BENEATH THE WINDSOCK

Evening Star, Issue 21013, 29 January 1932, Page 2

BENEATH THE WINDSOCK

[By Gipsy Moth.]

TOLD AT THE DROME. At the last meeting of the executive of the Otago Aero Club, the proposal to have a club blazer was adopted. Theblazer will ho in the club colours, and flying members will have an eagle’s wing emblazoned on the breast pocket, while associate members will have only the initials “0.A.C.” It is proposed to hold an “Aviation Week,” probably during February. Various arrangements are in train, and it is hoped to include a display of fireworks and night flying in the programme. It is also hoped to have the services of a pilot instructor, an illustration of which was published in this column last year. This is a machine in which a model aeroplane is manoeuvred by standard controls from a full-sized cockpit, and shows the pupil the effect of each movement of the controls. Work on ZK-ACE is progressing favourably, and it is hoped to have this machine in the air again in about five weeks. MEMORIAL TO RlOl VICTIMS. The pale blue ensign of RlOl was revealed for the first time to the dependents of the men who died in the airship disaster at Beauvais, France, at an unveiling ceremony at Cardiugton Church by the Chaplain-in-Chief of the R.A.F., the Rev. S. L. Clarke, j The Secretary of State for Air .(Lord Amulrce), high officials of the Air Ministry, and R.A.F. members qf the staff of the Royal Airship Works, and representatives of local authorities were present, together with relatives of the dead men. I The ensign was damaged by fire, but the tri-colour rings of the R.A.F. device and most of their pale blue background remain undamaged. It is mounted in a frame of oak. At the same time as the unveiling there was dedicated a bronze tablet given to the church by the staff of the Royal Airship Works, on which are the forty-eight names of the victims in alphabetical order, without regard to rank or title. Nearby hangs a centuryold engraving of Beauvais Cathedral, presented to Cardington Church by Mr J. H. Twamley, J.P., of Bedford. A simple service was conducted by the Vicar of Cardington, the Rev. W. S. C. Seccombb. ( FUTURE'' OF FLYING SHIPS. Marine aircraft weighing up to seventy tons, veritable “flying ships” able to fly farther and faster or, alternatively, to carry a much heavier load, than any existing flying boat are visualised) as immediate possibilities by Mr H. 0. Short, a pioneer British aircraft constructor who _ is still in the forefront of progress, in an article he contributes to the 1931-1932 edition of ‘ The Air Annual of the British Empire.’ Metal construction, studied nowhere more thoroughly or, with greater success than in Great Britain, enables the flying boat designer to think in sizes which a few years ago would have seemed wildly out of court. Concurrent advance in the science and practice of aeronautics, chiefly in the reduction of “ drag ” (or resistance to movement through the air), and in the design of aero engines has further smoothed the way. One British firm, the Supermarine Aviation Works) _is already _ building a giant boat which will weigh, -fully loaded, no less than thirty-five tons. The design provides for the luxurious accommodation of forty-five passengers, who will be carried in addition to a largo load of mails over distances nonstop up to 1,300 miles. Top speed will be in the neighbourhood of 150 miles an hour, though the landing speed will not exceed the low and safe figure typical of British aircraft construction. This sky liner will be ready to fly some time next year. But Mr Short looks beyond even the Supermarine giant. He writes: “ There appear to be no technical difficulties in the way of the construction of machines of fifty to seventy tons total flying weight with a performance far superior to that of any existing flying boat.” Ho adds that future development in this direction implies engine units of much greater power than is usual to-day, and talks of the “immediate need ” for engines of approximately 2,000 horse-power to simplify the design of machines which may require at least 10,000 horse-power. Obviously the powering of craft of this order of magnitude with, say, twenty 500 h.p. units, would raise almost insoluble probleifis of installation and control. Five 2,000 h.p. motors, on the other band, would be simple to instal and easy to control and tend oven in flight. Hero the accelerated engine development required by participation in the Schneider Trophy contest may help. In 1929 the Rolls-Royce engine in the winning SO monoplane produced 1,900 h.p. during the, race. The 1931 engines are giving considerably more power than that, and, detuned for everyday use, they might bo expected to deliver a regular 1,500 h.p. or so, which is getting near to the type of unit desired by Mr Short. Mr Short believes firmly in the giant marine aeroplane as the perfect vehicle for future high-speed communication along the world’s sea routes, and expresses the hope that_ ‘‘ the indisputable lead in the design of such machines which has been gained by British designers will not be lost by the lack of what may be termed a sea sense on the part of those who control the air policy of this country.” LIGHT PLANES IN CHINA. The Chinese National Government, which rules from Nanking, confirmed last week an order for six “Moth” training biplanes and two “Puss Moth ” cabin monoplanes, bringing the total of “.Moth ” light aeroplanes sold to China within the last three years up nearly to 100. Aviation is getting a firm hold in China, where many of the younger men are enthusiastic flyers, headed by Marshal Chang Hsueh Liang, who learned to fly two years ago and is now the possessor of his own light planes. The newly ordered craft are to go to the Chinese military aorodrome i at Changsha, in the Hunan district, where the training machines will be employed in the instruction of Chinese service pilots and the monoplanes stationed for the carriage on urgent business about the country of high Government Officials, Around Changsha the country side is a lacework of intersecting rivers, and probably all the new machines will be fitted later on with float landing gear, for operation from water.