BENEATH THE WINDSOCK

Evening Star, Issue 21783, 27 July 1934, Page 5

BENEATH THE WINDSOCK

[By Gtpbt Moth.}

PILOTS AND PLANES. The recent spell of bad weather interfered with instructional flying, and several pupils are waiting an opportunity to build up the five hours solo necessary before doing their test for the A license. Congratulations are extended t Mr R. L. H. Smith and Mr George Herbert, who both made successful solo flights during the past week. .During the week-end three machines visited Invercargill—ZK-ACE with Pilots Campbell and Stevenson, ZK-ABF with Pilots Greenslade and Styche, and the Waco, piloted by the instructor, Flight-lieutenant Olson. Visibility was very bad both on the trip down and returning, and the weather at Invercargill was too bad to hold competitions. Invercargill has been very unlucky, as this is the third time the competitions have had to be postponed. In the evening the members were guests of the Southland Aero Club at a. dinner, the occasion being a presentation to Flying-officer Smith, the popular instructor to the Southland Aero Club, who is to be -carried shortly. Flying-officer Smith was presented with a table lamp from officers of No. 4 (Army Co-operation) Squadron, and a canteen of cutlery from members of the Southland Aero Club. After the dinner a social evening va-s held at the club house.

Pilot Taylor returned from the North Island on Monday. He reported a good trip to Paekakariki, where he ran into bumpy air and bad visibility, which grew worse as he approached Palmerston. Flying time from Taieri to Palmerston North was sis hours. When the weather cleared the trip was continued. and landings were made at Masterton and Wellington, and the flight continued to Christchurch. ' Flying time for this portion of the trip was three and a-qnarter hours, and good weather obtained all the way. Leaving Christchurch at 2 o’clock on Sunday, Tayjor ran into a heavy southerly gate and took three hours to reach Oamaru, where he stayed the night. He arrived at the Taieri on Monday fifty minutes after leaving Oamaru Flying time for the comple+ trip was thirteen hours five minutes. Pilot 1 Penrose, vice-president of the chib, with Mr L. E. Barrett as passenger, took off at midday on Tuesday for a trip into Central Otago, but returned to the Taieri after being in the air one hour. Exceptionally strong winds were .-.encountered blowing broadside on to the plane, and so strong that the pilot had to head the machine on a due westerly course to enable him to make good a north-westerly track. The conditions were bumpy, and as the flight was undertaken for pleasu're only, the pilot decided to return to the Taieri.

Pupils are reminded that the landing competitions for the Hudson*prize close at the end of the month, and those who have not done their landings for the current month are advised to do so as soon as possible. During the week a club Mesh waf chartered for a photographic flight over Dunedin. The photographer was *lr L. White, a member of the Auckland *orn Club, and the pilot Flight-lieu tenant Olson.

Wednesday was the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first English Channel flight. The flight was made on July 25, 1909, by Louis Bleriot in a monoplane of his own design and construction. Bleriot took off from Calais and landed at Dover, an airline of twentyone miles. He smashed the undercarriage of his plane landing, but won £IO,OOO offered by the ‘ Daily Mail ’ for the first cross-Channel flight. Captain O. P. Jones, a pilot of Imperial Airways Limited, has now crossed the Channel 4,500 times and has flown over a million miles. THE RE-DESIGNED “ FURY.” Official trials of the Hawker Super Fury, a single-seater interceptor designed for the defence of London, have commenced at the Royal Air Force testing station, Martlesham Heath, London. The machine, which formerly had a speed of 250 miles an hour, has been completely re-designed; the 550 h.p. Rolls-Royce Kestrel engines have been converted for steam cooling, thereby lightening the plane’s load by eliminating the cumbersome radiator. The alterations made have the effect of streamlining the machine and thus reducing wind resistance. It is stated that the chances of a bullet entering the condenser, which replaces the radiator, are not likely to cause a forced landing. DARWIN AERODROME. Criticisms regarding the inadequacj of the Darwin Aerodrome for racing machines with a landing speed of up to 100 miles an hour, have been replied to by officials of the Works Department in Darwin to the effect that about two years ago the landing ground was extended by 300yds, and the civil aviation authorities were quite satisfied that the runaway was long enough. At present the runaway, which is over I,oooyds long, appears short on account of the grass which has grown, but by the time the air race is run the whole aerodrome will be bare, giving plenty of room. It was pointed out that pilot Frank Neale landed at about eighty miles an hour, and took off at ninety miles an hour, and experienced no trouble whatever. AN UNEXPECTED THRILL. Six hundred passengers on the Jervis Bay voyaging from Australia to London had an unexpected thrill when they witnessed the rescue of a French an pilot whoso plane had sunk eight miles north of Bizerta, Northern Africa. One of three planes which had been noticed flying in formation near the liner fell, and the Jervis Bay lowered a lifeboat, and, after half an hour, found the pilot, Charles Petus, clinging to the wreckage. Ho was rescued uninjured and later placed aboard a French seaplane. AIRPORT AT CEYLON. That Ceylon has remained for so long without an airport is largely duo to lack of funds, and to the lethargy of the Air Ministry, who, although they have several times sent out R.A.F. officers to inspect sites, have never been able to provide the necessary funds for development. It has been left to local

patriotism and enterprise to inaugurate this imperial asset. A private company has been formed to purchase and develop a site near, Colombo, and in a few months the Eng-land-India air mail will be extended from its present terminus at Madras to the “ Clapham Junction ” of the Fast. The solvency of the venture has been guaranteed by the CeylonAero Club, by an Indian Transport Company, and many local enthusiasts. , The importance of Ceylon as a port of call for an Australian and Far Eastern air service was recently emphasised by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, who envisages a regular service of giant flying boats, whose only stops between London and Australia will be Suez and Colombo. But even before that service arrives the strategic air importance of Ceylon will be considerably increased 1 by the building of the new aerodrome.