AIR RACE ’PLANE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 120, 20 April 1934, Page 7

AIR RACE ’PLANE.

KINGSFORD SMITH’S CHOICE, MELBOURNE, April 19. Sir Charles Kingsford Smith has cancelled his order for a De Haviland Comet aeroplane for the Centenary Race. He has decided to purchase an American Lockheed Altair, which has a cruising speed of over 200 miles an hour. The Altair is similar to the Lockheed Orions, except that it is arranged as a two-seat, high-performance mail-carrying or racing aeroplane, instead of "a six-passenger machine. It is a low-wing monoplane, and has a retractable undercarriage, which can be retracted in 35 seconds, and lowered in 10 seconds. It is usually powered bv a 252 h.p. Wright Cyclone or a 500 h'.p. Pratt and Whitney Wasp, both radial engines, enclosed in a cowling. The Orion has a top speed of 224 m.p.h. at 7000 feet, and a cruising speed of 191 m.p.h.. the landing'speed being 64 m.p.h., but. the Aitair has a slightly better performance with the same engine. The De Haviland Comet, which is now in the process of manufacture, is of secret design, but a speed of 200 m.p.h. is guaranteed. GERMAN WAR ACE. ‘ PROPOSING TO ENTER. LONDON, April IS. A study of air developments in ten European countries has resulted in Ernst Udet, a German war ace, proposing to enter the centenary race if lie can find a suitable machine. He is the idol of Berlin still, a most daring aviator and comparatively wealthy.