BENEATH THE WINDSOCK

Evening Star, Issue 21007, 22 January 1932, Page 2

BENEATH THE WINDSOCK

[By Gipsy Moth.]

AERO CLUBS’ USEFUL WORK. ]f New Zealand is to develop aviation for mail carrying and passenger and commercial transport, every assistance must be afforded to the aero clubs in our midst, for they are doing invaluable work in the training of pilots, and in demonstrating the adantages of airtravel. There are many business men in the dominion who now regularly “ hop ” about the country by air, and in an hour or two cover a distance that would take much longer by other modes of conveyance. The existence of the aero clubs makes it possible for a person to learn flying and to afterwards have the use of a plane—both of which would be beyond the resources of, the ordinary individual. Three North _ Island aero chibs — Manawatu, Fcilding, and Hawke’s Bay —will begin the new year with an art union authorised for the purpose of assisting their funds. Details will be announced in a "few weeks. THE ANT-14. Progress in Soviet aviation may be judged from a giant new multimotored plane, the Ant-14, which has successfully completed its trial and soon will bo put into.large-scale production, states the Moscow correspondent of the Now York ‘ Times.’

The Ant-14.—claimed to be the largest land plane in the world—is a fivemotored high-wing all-metal monoplane. It carries thirty-six passengers with their baggage and a five-man crew. The plane itself is entirely of Soviet construction, made of duralumin produced in Soviet plants. The motors are British Jupiter 6’s, made in Russia under special license. Each has 480 horse-power, delivering 2,400 horsepower altogether. Later the Russians intend to build more powerful motors of their own design. One motor is mounted in the nose and the other four are in the leading edge of the wing. The propellers are of the two-bladed tractor type. The plane is 86ft long and 27ft highland its tapered wing has a span of 131 ft. The distance between the wheels and landing gear is 17jft. Originally the landing gear had two large-diameter wheels of foreign make, with good aero-dynamic qualities, simply constructed and light in weight. In trials, however, these performed unsatisfactorily, so a new gear was designed by Soviet engineers. _ This consists of two pairs qf wheels in tandem, thus adding strength at the expense of increased air resistance. In tests with a normal load the Ant-14 showed a top speed of 146 miles an hour and a cruising speed 9f 125. The normal cruising radius is 1,000 miles, but with an extra load of fuel the plane can fly eighteen hours and cover over 2,200 miles. The Aviation Bureau asserts the plane has already broken many world records, for distance, endurance, speed, and height, with a load of five tons. This type of machine will bo used on the main Soviet air lines, but principally on the Moscow-Vladiyostock route, which will be opened this year. Perhaps later it will serve for a Mos-cow-Paris non-stop express, and to convey freight and passengers to the Arctic outposts of the Soviet Union. Flying-officer Olson flew to Christchurch on Wednesday, picking up Mr H. Speight at Waimate and landing him at the Canterbury capital in time to catch the interisland ferry. The elimination competitions for the pageant to ho.held at Invercargill next month are being held at the aerodrome in the evenings. The question of adopting a club blazer will be finalised in a short time. The colours will bo light blue and silver.

SWEDEN AGAIN BUYS BRITISH. An order placed over the international trunk telephone between Sweden and London wdl be followed soon by the dispatch from Stag lane aerodrome. Edgeware, of ten Moth training planes intended for the Swedish Royal Air Force Flying School at Lyungbyhed. . Some weeks ago one of the cle Haviland Company’s test pilots flew a “ Trainor ” to Sweden and demonstrated it there before the military authorities. Swedish pilots also took it into the air and put it through an exacting series of tests in acrobatics and flying evolutions.. Two days after the test pilot arrived hack in England the telephone bell rang in the firm’s offices, an-incoming call from Sweden was announced _ and the order, now confirmed in writing, was placed after a few minutes’ conversation. The “ Moth Trainor ” closely resembles the standard “ Gipsy Moth ” light biplane used nowadays in almost every country in the world and partner in many ot the greatest flights ever made, but it possesses special features making it particularly suitable for service training The wings are of a slightly different shape, making the “stall” loss abrupt and the spin slower than in the “ Gipsy Moth,” and stranger, enabling a heavier load to bo air-borne. The doors to the cockpits have been increased in number from two to four, and made much wider to permit ot easy use by_ occupants wearing parachutes, visibility from both seats is improvised by detail modifications and the provision of reflecting mirrors, and the engine _is equipped for sustained inverted flying.

BRITISH FLYING NEWS. The announcement that the Indian Government has ordered a licet of monoplane air-liners for the operation of internal airways in India marks a new and important stage in the development ot Empire air communications. For the first time the principle of unified control, fulfilled in the monopoly operation by Imperial Airways of the' existing lines radiating from London to the East and Africa, is broken. The experiment is interesting; only events can show whether the Indian Government is right or wrong in refusing to budge from insistence that internal airways in the territory over which it rules must be State-controlled. From the end of this year, when the present agreement chartering Imperial Airways aeroplanes for the continuation of tho air mail from Karachi to Delhi is due to expire, the British company will be faced with a gap, between Calcutta and Karachi, in the proposed service to Australia. Undoubtedly the Indian Government will permit Imperial Airways craft to carry mails and passengers embarked outside India to destinations beyond India as Dutch and French machines do to-day, but they will not countenance the carriage of internal traffic along the main routes by any aeroplanes except their own, Tho alternative is lor tho Indian

aeroplanes to be responsible lor the transport of the mails from Karachi to Calcutta.- Here difficulties might arise from differences of size and loading of the machines employed, For example, should one *of .the new giant four-engined Handley Pago biplanes reach Karachi from the west with 6,0001 b or more of load on board, several smaller planes might be rcouirod to take tho load across India without delay.