IN THE STRATOSPHERE

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 72, 26 March 1935, Page 11

IN THE STRATOSPHERE

EXPERIMENTS ABROAD

(From "Tha Post's" Representative.) LONDON, February 23.

Stratosphere flying at heights of 50,000 ft and more is a fascinating .'probability of the near future. If the practical difficulties involved in providing reasonable living conditions for the crew at heights -where the atmosphere is far too rarefied to permit life,'arid in supercharging the engine sufficiently to provide good power output can be overcome, the stratosphere aeroplane offers important advantages, military and civil. Air resistance, or "drag," at such heights is extremely small, and immense speeds are therefore theoretically possible, ranging in the opinion of some experts up to 1000 m.p.h.

The stratosphere has no "weather." It lies far above the highest clouds, and storms are unknown, though there is some indication of the-existence of steady winds blowing at great speeds. The stratosphere air-liner would carry passengers and .mails from London to New York between breakfast and lunch; the stratosphere bomber would move on its way out of hearing and sight of the earth, vulnerable only to the assault of the stratosphere fighting aeroplane. "■

Much preliminary work on the building of stratosphere aircraft has been done in France, Italy, the United States, Germany, and Great Britain.

Details of progress are in the main closely guarded secrets, though from time to time rumours circulate about the immense heights reached by a stratosphere machine in a trial flight. British engine designers have a vast amount of information about the conditions of flight at great heights. Three times has a Bristol engine powered the world height record aeroplane; the present record, held by Renato Ddriati.'the Italian aviator, who ascended to 47j35Qft last April, was ■established in a biplane equipped with a supercharged Pegasus engine. Now the-Air "Ministry-■ has authorised development of'a real stratosphere aeroplane in prototype form; if the prototype proves-successful the Air Council ntay decide to embody the lessons learned in specialist high-flying aeroplanes. "SUPERCHARGED" SUITS Providing breathable air for the occupants of high-flying aircraft -can be done in two ways—an airtight cabin with apparatus for the supply of oxygen and the exhausting of used air, or by use of "supercharged" suits. The supercharged suit is a case inside which the wearer breathes oxygenated air. In appearance the early suits of this kind resemble the diver's outfit; they fulfil a precisely similar function. Such suits are necessary, if the cabin be not airtight, because at heights of about 45,000 ft and more there is not sufficient atmospheric pressure to carry oxygen from the usual form of breathing apparatus into the mouth, nose, and lungs of the wearer; no matter how much oxygen is supplied by the apparatus, he cannot draw it in. ' ',

The Air Ministry is also beginning an experiment to ascertain the extreme range of which an aeroplane is capable. Every modern aeronautical device and every helpful bit of the most recent knowledge are to be drawn < upon in the design of an experimental longrange aeroplane. Here again, successful trial flights may be followed by a decision to introduce jnto the equipment of the Royal Air Force special long-distance aircraft based on the design of the experimental macMne. On this side of aerial activity also the British designer has had much experience. As recently as 1933 two Royal Air Force pilots set a world record for distance flown by an aeroplane nonstop in a straight line by covering in a single flight .the distance of 5309 miles from. Cranwell, Lincolnshire, to Walvis Bay, South-West Africa. Their machine was a specially built Fairy monoplane powered with a Napier Lion jnptojv -—-._'.■. — '■