GREAT AIR LINER

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4813, 21 July 1939, Page 7

GREAT AIR LINER

THE "GOLDEN HIND." BRITISH ENGINEERING TRIUMPH TRANS-ATLANTIC PASSENGER SERVICE. "Golden Hind," the world's most wonderful air liner, is now undergoing vigorous trials in England, where she has been made by Messrs. Short Brothers for Imperial Airways. Together with two sister air liners, she will be used for the regular North Atlantic service, first for mails and later for passengers.

This aircraft, if not quite the largest in the world, is certainly the most advanced in design, and her all-round performance will probably prove superior to anything that has taken the air as yet. Her British designers have high hopes, and experts everywhere are looking foward to the result of her trials, which should start a few days after launching. It is anticiapted that she will take about 16 hours to fly more than 3000 miles with 30 passengers without refuelling. On the Ireland-Newfound-land run she is expected to take less than 16 hours against a 40-mile-an-hours head wind, or probably about 10% hours in a dead calm. This is achieved with four engines totalling 5000 h.p., which will give the "Golden Hind" a cruising speed of 180 miles an hour and a top speed of well over 200 miles an hour.

Passengers will be accommodated in the centre of the hull which forms a large hall 25 feet long, 12 feet wide and 19 feet high. To the front of this is a mail compartment, above which and on the second floor are the crew's quarters, with comfortable tables, chairs, and even bunks.

By contrast with the original 100 ton "Golden Hind"—the ship in which Sir Francis Drake sailed round the world 350 years ago—Britain's new sky giant weights about 17% tons, without fuel or crew. She is built almost entirely of aluminium and aluminium alloys. Here are figures which give some impression of the size of this ship which has taken 12 months of continuous work to complete:— The overall length is 101 feet and the wing span is 134 feet. The width of the two wings is 25 feet at their maximum and they are thick enough at their base for a 12-year-old boy to walk through.

The aircraft would be able to carry up to 160 people on an ordinary "short stage" fiight of about 450 miles. "Golden Hind" is now undergoing her makers' trials, after which there are Air Ministry trials and acceptance trials to be undergone before the maiden voyage, wihch it is hoped will take place early in the autumn.