BENEATH THE WINDSOCK

Evening Star, Issue 22363, 12 June 1936, Page 2

BENEATH THE WINDSOCK

by Gypsy moth

AUSTRALIAN AVIATION ADVANCES.

The rapid progress being made in aviation in Australia has been remarked upon by two prominent airmen. They were Mr Harold Gatty, representative for Pan-American Airways in Australia and New Zealand, and Major V. E. Bcrtrandias, of California, export manager for the Douglas Aircraft Corporation. .“ Australian hying is making very rapid strides,” Mr Gatty said. ,l They have a radio-beacon operating between Canberra and Sydney, and are makin ga similar installation on the Cau-berra-Mclbourne run. Later they are going to put in radio and light beacons on the other routes. Problems aro being tackled sensibly, and they aro making a fine job of aviation, considering the limited means and personnel available.” Major Bcrtrandias, who is a wellknown pilot, has been engaged in superintending the assembly of the first Douglas air-liner imported into Australia, which was purchased by Holyman Airways for the MelbourncLauncestou run. He said the big machine was creating great interest. The testing of the machine was done by Major Bcrtrandias, who also gave* the company’s pilots instruction in handling the new craft. They were all enthusiastic about its performance, and were, he considered, just as good as the American pilots. “ The country is ideal for flying,” lie said The best aerodromes ho had seen were in Tasmania, those at Mascot and Essendon being in Ids opinion nowhere nea modern or adequate for the future. Ho understood, however, that a new site for an airport had been selected in Melbourne. WOMAN AIR, FORCE HEAD. Active head of China’s military air bureau is a Wellesley College graduate, Sooug Mei-ling, better known to the world as the wife of Generalissimo Ciaug Kai-shek, Premier and virtual dictator of China. As director of the bureau Mine Chiang Kai-shek is directly responsible for building an air force worthy of the name, purchasing aeroplanes and lighting equipment, mapping out and constructing a system of military air fields and directing the propaganda which seeks to make every good Chinese citizen an air-minded one. A succession of “ laud ” generals have looked after military air affairs for General Chiang during recent years, with the result that politics, jealousies, and even corruption seriously have retarded the air programme which must be carried through before China could hope to offer any effective resistance to a foreign aggressor. With Ins brother-in-law, 11. H. Kung, providing the cash from the national treasury, himself looking aftbr political and military affairs and his wife responsible for administrative direction, General Chang expects his air programme to develop rapidly. Mine Chiang tackles her new job with years of air experience to her credit. In the generalissimo’s private planes she lias flown from one end of the country to the other transacting political business for her husband. When he has been occupied in the interior fighting Communist bandits, she has kept an eye on affairs of State at the capital. KING’S CUP AIR RACE. The contest for the King’s Cup in 1936 will l>e flown on July 10 and 11 in two sections, the first, consisting of two circuits of a course starting at Hatfield and passing through Norwich, Nottingham, Bristol, Salisbury, Shoreham, and Coventry," before finishing at Hatfield; the total distance flown in this section will be some 612 miles. On the following day the entrants who have passed into the final will fly seven circuits of a course of 50 miles starting and finishing at Hatfield (states the ‘Shell Aviation News’). Competitors will be divided into three classes, and half those in each class, up to a maximum of If) in each, will pass into the final. The first class is restricted to aircraft with engines of loss than 150 h.p.; iu the second, aircraft having engines of higher power will compete, and the third class will consist of multi-engined aircraft, there being no restrictions as to engine power; such aircraft must be flown in one of the other two classes as well. The regulations demand that pilots shall have flown at least 100 hours solo before starting m the race. Handicaps, which will operate only in the final, will he passed on an assumed minimum racing speed of 130 m.p.h.