AVIATION.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17401, 11 March 1922, Page 12

AVIATION.

"IMPERIAL AIRSHIP SERVICE. GERMAN ENTEEPBISE. (from otrn own correspondent.) LONDON, January 26. Members of* the Council of the Royal Aeronautical Society recently waited on the Secretary of State for Air to pu before him the need better safeguards to prevent the submerging o applied scientific research in aeronautics by technical experimental work, Captain Guest giving the views express©! by the deputation his serious and sympathetic consideration. ■ The deputation pointed out that applied scientific research has in England, for 0110 rciason or another, suffered from, serious and increasing disabilities since the earliest flight. These disabalities arose from many causes, but notably from the fact that though research ioas forced itself into recognition as fundamental to any technical advancement, when it comes to the detailed allocation of time and work, this recognition becomes blurred by reason of other factors, technical, administrative, and financial, which tend to obscure its fundamental importance and crowd it. out of existence. The desire of tlio lloyal Aeronautical Society is to ensure, if possible, the continued and urgent prosecution of research, and the constructive suggestion it puts forward to give point xo its proposal is that a precedent, found in the organisation of the Admiralty, be followed in its general .outlino by the appointment of an individual of ■ high scientific qualifications, whose specific duty will be the safeguarding or research, keeping it in touch with the scientific work of the country and with •the problems of civil and military aircraft. Those characteristics of the office in question, to which it is sought to draw attention, are: (1) That a grant of money be specifically allotted to research, as above defined. (2) That the individual holding this office shall have access to the members of the Air Council. (3) That he have access to private advice, and have money specifically available to him for the purpose'of pay-, ing for such advice. (4) That there be an advisory committee external to the Air Ministry, consisting of scientific men. This committee to have no exec utive powers and be solely advisory. (5) That this committee , should supervise and publish such matters relating to research as are deemed to be publish- * able in the public interest. Irisli Air Mall. The project of running an air mail between London, and Cork, under dis-. eussion by interested firms for the past two years, is given a fresh impetus by Tecent successful tests of a wonderful new float seaplane, the Fairey-Rolls-Royce. It is generally recognised thjit owing to the long sea passage on the route, the. type of aircraft to be used must be the flying-boat, preferably an amphibian. „ The - flying-boat, partly owing.to the rapid depreciation of the hull and partly owing to its.weight, ia ' not yet a commercial proposition. The new seaplane has a patent form of highlift wings, and can lift 15 to 20 passengers with a 360 h.p. engine. Eight passengers has been the previous test for this horse-power. Such a machine at once put the London-Cork air line within the bounds of immediate possibility without needing a subsidy. The best route for the journey would be via Fishguard. The journey of 400 miles would take about • four hours. A passenger for America could spend an extra day in London and fly the following day to Queenstown, to land alongside the ship. The experiment made with the air port of Westminster justifies that being used as the London terminal. Passengers "coming in from America could reach London a whole day in advance of the boat. G?ing further" than this, successful experiments have been conducted in America with aircraft overtaking liners 300 miles at sea and dropping late mail on board. AH this is, of course, working towards the regular Transatlantic air mail, which does not now seem so far distant. Passengers'. Comfort. Some interesting'points for consideration regarding developments in civil aviation were put forward at a lecture by Wing-Commander W. D. Beatty, bafore tile Royal Aeronautical Society. Civil aircraft, he said, tended to diverge widely from the military types to which they had hitherto been accustomed,' but improvements would react to the advantage - of military designs. Now, however, money was lacking and the. real ..oommer<;ial machine had not yet been developed. He" thought that the primary need of a commercial machine as effecting comfort was Bilence, the next important detail being the question of ventilation and heating. Generally speaking, far more attention should be paid to the comfort of passengers, and he "suggested that the transport companies should issue free [■■ tickets to. designers in. order to giv® them opportunities to ascertain for themselves the various existing causes of discomfort and learn what to avoid. Fabric covering to the' fuselage was, for example, a thing to avoid, as it transmitted to the_ passengers' ears the. blows from the clipstream of air sent back by the propeller. Designers should also study scientifically the question of ventilation, particularly with reference to the speed at which air could enter through an inlet without causing a draught. Heating might be provided, by radiators and foot warmers led from a tubular boiler by the exhaust from # the engine. The question of seats also should be considered. Only too often seats were designed so that an unnecessarily small portion of one's anatomy bore the whole weight. Why should not designers study the problem in conjunction with anatomists, and produce a light chair properly designed to suit the human form, and to keep the loading per square inch of nesh at a low figure? Empire Communication. Mr A. H. Ashbolt, Agent-General for Tasmania,/going on the assumption that niucii repetition will prevent the authorities from allowing a vital matter to be shelved, is . delivering lectures on Empire Air Communications at fairly frequent intervals. Speaking of* 010 tho Victoria League, he said that, apart from commercial considerat ons, there could be no doubt that an ships were, could be, and would be of grea use to the naval forces of the Empne. At the present pace of evoliition i was necessary for distant parts " pire to get together and settle quesLrrar 1 s Ss from this country, V 1 t | ea days, and New ealalld ,i"L days. Flying experts could .guarantee these times, and the improvement of the airslup would leave margin for considerable r 011 of even those short, time 3 - present plan was to have a " neriod of two years,, wflicn was estimated £ cost fn during that period air ,„ ® ts f a^ d general conditions were are ly charted a.d £ICO 000 Tndia and Australia £250,000 "ch' and Enrfand £325,000. Unforeacn, jd saw no prospect tunately, Nf w f ®g ord the outlay, Tut of bearable tog and Australia •tli© Mother * +hd renlv of quite willing, jj iere was no 6 h ac ( was now af»fr m niercial flying to the of doubt that u r ; t j sh £ furthest and could be made was .P fe '. Concerning the ac:

