CIVIL AVIATION

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 35, 10 August 1921, Page 5

CIVIL AVIATION

AIR MINISTRY'S REPORT

IMPERIAL ROUTES,

((MM OUR OWN COIUUSPONDIJiT.) LONDON, 21et June. R. 36; the biggest airship which has been equipped for commercial flying-, made a successful endurance and wireless navigation lost flight, preparatory to her- cruise over Europe with the. Dominion Prime Ministers on. board. Ascending from. Pulham at 10.7 p.m., on the Friday, she was heard' and seen near the outskirjts o£ London soon after midn.ight. At- 2 a.m., pn Saturday., .officials, at the London terminal aero,dronie had a fine view of her. She was then flying rather low, with a brilliant bow light shining, and another navigation light at. her tail; while the cabin, illuminated electrically from within, showed a long row of bjight, lights like the port hole? of a sh'P Communicating constantly- by wirelew with various' land stations, and- earvving out directionfinding and other tests, the R. 36 travelled during one of .her pvqiutions as, far as Land's End, passing out for * time over the sea. It was not until early on Sunday morning that .she reappeared at Pulham, and was betthed again, having been in the air, oruiising 'at various heights and speeds, for approximately 30 hours. SAFETY TESTS.- : Early this year, the Koyal Aeronautioal Society appointed a committee to discuss what is required to en.3urc> tie safe and' economical working of an aeroplane carrying mails and passengers between London and Paris. The, result of the deliberations have been issued in, a report, whioh points' out, in the first place, that the primary,- cause- of breakdown is due to faults in the instillation of engines and oil, water, and petrol systems, rather than to failure in the engine itself. Suggestions for improvement are made. • In connection with the engin>> design, the committee would like to see aero-ifngine tests raa<te more drastic, and * more representative of the conditions met with in practice, by having ~a Urge number of compulsory stoppages and restartings during trials The type of aeroplane with engines out on tho wings, is considered less desirible than one with a single engine placed, centrally, though the committee would like to see an aeroplane with two contrnl propellors, ono in front of the other, each driven by a completely separate engine. "If- possible (says the oommittee) provision for safe alighting ou water, and for the flotation of the aeroplane for at least half, an hour should be provide^, ooupled with some means of signalling for assistance." NIGHT FLYING. Many interesting points of information are given in the Air Ministry's half-yearly report (October, 1920-Marchy 1921), o»jho Progress of Civil Aviation. Arrangeaiente, it is stated, have been completed for the ratification of the Air Convention by th* Empire as 'a whole, but freedom of action is to be retained for Canada in regard to the United States. Temporary agreements for the control of air traffic have been concluded with Denmark and Sweden, and it h expected that a similar agreement will shortly be signsd with Norwiy. As regards, the organisation of civil avia : tion in this country, it is noted that the installation at Croydon of a night-lighting system to permit regular night-flying on commercial services is now nearly completed, and steps have been taken to provide two new lighthouses on the English section of the.London-Pariß route. Tho value of direction-finding and wireless communi--1 cation is now being . proved, as one instance will show. A machine, flying from Paris to London, was instructed while over mid-Channel to lanii a* Croydon,' Later. . this order was cancelled, and the pilot was told to, climb t0,2000 feet and go on to Cricklowood... He'was warned to look out. for a, rocket, which w*s duly observed. Landing instructions were given, and the inacKine landed ijafely in thick/fog. The pilot nfterwards repotted that he nad not seen the earth after passing Maidstone. PASSENGER TRAFFIC. Whereas during the six months from April to September, 1920, British air traffic was about four times the foreign traffic, from the beginning of 1921 to the end of March it hss been only ono-quarter of j foreign traffic, the number of, arrivals »n<t ! departures of British aircraft to and from the Continent having fallen from 1997 to 644. During the period under review the machine mileage for civil aviation was 212,----200 mil&s, the number of passengors carried 10,103, and the. w.eisht .of goods 38 tons, as compared to 689,000 miles, 32,345 passengers, and-86i tons for the'previous six months. The figures for April and May, however, bear out the expectation , of an increase in air traffic on the London and Paris rout* during the summer months. ./ INCREASED FRENCH SUBSIDIES. Activity in air_ matters i» reported in the various Negotiations are prooeediog for the acquisition of an aerodrome site at Halfar, Malta. Abroad, the most conspicuous features of. the period lUnder review »ro ' the increaeed Frenoh eubsidies to air transport companies and tha onergy with which Germany is prosecuting air scheme* 1 with the limited resources at her disposal. The French Civil aviation vote for_ 1921 shows a considerable increase on that for 1920, and amounts to 147,374,012 franos, of which 31,700,000 franc* aro for subsidies to a|r transport companies, and 25.575,000 francs for thof construction of two rijrid airships, baeoa, and equipment. Beyond this vote, 4.500,000 francs have been voted for aviation under the Minister of Colonies. The effect of the French subsidies has been to permit of the reduction of single fares from Paris to London to 300 francs, from Paris to Strasburg'to 150 francs, and from Paris to Prague to 500 francs. ASSISTANCE OF THE DOMINIONS. Speaking at a public dinner in London, Sir F. H. Sykea (Controller-General of Civil Aviation) said ho hoped .that commercial aviation would play a similar part in t,he country's prosperity as the mercantile'marine had done heretofore. "All history proved the clo^e cbnnecfciozi between "progress, power, and communication. In the future development of civil aviation^ they looked for the assistance of the Do-^ minions, which were untrammelled by the spirit of conservatism, which was romotimes apt to- make progress slow in this country. The strength of the British Empire dooended upon good communications, sinco there was danger that decisions of Imperial importance uvight be forced upon its Government wifcKout sumoient time to obtain the requisite knowledge or to; consult with each other. Telesrraphy had done much to bridge the gulf, but neither it nor steam could compensnto for porsonal contact between individuals and the most rapid oonveyanco of the written thought. Air transport, caioleas whether the route be overland or water, unhampered by foreign frontiers, gave the Empire precisely those'essential powers of direct supply and spoedy iriter-cominuni-cation which shi[> and sail had already shown to bo vital. During their forthcoming conference he hoped to have the opportunity of putting before the Frinio Ministers of thoiEmpire the initiation of some scheme of. Imperial inter-communi-cation by a-ir. A WINGED BICYCLE. , Mons. Gabriel Poulain, who for years has Championed the idea that it is possible to fly ton metres without the aid of a motor, accomplished. tho feat at Longchamp racecourse. His curious machino, which he calls his "Avietto," consist* of a bicyclo provided with wings similar to those of a small biplane. In spile of its unwieldy appearance, its inventor controlled tho machine with much dexterity, and succeeded in rising to a height of about one yard • and gliding 15 or- 16 yards through tho air. Ho took oft', from the ground at a speed of 30 miles an hour, and landed again with the avieUe perfect ly balanced. Expressing himself as »voll satisfied with the results of his experiment, . Mans, Poulain B»{d that his short flight had ocnvinxe'd him that as toon v he h»u

discovered l;ho knack of rtising bis rotchiiie a few feet from the ground he would be able to fly several hundred yard* .witii his cyclepUne, Discussing the flight or bound, .Mons., Louis Damblanc, the •viation engineer, so closely oonnected with the helicopter, said he had already brought out designs for applying lifting planes to the motor bicycle. He ii; convinced that stoch machines would be of very real military value, particularly in scouting work, as they would enable scouts to be independent pf bridges in crossing rivers, and would also permit them to avoid being held up by. Weeks of traffic.