CHEAPER FLYING.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17890, 10 October 1923, Page 10

CHEAPER FLYING.

MOTOR GLIDER TESTS.

COMPETITION IN BRITAIN.

(austbalian and n.z. cable association.) (b* cable—r-bzss association coptbioht.)

LONDON, October 8. What is described as flying a cost of a farthing per mile was demonstrated at the opening week of the "motor glider" contests at Lympne, in Kent. Eighteen baby aeroplanes, each fitted with engines under 7i horse-power, are competing in speed, petrol economy, height and distance tests, for which the Duke of Sutherland, the "Daily Mail and others have offered prizes totalling some thousands of pounds, the highest prize being £SOO. The competition is most severely practical. Machines must pass through a ten feet gap, occupy under ninety inches of road space when the wings are folded, and be capable of being wheeled a mile by women. Lieutenant Longton, flyine a Wren monoplane, covered 80.3 miles on one gallon of petrol, and five other machines covered over fifty miles, which was fixed art a minimum. One attained a speed of Cb'l miles per hour. The price of thn majority of the machines ranges from £l5O to £2OO, and they are capable of rising from a field 100 yards square.