“DOUGLASTERIA.”

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 305, 22 November 1934, Page 8

“DOUGLASTERIA.”

COMMENT ON AIR RACE RESULTS

“The country seems in grave danger of suffering a species of air hysteria as the result of the Centenary air race,” says the authoritative periodical, the Aeroplane, “a form of mania which can be diagnosed as Douglasteria.”

“England evidently expects to have giant air liners cruising at 200 miles an hour to Australia within six months, regardless of monsoons and lack of radio and ground equipment,” it adds.

“The ‘flying hotel’ story is so much misleading nonsense. The Douglas machine is satisfactory for a single night’s flying across the United States, but three days and nights on end demand a high degree of comfort which only British aeroplanes have so far attained.

“The Douglas cruises at 170 miles an hour, compared with 150 miles an hour of the large, comfortable British aeroplanes which are being built. “Critics of British services ignore how favourably they compare with the Dutch and French, although they cost so little to run.

“Empire air lines are slowed up by the necessity for making frequent calls. The Dutch are not interested in intermediate traffic between Amsterdam and Batavia.”