had not fafled In what was required of her by hor designers. She was built as a service vessel and not for oommeN cial purposes. She was designed to out. flv the fastest Zeppelin, and was quite capable of doing so. What she was not capable of. as events proved, was the survival of tests far more Bevere than had ever been applied to vessels of much stronger design. They must not forget that Germany was keeping her personnel and machinery intact, and that when the restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles were removed ghe would certainly go ahead in her endeavour to establish world communications by air. Vision of Future Air Liners. "Boats that Fly" was the title of a holiday lecture given to the children of members of the Royal Aeronautical Society at the Royal Society of Arts. The guests listened with rapt attention to Major D. G. M. Hume's prediction of what may happen in the near future, when seaplanes become, in a sense, flying fishes, able to travel at pleasure by water or by air. "Let us imagine," said Major Hume, "the Anglo-Argentine air line from Southampton to Buenos Aires, by way of Bordeaux, Lisbon, the Canarv Islands, Pernambuco, and Rio. Little amphibious or wheel-boats leave the Thames every half-hour for Southampton—only half an hour's run. At Southampton, in a special dock, is the airliner Megalomania. Its wings spread to one hundred yards, and tower forty feet in the air. Along the lower wing is a promenade deck. The passengers leave in tenders with their luggage. In the hull are cabins, the saloon, and the lounge. Above the hull is the glass-sided, 'sun-room,' with the charthouse and the captain's cabin on the top. The crew's quarters are in the wing-tip floats, each of which is of the size of a small yacht. The passengers are all in the and electric fuel pumps are working quietly. Then the great centre propeller begins to flop round, the dock gates open, and the Megalomania is in Southampton water. As everything is cast off the speed increases to seventy knots, off Beaulieu, when the water iB left behind, and the course is set for the two days' run to Rio." Mai or Hume looks forward to the day when large flying boats will form a feature of every port. They should be capable' of journeys of 2000 miles with small crews and mails, and short distanoe flights of 500 milesj with passengers travelling in comfort. The seaplane was the "safety first" machine compared with any other tyne. Great Britain war ! ahead of the rest of the world in seaI plane design and construction. It was. a type of aircraft which we must develop,- and, as in the past the Empire - had been maintained by the. Navy, so. .seaplanes must be developed to maintain it'in the future. . The_ land pilot was usually born and sometimes made, but the seaplane pilot, with the hands of an angel and nerves of steel, was born and not made. News relating; to the activities of the Zeppelin Airship Company provides an illustration, of the determination of the Germans to lead the world in airship, construction and- design. for the building of the airship for the United States at the Zeppelin works have been in progress since 1919. In permitting the construction of the vessel the Conference of Ambassadors made a special exception to_ the clause of the Treaty of Peace which forbids such building in Germany, and the import and export to and from that country of aircraft and aircraft material. The arrangements for the building of the airship have been conducted through the Navy Department of the United States, and it is understood that the plans will be available for inspection t>y the Powers generally. In all the. circumstances, and with special, regard to the disaster to the R.oB, it couid hardlv be expected that Great Britain could oppose the project. The airship will be designed much on the lines of the L.70, which was'.the last rigid type built by. the-Germans before., the signing' of the Armistice. SKe was damaged beyond repair'in the course, of military operations against this country. No airship built since has surpassed her in general efficiency. Spanish 'South American Service.

Further details are to'hand from Berlin regarding the-projected SpanishSouth American • airship service.. -The brains of German engineers and designers are the mainspring of this undertaking, 'and the lubricant is Spanish money. The bulk of the capital required has been secured already. The airships will be built in Spain. The plans for the building of the first of them are complete. It is to be avessel of 5J million cubic feet (considerably larger than the 11.38), and will carry between 30 and 40 passengers at a k speed of 115 kilometres an ,hour. Special compartments will be fitted into the vessel for the safe carriage of valuable's and postal matter. The com-, mittee by which investigations have been made in South America with regard to air currents and weather conditions generally has been at work in Buenos Aires, Rosario, Santa Fe, and Cordoba. It finds that the conditions for- flying there are. good, and that those at the European end of the route in Southern' Spain are also satisfactory. It is calculated that 90 hours .will be the average time for the flight to the Argentine and 10 hours longer for the. journey back. The Queen of the Belgians has accepted from, the Aircraft Disposal Company (Limited) the gift of a twoseater aeroplane for her own private use. The machine is a Bristol fighter model, and is identical with that which iving Albert has been flying since IiWO. It is fitted with a Rolls-ltoyce "Falcon" engine, and has been tested up to a speed of 122 m.p.h. at an altitude of 5000 feet. The ltoyal aeroplane was flown frorp, Croydon to Kin? Albert's private aerodrome at Brussels, Colonel Darby, the general manager of the company, going with it in order to make the formal presentation to her Majesty.