BENEATH THE WINDSOCK

Evening Star, Issue 21641, 9 February 1934, Page 2

BENEATH THE WINDSOCK

[By Gyps? Moth.] TOLD AT THE ’DROME. Mr Parry arrived from the south in his Redwing biplane, piloted by Flightlieutenant R. Mathison, on Saturday, and took off for the West Coast on Sunday. Pilots M. Greenslade and Tan Styche flew to Central Otago on Saturday last. It is hoped that within a few weeks there will be sufficient books to make a start with the library at the aerodrome. The committee'is deeply appreciative of the books it has received from Pilots Eric Moen and Hugh M'Kinlay and .Mr Tingey. The South Otago Aero Club held a meeting last night. Every success is wished them by Dunedin members, as there is a wide scope for the development of airmindedness in the district. During the week Flying Officer Sinclair stopped at the aerodrome on his way to the artillery camp at Matarae. Captain J. Mercer, instructor of the Canterbury Aero Club, with Mr Langford as passenger, stopped on his way to search for the missing Hampers in the back country. The ease with which these men were found and brought back to civilisation demonstrates the value of aircraft in country as broken as the “ wilds ” of Otago and Southland. Mr G. Harvey, of Balclutha, flew to Christchurch and back on Sunday, and Mr Woolfe was flown to Christchurch by a club pilot. , AIR TRAFFIC. “ Air loads continue to grow rapidly,” writes Mr Harry Harper, in the ‘ Daily Mail Year Book, “ recent increases in passenger traffic having, in certain cases, been from 60 to 100 per cent. Air freight has increased by 30 per cent,, and letter mail by more than 20 per cent. On our Empire routes during recent months, there has been an all-round traffic growth of approximately 50 per cent. While air-borne traffic is' thus increasing operating costs are decreasing, and British figures for earned income in relation to Government subsidy continue to show consistent improvement. At the same time British air rates are among the lowest in. the world. Our aircraft carry bigger average loads and Ily a bigger average mileage per machine than those of any other country. Already it may be claimed that British civil aviation is approaching more nearly than that of any other nation to inde-

pendent, State-free operation, and it is now the aim, as it has always been, to continue the .development of British air transport on an Empire-wide scale until it actually achieves its goal of economic independence and is able to ‘ fly hy itself ’ without any further need for Government aid.” STRATOSPHERIC FLYING. The popular belief that stratospheric flying is possible for human beings only if they are contained in a hermetically sealed chamber has been challenged by an experiment made with a modified diving suit, writes the aeronautical correspondent of the ‘ Morning Post.’ Using this suit, a young man entered an air-tight chamber in which the air was progressively rarefied until the barometer stood at only three-quarters of an inch, the pressure equivalent to that of the atmosphere at a height of about 90,000 ft. He suffered no discomfort, and the deduction drawn from the experiment is that the sealed cockpit is unnecessary. The experiment is based on the views which Professor .1. S. Haldane lias expressed on this subject. His belief is that pressure is less important than oxygen. The accepted view has been that the human frame must suffer at heights above 45,000 ft unless it is protected against the decreasing pressures. Hence the sealed containers of recent stratosphere balloons and the 'assumption that the stratosphere aeroplane of the future must have a sealed cockpit. The new idea appears to depend partly on pressure and partly on oxygen. LOCAL AIR FORCE TRAINING. The permanent staff at the Wigram aerodrome will be busy for several weeks with the annual refresher course which will be taken by the four squadrons of the New Zealand Air Force. The first squadron, No. 4 (Army Cooperation) Squadron, went into billets at the aerodrome last week for ten days. Most of the officers were drawn from Otago. Flight-lieutenant V. J. SomersetThomas was adjutant, and the acting commanding officer was Flight-lieu-tenant H. W. Duffey. Other members of the squadron at Wigram were Fly-ing-officers R, J. Sinclair, J. H. M. Smith, G. C. V. Buckley, and F. R. Dix, and Pilot-officers S. L. Gilkison, E. J. Scotland, D. Campbell, and 11. N. Major. Flight-lieutenant L. E. Rawnsley was attached, and the medical officer was Captain W. G. Reekie, N.Z.M.C. An army co-operation squadron is called on to do a great variety of tasks. As its name implies, a squadron of this type must make itself generally useful to the army by observing the enemy or its own forces, by reconnaissance’ by securing photographs, and by transmission of written messages from one place to another. The first essential for every pilot is, of course, to be able to fly so well that the actual handling of an aeroplane in the air becomes as automatic as marching is to the soldier on the ground. Therefore the first-part of the training of the squadron at present at Wigram will be the polishing up of individual flying, «t first on training type machines and later on service aeroplanes. ’When the (lying of the individual pilots lias readied the high pitch of perfection needed, formation (lying, an important branch of the work, will bo undertaken. An ingenious and peaceful weapon with which the pilots will have a good deal to do is the camera gun. It is really a machine gun which fires snapshots instead ol bullets and gives an accurate record of where each shot would have struck had the gun been loaded in earnest. Ordinary gunnery with machine guns will be practised, the pilots being required to dive on the targets placed on the range. Navigation and photography enter hn*gcly = ’into the bringing back of reports" of reconnaissance flights, and time will he devoted to these subjects.