AVIATION ABROAD

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 121, 20 February 1928, Page 8

AVIATION ABROAD

“DEVELOPMENT SIMPLY ASTOUNDING” SCHNEIDER CUP THRILLS MR. D. MILL INTERVIEWED Armchair ease high above congested highways, away frorii the nerve-racking incidents of travel by road and rail, is the lot of thousands of people living in Great Britain and on the Continent who travel by air, according to Mr. D. Mill, of Auckland, who has just returned from abroad. Air-liners of all descriptions and nationalities are passed when flying over Europe (says Mr. Mill), while machines are arriving and departing at the great aerodrome at Croydon at all hours of the day and night. "The development of civil aviation in Great Britain and on the Continent is simply astounding,” said Mr. Mill, who (lew from England to Venice in company with Captain Isitt to witness the race for the Schneider Cup at the Lido. Captain Isitt and Mr. Mill travelled to Venice in a Moth D.H. 60X aeroplane, Mr. Mill having brought a similar machine back to New Zealand with him for aerial survey undertakings. They left Stag Lane aerodrome and proceeded over the terminal drome at Le Burget, near Paris, then on to Leon, and to Marseilles, where they received their clearance from France. They crossed over the Riverina and stopped nt St. Raphelie and Milan. They concluded their cruise four days after leaving England at Padua, just outside Venice, the drome being closed at Venice on account of the tremendous influx into the city for the cup race. Schneider Cup Thrills.

The Schneider Marine Cup was won for Britain bv Flying-Lieutenant S. N. Webster in a Supermarine Napier 85

at 281.49 miles per hour, a world’: I record for any type of aircraft, despitt i the fact that Webster was flying £ triangular and not a straight course Another Britisher, Flight-Lieutenan Worsley, in a similar machine, was second at a speed of 273.6 miles pel hour, these two being the only yon lestants to finish. Although he retired Flight-Lieutenant Kinkead (Britain) pu up a record speed of 289.150 miles pei hour in the third lap. ’Hie race wa: watched by over 250,000 people, whe were gathered from all parts of Italy and also from abroad, arriving by aero plane, trains, steamers, motor-cars boats, and gondolas. Mr. Mill said that people who were not conversant with aeronautics did not appreciate the terrific speed at which the machines were travelling. Althougl Italy was doing what was a better turn the British machines were doing a verti cal bank turn and keeping the macn ine’s nose right down to above tin ' mole. On the straight tlie British imv chines must have been doing more that. 300 miles per hour. A Difficult Course. The triangular course over which the race was flown is 31 miles long. Ihi seaplanes rose from the water at the airport of the lagoon. The first pvlon was encountered at Malamocco, where stands a lighthouse, this pylon, standing 14 metres high, necessitates an angle of about 145 degrees, and is comparatively easy to negotiate. From Malamocco the pilots had to fly to the second pvlon at Sottomarina,. where a second pvlon furnished a terribly acute angle of slightly over 17 degrees. This was one of the crucial points in the race. The third pylon at the Port di Lido provided an equally difficult turn. At these two pylons the pilots had to turn about completely. What 'a severe strain the race imposed upon the pilots can be estimated from the fact that they had to make seven acute turns to Sottomarina, and seven equally sharp ones at Porto di Lido. A “Moth” for New Zealand. Mr. Mill brought a Moth aeroplane to New Zeaalnd with him, and with it he hopes to undertake aerial surveys. The machine is fitted with a four-cylin-der 30-38 horse-power air-cooled engine. A maximum speed of 100 miles per hour is guaranteed with 200 pounds of baggage and fuel for four and a half hours. Fuel consumption is claimed to be 20 miles to the gallon, and the machine can land at 40 miles per hour and climb 650 feet a minute. The wings of the machine can be folded by means of two telescopic jury struts, which lie under ,he top plane when not in use, enabling the ’plane to be wheeled through a doorway ten feet wide and housed in a building the size of an ordinary garage.