AVIATION

Evening Star, Issue 16996, 19 March 1919, Page 6

AVIATION

HAGUE EXHIBITION MOOTED, GERMANY TO EXHIBIT. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, March 17. An international aviation exhibition has been arranged to be neld at The Hague from May to July, The fact that Britain, Prance, and Germany are preparing to participate is regarded os an assurance that peace will be signed before May. ACROSS-AM ERICA SERVICE. NEW YORK, March 14. An aviation company has completed plans for the establishment of an aeroplane service between New York and the Pacific coast. Four airplanes, each carrying 12 passengers, will be used. BRITAIN’S PLANS AND PAST ACHIEVEMENTS. SOME WAR SECRETS TOLD. LONDON, March 15. Major-general Seely, Minister of the Air Forces, in tho House of Commons moved an air vote of £45,000.000; on account of a total estimate of £65,000,000, which may possibly be reduced when peace is signed. The Minister stated that tho vote would have been £200,000,000 if tho war had continued. Britain started the war with six squadrons; now she had 200, and was building 400 aeroplanes monthly when the armistice was signed. Three thousand eight hundred of our aeroplanes were missing during the war period. The sum of £3,000,000 was car-marked for experiment and research in civil aviation, Ho believed tho proportion of air to land and sea forces would constantly grow, and possibly in a few years would make the present armies and fleets obsolete. The possibilities of carrying mails between Cairo and India wore extremely favorable. The_ Air Ministry proposed to concentrate its first efforts on tins route. General _ tieely added that the whole of the air force resources would remain at tho service of civilian aviation. We were further advanced than other nations as regards civilian aviation. Our first duty was to plan aerial routes at Home and abroad. We had at last got a wireless telephone by which in the same operation w© could send and receive a message. There were also many other extraordinary inventions made during war time, including- an apparatus for taking a series of photographs at a great height, giving a more accurate survey of the land below than could be obtained by months of ordinary survey. The Germans were first in the field in the direction of wireless, but we got the German code and thereby knew exactly whore to attack their flyers. We wore able to direct machines from tho ground with complete success.