STRATOSPHERE TRAVEL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 4599, 21 January 1936, Page 3

STRATOSPHERE TRAVEL.

Travel in the stratosphere “within the lifetime of many of us” was visualised by Professor G. T. R. Hill in an address befoi’e the Royal Society of Arts in London. Professor Hill, who is Kennedy Professor of Engineei’ing at London University, spoke of the difficulties to be overcome before flying could be achieved in the mysterious regions many miles above the eai*th, where human beings would bui*st if uupi’otected, steel would become redhot and brass melt. “Pressure cabins must come,” he said, “and they will be tried first at moderate altitudes with small internal pressures. As the confidence of the public is won by fine i*ecoi*ds of safety, so really high altitude flying will come into its own.” Professor,Hill referred tq one problem of sti*atosphero. flying that is not generally appreciated, aiising by reason of the fact that the speed of sound in the air is only about 700 miles an hour. This had a profound effect on the whole technique of high speed areoplane design, be said. At the present speeds of flight every exposed part of the aeroplane pushed what he described as a “bow wave” in front of it. If the aeroplane , was travelling faster than 700 miles per horn*, this “bow wave” could not ahead and warn the air to get moving so that the familiar streamline flow could be produced. “Far up into the stratosphere the temperature actually rises,” he said. “At 160,000 ft. —some 30 miles up —it is believed to be about as warm as on the ground, and 200 miles up the temperature has risen so much that a piece of steel, if it were up there, would become redhot and brass would melt,” Speaking on the problems of oxygen supply for crew and passengers, Professor Hill said it was absolutely necessary to avoid putting the px*essure inside a man without putting it outside.