CIVIL AVIATION

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 224, 9 June 1923, Page 8

CIVIL AVIATION

AIRSHIP AND AEROPLANE NOT RIVALS | .. . PROSPECTS OF OVERSEA FLIGHTS ! ■ BIG DEVELOPMENTS PENDING I ’ General reports have been issued to the British Press with regard to the i subjects discussed at the last Air Con- | ference. Perhaps the most interesting I papers from the civil aviation point of i view (says an expert writer) were those I of Major-General Brancker. the Controller of Civil Aviation, dealing with; I recent developments in civil flying and j predicting the revival of public .interest i in aviation, and that of Commander C. D. Burney, R.N., on airship services. Although owing to lack of funds [ it has not been possible for great de- | velopments to take place, it is clear that research has gone on very rayidI ly, and at the first sign of'increased public support the models produced in i "Great Britain will be paramount The airship and the aeiAplane are not by any means rivals nor in any way ‘ antagonistic, but must be considered ! '-'as' complementary, not only so from a civil, but from a military point of view. Certain functions and limits of application may be properly identified as peculiarly characteristic of each type it cntt. Unhappily the inception of an airship service for :ommorcial pur- ■ noses involves very heavy capital outfcy,’ so heavy indeed that in idle present state of international finance' the inauguration of such schemes is hardly possible unless subsidised by the respective , Governments of the various countries. -'"'i' I '.

London to New Zealand. The aeroplane, while capable of longdistance flights, is handicapped by the necessity pF making comparatively frequent landings for replenishment of fuel and oil. The problem of night flying, upon which the full and extended development of commercial aviation so largely depends, is happily' Well on the road to successful solution. Several experimental night flights have been satisfactorily accomplished recently on the London to Paris rcuta. Traffic control, organisation, and wireless navigation are rapidly attaining a. very high pitch of perfection. The airship, which is capable of remaining 1 in the air for a week at a time at its full speed, is pre-emineutlv adapted for long non-stop' flights, such as the route to India, Australia, ' and . New Zealand, and, moreover, avoids very, largely customs and other complications incidental to the construction of landing grounds in different countries necessarily involved when using the aeroplane. The undoubted success of the mooring mast as a means of fuelling, gassing, embarking, and disembarking passengers and cargo has considerably reduced the expenditure necessary in operating efficiently an airship service. Ground personnel has in cansequence been reduced from the 200 or 300 which waa necessary before the advent of the mooring mast to an insignificant few, about eight, while the need for large and expensive except as building and repair berths, has completely disappeared. Seaplane in Commerce. In countries such as Norway and Sweden, which have innumerable lakes and fiords forming ideal natural landing “grounds,” the employment of the seaplane and so-called flying boat could be embarked upon with the verv greatest advantage and economy. Tfrw type of aeroplane is a distinctly different proposition to the land type, and its development is proceeding on steadily progressive lines. The nation that is paramount in the air will be most probably paramount in. a militaiw sense. This ascendancy will be gradually attained by the development of civil aviation rather than by a purely military aerial programme. The strength of a nation, therefore, in an aerial sense,, will .be measured in terms of its civil aerial prosperity in the same way. as the nayal power of a nation is built on, and is dependent on, the magnitude and prosperity of its mercantile marine.

The British aircraft firms, as well r as the Air Ministry, are taking a great interest in the National Exhibition at Gothenburg, Sweden, in -July next, to which it is hoped to send a representative collection of x British aircraft, aerial navigation instruments, historical pieces of apparatus, photographs of service flying during the war, and other articles of public interest. The Vickers firm are sending one of their largest aeroplanes,, and several other firms will be showing the type of apS)us which they have developed inually. It is understood that the firm which has developed the art of advertising in the sky by means of an aeroplane which traces out words in white smoke will be prepared, should the weather be suitable, to demonstrate this kind of activity during the run of the exhibition. It is not long since this firm demonstrated in New York a method of advertising previously ui|known in America., Big Aerial Development. It .is anticipated that the aerial activities of the nations of the world will be a very pronounced feature of national development in the immediate future. Signs are not lacking that the struggle (so far unexpressed) for aerial supremacy is on the point of a definite and active reality. Britain, with her accumulated war experience and her untiring and assiduous work in air research, should be well equipped to enter the struggle with liigh hopes of...ultimate success, and it is hoped that the air activities of the world will be moulded and governed by the peace- ' ful demands of civil requirements rather than by the stern call of military exigencies.