TRANS TASMAN MAILS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 299, 18 September 1928, Page 10

TRANS TASMAN MAILS

SERVICE BOUND TO COME LESSONS OF RECENT FLIGHT VALUABLE SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE A confident note regarding the future establishment of an aerial mail service between Aus- - tralia and New Zealand was struck by Flight-Lieutenant Ulm during the course of his remarks at the State luncheon to the trans-Tasinan aviators yesterday. Lieutenant Ulni had been describing the conditions met with on the flight from Suva to Brisbane, when the aviators were brought to know what storms really were. Crossing the Tasman Sea the 'plane had to climb ‘"O an altitude of 8500 ft. when oue storm was approached, and practically every part of the Southern Cross was below freez-ing-point. Since arriving in New Zealand they bad tried to calculate the weight of the ice that had formed on the wings of the machine. Taking into consideration the spread of the wings and their breadth, and the fact that observation showed that the ice was at least an inch thick, they had worked it on' that there was about halt a ton of ice on he machine. They were of opinion that had they risen to a height of 15,000 ft. they would have escaped the storms. “The natural question regarding these flights is: ‘Why do it?’ ” proceeded Lieutenant \Ulin. “One answer is natural ambition, and another is a love of flying. But there is the scientific side, as instanced by the two considerations I have mentioned. We know now that for a mail service we want a flying boat—a machine different from the Southern Cross —and one capable of obtaining an altitude of 15.000 ft. Again, provision must be made for heating those portions of the machine which might have ice formed on them. And let me tell you, in our fixed opinion, there is no necessity to go outside the British Empire for the machine that will give the service.” (Loud applause.) Lieutenant Ulin added that he and Squadron-Leader Kingsford Smith had always believed it would be possible to establish an aerial mail service across tlie Tasman, and their flight in the Southern Cross had confirmed their belief. In any established service they felt now that it would be wise to use tlie maximum amount of daylight, and in the summer it would be possible to do practically the whole flight in daylight. He hoped aviation would benefit from their experimental Hights, Any information they had gained would be gladly handed over to the authorities in New Zealand.