ROUND THE WORLD IN TWENTY DAYS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 September 1917, Page 8

ROUND THE WORLD IN TWENTY DAYS.

AEROPLANE TOURS AT 1200 MILES A DAY. 4 Round the world by aeroplane in twenty days, or a trifle over, was one of the fascinating' possibilities suggested by a lecture which Lord Montagu of Beaulieu delivered on “Tho World’s Air Routes and Their Regulation,” before the Aeronautical Society, A distance of 1200 miles a day may bo a. regular thing. If you leave Ireland, after an early breakfast say at 7 a.in., and your aeroplane makes an average speed of 110 mile s an hour, you will reach St, John's in 16A hours, from which four hours, must be deducted in point of solar time, so that you will be ready for dinner in Newfoundland at 7.60 p.m., local time. Your midday meal will be eaten somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.

In his suggestions for the organisation of an aerial route to and from India, Lord Montague compared the ?ulvant)i"'o,!i of the southern route, via Naples and Alexandria, to India ( and the [■'•'(hern route from India, over the Ca.pian Sea and Germany, the first occupying four 'days and the other three days. The wind systems! of (he world can lie made to serve the purposes of Hying instead of winds being a disadvantage. ‘’Wafted by a favoring gale,” the speed of a machine may lie doubled, so that, Lord Montagu suggested, meteorology

Hie study of wind currents will be of sii]ircine importance.

■'These wind systems,” lm said, and the consequent tendencies to a permanent direction of wind, either a'l the year round or at certain wclldelined seasons, have a most important bearing on the world’s air routes. We can follow the main currents instead of fiuhtin«i - against, them.

“The British Empire is in a. peculiarly favorable position for the development of Imperial aviation, for our widely separated possessions! will enable our air traffic round the world, over land and sea, to proceed without having to ask for concessions from other nations. The very scattered nature of the Empire in this matter is an advantage. The importance of liaThorsi itnd coaling stations under the British flag all over the world in (he past to our naval forces and to our mercantile marine has been very great, hut in future still more important will he a chain of landing places for both land and sea planes, and. for the latter sheltered harbors will be as neees.ary and valuable for the development of our air services by sea as Hat alighting grounds on the land for land machines. “I do not believe," said Lord Montagu. "that continuous Hying by night and day will be popular or practical for many years to come, so 1 allow in all my calculations for passenger services for two periods of Hying every day of GOO miles each, or ten hours in all, which, at 120 miles an hour, would give the reasonable distance of 1200 miles covered between dawn and sunset. I think a. rest, by night will be more popular than a continuance of the journey in the dark. Then, as now, the wonderful views of the earth beneath will he one of the greatest inducements to Hy by day. Mails, on the other Hand, will probably proceed continuously. 1 am of opinion also that the pilots will have regularly defined stages) tike engine-drivers on locomotives, on long-distance journeys. In addition, to know Hie peculiar weather conditions of any GOO-milesi stage across Hie planet's sin face, the local liabilities to storms, and Hie prevailing air currents at different times of the year will need special study in eacli section. J assume, therefore, that world thing, as far a s passenger services are concerned, will be arranged by stages, and not be continuous. There are, of course, some oversea, routes on which no immediate stops will be possible, except in Hue weather or in conjunction with areas of the ocean artificially protected and made suitable for landing by oil, baulks of timber, or grass mats evu a large scale to abate and subdue heavy and breaking waves. By the Southern Atlantic route to North America Ihe 1200 miles of (bo first stage to the Azores), via Portugal, will be covered comfortably in one day under ordinary circumstances, and rest secured that night, while from there the second day’s Might, to St. John’s Newfoundland, will form another quite possible daylight stage.” . Tor Hie regulation of all such traffic Lord Montagu proposed that lowspeed planes should use; the lower levels and high-speed planes the upper levels) of the air.

“The iii'.st 2000 feet from the surface of the ground,” he said, ‘’should be prohibited to air traffic in general, but be usable, of course by the private owner of the soil, if lie desires, and for the purpose of descending to his own landing.” In admitting the claims that any air should be private Lord Montagu is conforming to the present law, which supposes that owners of houses and land,, or the dwells on or in them, have a right to the air above their property, but he proposes to limit that claim to 2000 feet.

’ “Above tln s private level,” he said, “we come to the commercial levels, which I propose shall range/ from 2000 to 1000 feet. . . . on account of the fact that commerce will wan? to operate as cheaply as possible, and to achieve height and speed means extra expenditure of motor spirit. And I would make this 2000 to 1000 feet usable by silenced planes only, with a maximum speed of eighty miles' an hour. Above these commercial levels I propose another zone, 1000 feet to 0000 feet. This will include the general air traffic of the planet for ordinary flying, including a proportion of fast commercial flying. Above 6000 feet-to 10,000 feet 1 would reserve the levels for the official planes of each nation. These levels would bo used by its naval; military, and civil forces, and by police planes, for air police will be needed in the same way that policing of routes by kind and sea isi now necessary.”

The air above 10,000 feet, Lord Montagu suggested, should l>& internationalised with certain restrictions.