AVIATION

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XX, Issue 73, 10 March 1930, Page 6

AVIATION

BRITISH ESTIMATES TOTAL OF NEARLY 18 MILLION. AIRSHIP DEVELOPMENT. London, March 8. A White Paper discloses the Air Estimates for 1930. The net total is £17,830,000, which is an increase qf £890,000 over 1929. Lord Thomson’s explanatory memorandum says: “The trials of RlOO and RlOl have shown a satisfactory measure of success. Despite the delays inevitable in the field of so novel experiments, both airships proved thoroughly stable and easy to control. RIOI rode at the mast through weather of exceptional severity for a month on end, and RlOO attained a full speed of 81 miles an hour, which is equal to that of the Graf Zeppelin. In accordance with the policy of safety first, it wqs decided to insert an additional section in RlOl before undertaking the flight to India and back. It is intended that RlOO will carry out flights to Montreal in the late spring or summer and operate in winter between Cardington and Ismaiha Provision has been made for the development of mechanical means for moving airships into and out of sheds.

“Generally speaking, the estimates allow for a broad contiunuity of the air policy and outline it home defence scheme which will not prejudice increases in the Royal Air Force, which are small and designed to demonstrate again the Government’s earnest desire to avoid disastrous competition in air" armaments. We shall thus have a breathing space in which to watch the development of the new spirit which pervades pacific international instruments, such as the treaty for the renunciation of war and the optional clause. The Imperial Airways service to South Africa should commence with the section between Alexandria, Nyanza and Tanganyika in the autumn of 1930, and the through service to Cape Town in the spring of 1931.”