BRITISH AIRWAY PROGRESS.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20415, 9 December 1931, Page 7

BRITISH AIRWAY PROGRESS.

FUTURE SERVICES. SLOTS AND SAFE FLYING. (FItOM OUa OWN COEBESrONDEKT.) LONDON, October 30. A ten days' service between England and Australia and inauguration in the beginning of next year of an air linor service to Cape Town were points of major interest in future development of British main air trunk lines men tioned by Sir Eric Geddes in his speech to Imperial Airways shareholders a few days ago. The service must wait for the easement of the present .national financial position, but it is significant that the company see no difficulty in operating a regular ten days' time-table, an acceleration of five days over the schedule adopted for experimental flights earlier this year. Bight new four-engined monoplanes—styled the " Atalanta" class —which are now being built by Armstrong, Whitworth at Coventry will enable a reduction of at least one day in the journey to the Cape. These craft will cruise at abouT 120 miles an hour, improvements ■in design of recent years having been turned to increase of speed rather than the construction of machines carrying a bigger load. Further, the "Atalanta" aeroplanes, which are their beauty of line and the unusual arrangement of the four air-cooled radial engines in nacelles streamlined into the front edges of the wings, ar-3 expected to resemble the new big Handley Page and Short biplanes in being less expensive to operate their predecessors on the airways. All of the company's new air liners, indeed, embody many important improvements in design and constructionThey are much more efficient .flying machines than earlier types, they fly I faster, and they carry a greater pio : portion* of pay load. Coincidently, they offer passenger accommodation which is not surpassed in comfort by the most luxurious Pullman railcar. 12,000 Miles of Air Routes. Figures quoted by' Sir Eric Geddes about the expansion of British main air lines "show vividly how quickly the network is growing. In 1924, when Imperial . Airways was founded, the company operated aeroplanes over 1760 miles of regular routes. In 1928-29 the total was still., only 2100 miles, but thenceforward the advance has been rapid, even spectacular. In the following year the total leapt up to 6400 miles. This year the opening of the line to Central Africa has added another 2400 miles and the imminent extension to Cape Town will aoon bring the aggregate up to no less than 12,000 miles. And there is no sign of slackening; proposals affecting the opening of nearly 6000 miles of additional lines are already engaging the active attention <ff Imperial Airway experts. Helping the Air Tourist. Private air touring shpuld receive a considerable fillip from the agreements reached in international conference last week at Bucharest, where the president of the International Aeronautical Federation discussed with the Air Ministers and high officials of several leading countries certain of the difficulties which confront the flyer who travels abroad. Flying is far more international than any other means of travel, and regulations which work fairly efficiently in. controlling ground travel impede to an annoying extent movement through the air. Every owner pilot who has taken his aeroplane abroad in the course of a holiday or business, tour has encountered somewhere or other regulations which have caused much delay

and irritation, and action has become I essential. Flying, indeed, is demanding nowadays not only a drastic reduction in national regulations; it is challenging ideas about national exclusiveness and so-called integrity which have seldom j previously been questioned. The representatives at Bucharest of the various nations, who include Lord j Amulree, the British Air Minister, agreed in principle on their attitude | to certain proposals put forward by the International Federation which may be followed by beneficial administrative action. These comprised, among other points, a scheme for a special form of travelling card in the place of some of the documents • at present required, standardisation of landing charges, reduction of charges for members of national aero clubs equipped with the special form of car,' a new form of traveller's cheque to eliminate the present need to carry money in many different currencies, permission to carry wireless telegraphy apparatus ing' firearms, and reduction ui the number of "prohibited'Ai?ones <wMcn are far/too numerous in many parts of Europe). . _* , ' Undoubtedly quite a number of plausible objections can toe raised to any of the improvements outlined here. But where there is the slightest doubt the proper course of action is clear, all airmen will agree that the proposal should be adopted, particularly when it would mean one less in the absurd number of documents which thte air traveller must carry with him»nowa- ; days- '. ' Safety and Control. Few single inventions in aviation of the last few years have known the almost universal adoption given to the Handley Page slots, a British wing device which has done much to divest heavier-than-air flying of its greatest menace—the. uncontrolled .dive and spin following the "stall" (or loss of flying Bpeed): At the moment when the main wings are beginning to lose their'grip of'the air, when "the angle of attack of the aeroplane is nearing .the'eritical point of steepness, the slots —tiny wingshaped auxiliary lifting surfaces Which in. normal flight • lie snugly against the front edges of the main outwards on cranks. In that position the slots have the curious property of .restoring smoothness to the. air-flow over the structure and, .therefore,, lift to the wings. At first this device was invariably connected with the ailerolis (or lateral controls) and operated mechanically by movements of the control lever, but

nowadays the type most generally employed works entirely automatically. Since the days when the big advance was made to automatic working the slotted wing has made great strides ali over the world. Eighty per cent, of the aeroplanes in the Boyal Air Force, the majority of machines in a dozen foreign countries, British commercial craft, light aeroplanes of all kinds, are equipped, with slots. According to the latest available figures, no fewer than 1037 British light aeroplanes of one type alone have been fitted with automatic slots. • Now a report issued by the Boyal Aircraft Establishment speaks most highly of one of the more recent developments of the slot ' idea, the "interceptor," or " spoiler,which is employed, absurdly, enough at first, sight', to "destroy the' worjc of the slot at certain moments. The "interceptor" is a thin flat plate which rises behind, the slot on one wing or the other When Jhe machine is perfopqing certain evolutions, such as might frequently' be employed during 6ri "dog fight*' between, two fast war aeroplanes. The action of , this, slot on that side of the machine is thus temporarilykilled and the; pilot's control is very much amplified. For example, the pilotmay wish at any moment to putt his machine instantly .out of" a "stalled" attitude into a normal flying posture; the quicker he can do so the greater is his chance of getting lis adversary at a disadvantage., The combination pf slot and "interceptor" enables him. to do so.';wjth certainty and ' Developments of ihis kind may , seem at first rather far removed ' from the interests .of the. ordinary comor private' flyer. Improvement -of aeroplane, control is however, a matter of. vital / importance in aviation. - ! Much has been done, but something still I remains for . accomplishment; tlj.® " interceptor'' * represents; One more step along the road to perfect and assured control 'at all speeds which, aircjraffc 'designers- have been Reading . since tfce beginnings of-aeroplane flight., '

Is he the oldest working blacksmith in the country P Mr Stephen JJain, a Fifeshire patriarch, who lives near Ladybank-, is §0 years of age, and still rings the heavy hammer on the anvil of nis old smithy. Mr Ejain has -been a blacksmith for §8 years! He started , to learn his trade directly he lett school at the age of 12. And there is a family tradition in the tsade, too, for Mr Bain's father forked as a blacksmith for GO years, and ho Him-' self has two sons who have each been well over 30 years .at the same, job.