NEW FLYING-BOAT

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 300, 15 September 1936, Page 9

NEW FLYING-BOAT

Satisfactory Test Flight (British Official Wireless.) (Received September 14, 5.5 p.m.) Rugby, September 13. The giant flying-bbat Caledonia, the second of 29 aircraft now being built for Imperial Airways Empire routes, was launched at Rochester yesterday and underwent a test flight which is stated to have been satisfactory. The flying-boat will be completed in time for the' Caledonia to leave on Monday for Felixstowe to be tested for a certificate of airworthiness. It has rarely happened that such a big aeroplane has been ready for submission to the Air Ministry tests withing three days of its trial flight. The boat handled easily on the water and took off quickly, and as a result of the flight the boat was regarded as ready for full-load tests. Meanwhile the flying-boat Canopus, which is the first of the series, is nearly ready for acceptance tests by Imperial Airways. The Canopus is regarded by its builders and other experts who have inspected her as a model of what an efficient and luxurious flying-boat should be. "The Times" says she gives every promise-of surviving the owners' trials with credit. ON RETURN JOURNEY American Atlantic Flyers l (Received September 14, 7.40 pan.) London, September 14. Richman and Merrill, the American Atlantic flyers, took off from Southport at 3.5 a.m. on their return flight. Thousands cheered the flyers. Richman said that they had already ordered a dinner Of steak and chips at New York, and they expect,to eat it at 7 p.m. Richman and Merrill passed the Arran Islands at 5 a.m. . AMERICA TO MOSCOW Russians’ Long Flight , Moscow, September 13. The airman Levanevsky and the navigator Levchenko have completed a flight of 12,000 miles to Moscow from Los Angeles, via Canada, Alaska, and Siberia. , Sigismund Levanevsky, "Russia’s Lindbergh,” and Victor Levchenko left Los Angeles on August 5 on the first short hop, to San Francisco, of their long flight. Describing the start, the “New York Times” stated:—Bound northward on the ‘great circle course which will eventually carry them 10,000 miles up the Pacific Coast, across the Bering Straits, over the Siberian wilds and into Moscow, the two Soviet aviators took off from San Pedro Bay for Alameda without incident. 1

Their sleek Vultee transport, powered with a single 850 horse-power Wright Cyclone engine, swept for a short distance along the surface. Then its pontoons, large a? speed-boats, skimmed the tips of the waves. The take-off wag witnessed by N. V. Aliavdin, Vice-Consul for the U.S.S.R. at San Francisco; Captain Walter Bass, Vultee test pilot, and Albert I. Lodwick, Curtiss Wright official. Before the departure Levanevsky said:

"We’re aiming to -find the worst weather the Arctic can produce, We’re fully prepared with every known blind flying instrument and every bad weather gadget ever Invented. When our flight is ended we will have a sheaf of documents to give to aviation —to help the eventual Moscow-America airmail and passenger service.” j Equipment on the Vultee included deicing machines for the Wings and fuseaimed to enable the craft to operate at temperature colder than 80 degrees below zero. On their arrival at San Francisco, the two airmen were welcomed by members of the Soviet Consulate, who later held a reception in tfieir honour. On leaving their plane they were taken to the Oakland City Hall, where the Mayor, Mr. W. J. McCracken, handed them the keys of the city. Their plane, painted blue and red, bore no name. It was labelled simply “U.S.S.R., H-208.” Their route was that planned by Wiley Post for the trip that ended in disaster for himself and Will Rogers. The pontoons with which the machine was equipped were to have been replaced in Siberia with ordinary landing gear. To provide for emergencies in the event of a forced landing the airman carried provisions, fur coats and a rifle. Food and petrol stations were established along the entire route. The pair’s leisurely but hazardous flight through the sub-polar regions will be used as a basis for possible regular flying services between Russia and the United States.