DOMINION AVIATION.

Evening Star, Issue 23093, 20 October 1938, Page 12

DOMINION AVIATION.

New Zealand may not he blessed with the fastest and most luxurious railway trains in the world; nor do its inhabitants, except those who travel abroad, have the opportunity of beholding the mightiest ships that sail the sea. In the matter of aviation, however, it is clear that our people are going to be more fortunate. On account of the long distances to be covered in linking up the Dominion with the Old World and America airline companies must of. necessity utilise their largest and finest machines. Nothing is likely to be too good for the regular-spanning of Eastern seas, the Tasman, and the Pacific. Undoubtedly this corner of the world will be kept abreast of the times. New Zealand is vitally concerned with three phases of civil aviation—the internal services now being efficiently operated, the Imperial Airways transtasman link, and the inauguration of the Boeing Clipper service by Pan-American Airways. As the progressive culmination of plans that were announced in August, Union Airways New Zealand Ltd. proposes to place the main internal services on an improved footing as from Saturday next. Dunedin’s chief satisfaction with the new developments lies in the fact that on and after October 22 it will be possible for passengers to Hv between here and Auckland without having to change planes at Palmerston North. The considerable speeding up of mail transport that is promised is an additional measure which cannot fail to please, it being stated, for one thing, that Wellington business firms receiving southern mail by steamer in the morning will be able to get their replies swiftly away by air on the same day. In several other ways the advantages of the increased celerity should be apparent. Dunedin people will miss for a time the sight of the familiar D.H. 86 airliners, which will be put on to the Christchurch-Gisborne route, but no doubt they will be ready to give a warm welcome to the Lockheed machines. whose great speed has hitherto enabled them to maintain a remarkable schedule between Auckland and Wellington. • Administrative difficulties

pertaining to the inauguration of the transtasman air service having been overcome, it is expected that a start on the regular bridging of this gap will be made early next year. The first of the big flying boats to be used, with a range of about 2,300 miles, is due in Sydnev at the end of next month, and will shortly be followed by two more. These and other boats for use on the Empire routes will enable widespread extensions of the British schedules to be made. Although no date for the resumption of the PanAmerican Airways Southern Pacific connection has yet been announced, satisfactory tests of the huge ißoeing Clippers intended for the task have been made, and it is within the bounds of possibility that the pioneer machine of the new fleet will be seen in Auckland early in the New Year. The new Boeings are among the world’s largest aircraft, the machine which was recently tested carrying into the air a gross weight of 77,5001b —a record for America. A survey of all these developments cannot help bub give the impression that, for New Zealand, the rear 1939 promises to bo of outstanding interest from the point of view of progress in aviation.