BRITISH EMPIRE AIR ROUTES

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 12905, 4 July 1936, Page 12

BRITISH EMPIRE AIR ROUTES

29 FLY IN Gr- 30 ATS NOW UNDER. CONSTRUCTION

HIGH SPEED AND COMPLETE

COMFORT

Countries of the Empire- a-S far distant from Britain as New Zealand are shortly to be linked by regular .inservice,s. Fl.vingrbonts for the Eng-land-Austral ia service (which after a few months’ operation is to he extended to New Zealand) are at present under construct ion and it is reported. that the Homo authorities expect to inaugurate the. service early next year. Six of- the. new Empire flying boat are in various stages of construction at;, the works of Messrs Short Bros’.,. at Rochester, in Kent. The first of them is expected to he flying very soon, and reproductions of if will emerge from the workshop-; in a steady .stream at intervals, of about three weeks, so that the 29 on order should have been delivered before the emi (Of 1937. Tics method of multiple production makes the construction shed look like a -shipyard in miniature and represents a system of building never before attempted in Great Britain on so large, a scale. The work of assembling the first hatch has gone so fa." that. Imperial Airways have found it necessary to deal n concrete form with the internal equipment and furnish'ng. To lb's end a full scale reproduction of this type of flying boat lias hern made in wood and- erected in one of the shops. It is fitted with chairs, hunks, electric lights, dummy instruments and the like, so that op’nions might he taken hefon? the final equipment ■specifications were deterrn’ned. This model of the hull, with one side of the wing and its two engines, is now complete, and reveals the boat- in those aspects which will particularly concern tlie passengers, pilots and stewards. S .WOK lN G COM P ART AI ENT In the matter of comfort and space this flying boat will he by far the finest of its kind in service in tlie world. In loaded weight there will be others comparable, to it, but there will be- no other boat affording the Same beam arid headroom in passenger saloons or promising such a sense of freedom and movement. The lowest of the compartments is that designed a ( s a little smoking compartment for ward, which takes seven passengers and is set beneath the pilot's cockpit., the chart room, and part of the mail compartment. But ibis is obviously intended to he a den. Passengers who want the -atmosphere of th? lo«;i go and the ship’s promenade will book places in the after cabins. In the. two after saloons space is literally wasted, for the double r as.?;, that the proportion of passengers to mails will have to be small, and that some reasonable proportion must fie maintained between the mi in her of passengers accepted for daylight irav cl and’ tlie number of hunks which can be provided for through passengers, There is room for Id hunks; there are scats lor 24. The result is that in the cabin amidships only six seats are .set in pairs on the starboard side, leaving on the port, side a wide gangway, which is intended to .serve as a promenade, with big windows placed at the proper height. SPACE AND COMFORT Above these after cabins there is a false roof, hut this is of no groat depth. because its purpose is to allow room to stow the hunks during the daytime and the easy collapsible chair at night. These cabins arc consepnen tl.y very lofty, and quite clear of wing spars such as to break up the headroom of the cabins in certain modern aircraft. This is a matter of some im porta nee, since the hunks are arranged in two tiers, and will reassure the prospective passenger who may have lkarcd that in the- upper berth he would lie unpleasantly near tlie ceiling. Tn no respect arc the boat’s arrangements for day and night flying an improvisation. Wli n the upper berths are set in plaee for a long night’s flying, their occupants will have at i.liei ■ cont rol separate, light switches and ventilation faucets. Until the flying trials have taken place, it is impossible to present indisputable facts as to performance. From the pioport’ons of the boat it might lie doubted whether ii ; flying qualities could compare with the hot-cr-known types of other countries in which the interests of the passenger have hern placed second or third to other considerations. If the for .'easts are fulfilled, this will he not only the most comfortable hut also the fast st flying boat in regular .service. If is ■expected to cruise at LAO miles an hour.

In 11,0 standard form, long range is not sought. The GSO gallons ol fuel which may 1,0 carried in the wing tanlcs will give a range of 51 0 miles against a head wind of 40 miles an hour. Thai would not allow a non-stop flight from, England to Marseilles, hut it, is believed that arrangements could easily ho made for a- refuelling ha.lt at a lake somewhere in France, possibly near Ais-les-Homs. For longer stretches, like the 1200-mile crossing of the Tasman Sea from Sydney to Auckland, special fu I loads will have to bo carried. The clean lines of this high-wing monoplane are impressively shown in (he wooden model. Hut for the wingtip floats there are no external protub -ranees to increase drag or create interference. The trailing edge of the. wing is to'be fitted with flaps to spoil its clean line an to increase its lift at low .speeds. The nlighting speed is likely to be less than- 65 miles an hour. Thought has also 1 eon given to questions of ice formation on the wings of hop is which Jiav’o to operate in the. treacherous weather of Great Britain and the .Atlantic, and provision has been made to fi ho leading edge of such aircraft with a device for detaching any ice which may build tip on it. In outward form and interior arrangement. this flving-boat fully justifies the faith which led to the placing of so big an order. The trials will be awaited with interest, but also with a measure of confidence,