SHEEP BY AIR

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 75, 31 March 1937, Page 13

SHEEP BY AIR

ACROSS BARREN LAND

AN AMBITIOUS SCHEME

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

SYDNEY, March 18,

The arrival at Darwin of the German Diesel-engined Junkers aeroplane, named Lawrence Hargrave, synchronised with the announcement of an ambitious scheme to open up Barkly Tableland, a vast tract of fertile country in the Northern Territory,, by transporting sheep by aeroplanes across barren stretches which had made droving almost impossible.

A big air transport company known as Southern Airlines and Freighters Ltd., is being formed in Melbourne and it proposes to use Diesel-engined aero-1 planes of the Lawrence Hargrave type. The company will apply the same, methods as used in New Guinea where 32.000 tons of machinery have been shifted by air.

At the head of the company is Mr. Lan Grabowski, who for years has' been, general manager of Guinea Airways. '..He said that the scheme was based on the fact that Barkly Tableland, good country, was surrounded by desert-like plains across which it was very difficult to drove, sheep- Working probably from Longreach aeroplanes would carry 100 sheep each. Junkers freighters would be fitted so that sheep would be loaded in two decks. Mr. Grabowski said. that the Commonwealth Government would be asked to co-operate in the plan. Seven Junkers freighters would form the initial fleet. It was proposed to "feed" the railheads at Cloncurry, Winton, 'Longreach, Charleville, Cunnamulla, Bourke, Cobar, Broken Hill, ~ Alice Springs, and also to operate to the coast in Western Australia.

Major H. J. Berryman, Australian r«-* preservative of Junkers, said that the Diesel-erigined 'planes it was proposed to use carry three tons of pay load, at 180 miles an hour, using fuel oil that costs only 7d a gallon, as against Is 9d a gallon for petrol. . / The Lawrence Hargrave, the largest land aeroplane to come to Australia, arrived at Darwin flying the Swastika flag, but became bogged when the port engine cut out and the machine turned off' the concrete roadway. It was found that a set of bearings broke in the port engine and had the break occurred a few minutes earlier the machine would have been in a perilous, position. Several weeks, are likely to elapse before a new engine ordered from Melbourne can be taken to Darwin. The spare engine arrived in" Melbourne from Germany before the flight began. • The Junkers JUB6 is a low-winged monoplane, weighing eight tons, of 1200 h.p., and capable of carrying 10 passengers and 4-ton of freight, with full tanks. The company's representative, Herr Englebert, said that he understood she was the first Dieselengine machine to come to Australia, and that she had a maximum speed of 180 miles an hour, and a range of 1400 miles. The Junkers will remain in Australia, as, says Herr Englebert, ■ there were options over her by a number of aircraft companies. Her value is £26,000, landed in Australia.