht W " -i-i m ™„,r l>o no flash in the pan or lfiit'ition of a new industry by ignorant or'unscrupulous persons. Here we l?nll nit the brains of our inventors 'id o£ine«s aeainst those of the Sle world, and wc have no reason to fear the issueOUR FOREMOST PLACE. "t u aviation wc Lave gained tor ourselves tho foremost place, in <.esign and teitniici'ie of aircraft and engines, and }.-i 'h manufacturers may be trusted to maintain and improyo tlieir position State assistance in design and research work must continue A pol-cy of > safety must prevail, and tho aerial 'Pl.msoll line and the -A 1 at L oydV mustbrand evcrv British aircraft with the hallmark of ounlity and security. (Cheer;-..) The risk" and danger ot flying is, in re-ilitv verv much less than is often supposed. The improvements in tho 1 d K and construct,on of aeroplanes i Wen"inos have brought us to a .post- j tion in'which. with prudence and jnd- . menf. the risks of flying are very small. , Fatal accidents have hcon surprisingly lew and tho average lias now reached the'high figure of 1170 hours flying pe - fatal casualty. Sinec Ja'iuarv.. lJlb, - TWO officers have been killed on tho , Western front. Nearly all these casual- . ties have been duo to battle, and only , •v small proportion to accidental causes. < The total flving done during the samo ; period has been close on one million < hours, equal to 1W years. i LONG-DISTANCE FLIGHTS. ; Tho difficult of crossing tho Atlan- : tic General Sykes said is not so much ; ono of endurance of the machine and . personnel, but of oJo°v, and wireless. "You will appicciate that a straight course must bo kept, both by day and by night in thick or fino weather, in winds whoso force and direction it is difficult to catl«e in the absonce of any fixed points of reference. A small error in bearing may easily be sufficient to miss entirely so small a point in tho Atlantic as the Azores. The meteorological difficulties are due. first, to our lack of knowledge of upper air conditions in tho midAtlantic. A large quantity of meteorological data exists for tho mid-Atlantic, but- it is all founded on mariners reports of conditions from sea level. . "In regard to overland travel the chiot difficulty will he the selection ana equipment of routes. Laudtng giounds • must bo provided, and conspicuous marks and indications given. Repair facilities must be established where skilled personnel is available. The stoppin" places must be linked up with centres of distribution of postal and other merchandise, and arrangements made for the control of traffic both by dav and night. AU the Royal Air Force has had in miud when tho long range and special flights to Egypt and India were undertaken was to blaze the trail and gain experience. In good weather a machine, starting from London, will doubtless fly direct to Marseilles without stopping; thence, with a short stop flt Pisa or Rome, to Tarauto. Tho next point of stoppago will be Suda Bay in Crete, where an English aerodrome at present exists. At Cairo it will probably he advisable for mails to bo transferred to another machine in order that tho ono which lias flown from London may be given a complete overhaul before return to England. Cairo must bo considered ,and' equipped as a first-class store and repair base, as it is the half-way house to Jndia. The stages on the journey, to India average some 350 miles eaeh t the total distance London-Delhi being approximately 6000 miles. "I think wo are justified in looking forward to the approach of. a weekly mail service by air between London and India, tha time of passage not exceeding seven or

eight days, which would appear to be advantageous from the commercial viewpoint." "Another route of great interest which

the Royal Air Force hope to open up is the 'all red' route from Cairo to tho Capo. Survey parties have already been sent out froip Cairo to report on such facilities fts exist,-and for some weeks surveyors have been in Central Africa looking for aerodromes. (Laughter.)" FLYING AND THE PRESS. Although it is in connexion with long-distance work that aviation has most to offer, yet it is well not to overlook the possibilities of such routes as London-Dublin and London-Glasgow. In the former case tho distance is 28ti miles, and in tho latter 360. Study is now being given by the Air Ministry to these in connexion with their possibilities for urgent mails and newspaper work. Newspaper proprietors may easily find it advantageous to use high-speed aeroplanes for conveyance oi coj>y, stereotypes, photographs, and so on between such centres as London, Paris,. Glasgow, and Dublin, for use in the simultaneous publication of identical issues of their newspapers. Flyiiifj boats from sea bases cannot be operated with regularity and ease from an extemporised fetation, and it, must be remembered that all forms of seaplanes are, on the whole, more bound by weather conditions than aeroplanes. As aircraft become larger there will be a certain amount of levelling up in this respect. AIRSHIP PROSPECTS. It may well be that for commercial purposes the airship is adapted lor long-distance journeys involving nostop flights. The airship has the inherent advantage over the aeroplane that there is practically no limit whatever to its range provided it can. be made large enough. . The large rigid airship is still in an embryonic stage, but there is no reason why it should not be built capable of completing the circuit of tho globe. There need not necessarily be competition with the aeroplane, and the aim should be to undertake such joruneys as are unsuitable for hearier-than-air craft. One of their objections has been the creat expense of construction of sheds enough to house them. It is possible that these difficulties _ mar be

solved l>v the method of mooring tlic.ia to Jiiasts or cablps. Sfhomps for tho development of the airship for commercial purposes may belonsr to tho future more than to the immediate present. Its possibilities should, however. not he forgotten. ■WIRELESS AXD METEOROLOGY. One of the most important of the atteudaut problems to be solved is the inllucnce of the weather on the operation of any flying service. At present the weather still is the great natural enemy of aviation. That it will before lons he fully conquered, there is very little doubt. There are at present 31 Royal Air Force meteorological stations in the United Kingdom alone, and there seems every likelihood of this number increasing rather than decreasing. The development of botn meteorology and wireless telegraphy should take place along broad Imperial linos. British aircraft will soon he a> widely spread as is the British JSmßiic, ..

Tho development which will be of thq greatest use for enabling machines to fly in all weathers is the directionfinding wireless apparatus carried in aircraft ior_ ascertaining the hearing of ground wireless transmitting stations. This method is at present secret, and was developed iu the service during the war. It will probably be one of the greatest factors in facilitating and increasing the safety of flying overseas and above the clouds. Aircraft so equipped can fix their position frequently, can report to tlieir base at any moment where thev are, what course tliev are steering, or if they are in any difficulty. The ground transmitting stations are. in fact, a form of aerial lighthouse or beacon unaffected by fog, and with a range of visibility of 600 or 700 miles. Tlieir cost would he high, perhaps in tho neighbourhood of £60,000 or £70,000 per station, hut for aircraft thev are primary requirements. They would, moreover, be useful for news transmission and also be a help to shipping in foggy weather, aud when astronomical observations arc impossible on account of clouds. Another indispensable adjunct to aerial navigation will be tho preparation of specialised air charts of all routes.