AEROPLANES FOR ALL

Evening Star, Issue 19022, 18 August 1925, Page 11

AEROPLANES FOR ALL

The flight of Mr Alan Cobham in a light aeroplane from Croydon to Znricli and back in a day is not only a considerable personal achievement, but has a w'idor national importance as a demonstration of the reliability and economy of the small machine. Hitherto light aeroplane flights have for the most part been confined to comparatively short journeys, but now Mr Cobham—who not for tbe first time has rendered a. service to aviation by his enterprise—has proved by his trip to and from Switzerland in fourteen hours at an inclusive cost of £4 12s that the light aeroplane is much more than $ toy.

'He has, indeed, brought measurably nearer the day when the owner-driver of an aeroplane will bo as common n phenomenan as the owner-driver of a motor car was only a few years ago. These machines are simply to handle, have a commendably Imy landing speed for their speed in the air, and arc remarkably cheap to run. Mr Cobham has estimated their capital cost, if produced in sufficient numbers, as round about £l5O. The value of so economical and efficient an aeroplane for training purposes and for inculcating that most important quality, an air-sense, in the voung idea of the nation, may in the future well prove decisive in giving this country the command of the air. Its value as an amenity of a more strictly sporting kind may also prove hardly less important.