FOURTH ELECTRA

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 80, 1 October 1938, Page 10

FOURTH ELECTRA

DELIVERED AT RONGOTAI

ASSEMBLY NEXT WEEK

The fourth Electra" for the Union Airways fleet for the Wellington-Auck-land and Dunedin-Auckland services arrived by the motor-ship Clydebank which berthed at the Taranaki Street Wharf this morning. The plane, minus wings and tail unit but otherwise practically assembled, was hoisted to the wharf at abQut 9 a.m. and arrived at Rongotai, towed behind a lorry, two hours later

Mr. L. Maugham, chief engineer for Union Airways, and assistants stationed at Rongotai and Palmerston North, will begin the work of assembly on Monday. The machine will probably be in the air before the end of the week, though it will be some time before it will be in regular service as the installation of the wireless equipment is complex work. The Clydebank also carried on her deck a larger transport plane, a D.C.3, on the way to Australia for service in the Melbourne-Sydney run of Australian National Airways.

In general appearance the Lockheed and the Douglas are not far apart, but the Douglas is a considerably larger plane, is more powerfully engined, and is designed for economical operation over longer distances than the Electra 10A. Both machines in their several models—Electra 10, 10A, 12, and 14, and D.C.2, D.C.3, and D.C.4—are recognised as world leaders and both factories are being greatly extended to handle the enormous orders for the American and world markets. The model 14 is a larger and faster Electra than the 10A used by Union Airways and is the type of which the British Air Minister has ordered 200 for the Air Force. It is the type used by X.L.M. for the Amsterdam-Australia seven-day service. Douglas D.C.2 and D.C.3 planes are in use in Australia, but the huge D.C.4 has not yet been flown outside the United States.