AVIATION

Evening Star, Issue 17226, 16 December 1919, Page 8

AVIATION

DISASTER BEFALLS HOWELL. MARTINSYDE LOST OFF CORFU. p ,ress Association—By Telegraph—Copy-ris-H Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON". December 14. Corfu reports that Captain f\ B. Howell's Mnrtinsyde aeroplane was wrecked oft" St. George's Bay, Corfu, on December 10. There is no hope for any survivor*. Captain Howell's }op was washed ashore, which proved the machine's identitv. December 15. The Air Ministry had no news of Captain Howell since he left Taranto for Athens on December 9. [Captain Howell, a Victorian, with a splendid war record as airman, started from London on a flight to Australia on December 4. His machine had severe tests by the builders prior to being handed over to him two weeks befors the start. It had a 275 h.p. Rolls-Royce engine. He reached Taranto on December 8, clcse on the heels of Captain Walkings Kangaroo which started about 10 days before the Martinsydie. The cables have not so far stated: how many of a, crew the Martinsyd'e carried. Corfu is an island in the lonian &?a, lying outside the Strait of Otranto, the entrance to the. Adriatic. It adjoins the F.pirus, North-west Greece, and is about 150 miles from Taranto in the south of Italy. Captain Howell had accomplished rather more than one-third of his journey from Taranto to Athens when disaster overtook him.] THE PACIFIC 'PROJECT. NEW YORK, December 15. A message, from Los Angeles, California., states Sir Arthur Brown has entered a Vickers-Vimy machine for the proposed Pacific flichfc to Australia for the lnr e prize of £IO,OOO. ROUND THE WORLD RACE. TOKIO. December 14. The American Commission for the Aerial Derby around the world are consulting tho Japanese authorities concerning night preparations. It as announced that each country will be permitted to make rulings governing flight across its territories. EMPIRE AIR SYSTEM. LONDON, December 13. General Trenchard, Chief of the Air Staff, in a memorandum outlines the future of the Royal Air Force, and Mr Churchill states that Cabinet has approved of the proposals in regard to the principal expenditure on the force in the next few years, which has been provisionallv fixed at £15,000,000 yearly. The scheme divide*? the force into three sections—namely, independent farce, naval, and military. Eventually it will consist of 29 squadrons—eight in India, three in Mesopotamia, seven in Egypt, four In the home service, and seven with the Fleet. An air force reserve will be created on the territorial base. # The airship fleet for tho present will not exceed one rigid and two non-rigid. A CRASH. LONDON, December 14. -Mr George Rand, an American banker, and his pilot were killed in an aeroplane accident. Mr Rand left £20,000 to tho French Government for tho erection cf a monument over a, trench in which a shell explosion simultaneously buried 90 soldiers defending Verdun, BOSS SMITH CHANGES ROUTES. SYDNEY, December 15. Captain Rosa Smith now intends to visit Sydney, en route to Melbourne. The Royal Historical Society suggests tho erection of a column marking his landing place at Darwin. LONDON, December 15. It is understood that the Air Minister has recommended Has Majesty to confer honors on Captain Ross Smith and his crew. It is probable that Ross Smith will receive a knighthood of the British Empire. AUSTRALIAN ENTERPRISE. SYDNEY, December 16. A meeting of business men adopted a motion recommending the commercial men of Australia to financially support the promotion of commercial aviatiott; both Internal and oversea.