AIR SERVICES

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 184, 30 April 1924, Page 8

AIR SERVICES

EUROPE’S SYSTEM GERMANY DETERMINED TO BE CENTRAL POINT PASSENGERS CARRIED LAST YEAR By Telegraph—Press Association. COFYBIGHT. London, April 28. The Berlin correspondent of the “Roily Chronicle” states that Germany, in spite of everything, is determined to be the central point in Europe’s system of air travel. German aeroplanes' in 1923 carried 28,801 passengers, compared with the British total of 11.947, and the French 7361. The German Aero-Lloyd, in conjunction with British, Dutch, Danish, and Russian concerns, will, from May 1, run six services —Berlin-London, Rotter-dam-Hamburg, Copenhagen-Malmo, Hamburg-H anover, Berlin-Danzig-Mos-cow, and Hamburg-Copenhagen.—Syd-ney “Sun” Cables. MACLAREN’S WORLD FLIGHT FRESH ENGINE MAY BE REQUIRED London, April 28. Experts are of opinion *hat the recurrence of trouble with the gear of his present engine may induce Maclaren to install a standard zir Force engine taken from a service machine in the Indian or Mesopotamian depots. The difficulties of installing such an engine are not insuperable, though weeks must elapse while the necessary structural alterations are carried out. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. PORTUGUESE AIRMEN c REACH BAGDAD London, April 28. Portuguese airmen have arrived at Bagdad. The people of Lisbon are enthusiastically ■Subscribing to a fund to enable the aviators to carry on round the globe.—Sydney “Sun” Cable. FRENCH AVIATOR London, April 28. M. Doisy (who played International Rugby uniier the name of Pivalo) is using a 370 horse-power engine. His mechanic, Bernhard Vesin, was formerly a racing cyclist. Doisy’s rente is via Allahabad, Rangoon, Saigon, Hanoi, Hong-Kong, Shanghai, and. Nagasaki, to Tokio.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assu. AUSTRALIAN AIRMAN’S FLIGHT (Rec. April 29, 9.40 p.m.) Melbourne, April 29. The aviators, Goble and Mclntyre, have left Broome on a flight down the West Australian coast.—Press Assn. A FATAL CRASH PILOT AND MECHANIC BURNED TO DEATH. Paris, April 27. A military aeroplane crashed at Istres and ignited. _ The pilot and mechanic were pinnod beneath the wreckage and fatally burned. Aus.N.Z Cable Assn. THE NEW AIR AGE SMALL ’PLANES FOR FAMILY USE MOTORS DRIVEN BY WIRELESS London, April 28. An article in the "Dispatch giies a picture of the transformation of London in the new air age. It says:' Safe, swift, and economical all-metal aeroplanes can soon be purchased for £b(J. Engineers arc on the threshold or evolving a slow-running Diesel type or engine which, without increase of weight, will develop ten times the power of the 30 horse-power j cirol motor now used in motor-gliders, this will enable a practical two-passenger aeroplane, measuring forty feet from wing tip to wing tip, to cover a hundred miles an hour on a gallon of crude oil fuel. These aeroplanes will le able to land on a space little larger than their own dimensions, either by. the use of electric air brakes or by alighting on highly-magnetised surfaces which will pull the aeroplane to rest as easily as a magmft pull's a bunch of iron nails. The tiny engines will be completely enclosed and concealed, to minimise the risk of fue. The development implies a vast change in London’s architecture. Half the value of the aeroplane as a swift method of transit is lost through the spires, pinnacles, and domes which prevent airmen landing in the heart of the metropolis. There will bo an outcry, but parks must shortly be converted into aerodromes,, and Hyde Park and kindred spaces will soon be exhausted. The whole of Central London may some day bo covered by vast glazed landing roofs. Every alternate man will be able to keep an aeroplane; each street will have a subterranean garage connected with the roof by electric lifts. “Motors driven by wireless will mark another step forward. Already small amounts of electric power can be transmitted through large air spaces. These powers are increasing daily, and we may look forward to the time when aeroplanes and motor-cars can travel along without petrol. They will draw electric energy wirelessly from subterranean and submarine cables, the power they use being measured by sealed meters as we measure the household consumption of gas. Such powerradiating cables would form definite airways, and aeroplanes could travel over them along fixed routes at fixed heights, thus avoiding collision and delays through losing their way. Night flying and fog would lose its terrors, because the pilots would .be . automatically guided in their destination. The aerial motor-car must cornu some day. " What an opportunity to demonstrate the possibilities of a roof landing station, the writer adds, “has been missed at Wcnibioy.”—Aus.-N-Z. Cable Assn.