FAST NEW ’PLANES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 254, 24 September 1935, Page 9

FAST NEW ’PLANES

GREAT PACIFIC AIRWAYS. THE TRUNK SERVICE. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Sept. 23. An announcement that three Avro 652 aeroplanes had been ordered for the trunk air service to ho conducted between Auckland and Dunedin by Great Pacific Airways (New Zealand), Ltd., was made by Mr Trevor S. Withers, organiser of the company, at a sitting of the Transport Co-ordination Board to-day. Cabled advice to this effect was received from Mr E. T. Fisk, of Sydney, a director of the company, who has been investigating airways in the United States and Great Britain in the past four months. Mr Withers stated that, provided prompt delivery of the aeroplanes could be obtained, the company should he ready to commence operations about next June or July. It was left for the board to fix a provisional date by which the company should commence operations. The Avro 652, which is designed and constructed at Manchester, is a lowwing monoplane with two SiddeleyCheetha engines and retractable undercarriage. It has a cruising speed of 165 miles an hour and a top speed of 195 miles an hour. The cost, landed in New Zealand fully equipped, will he about £IO,OOO each. The normal internal arrangement is for six passengers, with separate baggage accommodation. The cnbin is sufficiently large to accommodate the six passengers in luxurious comfort and is furnished with roomy armchair seats. The crew of two is provided with a separate cnbin with full dual control. This cockpit, which is totally enclosed, is forward of the leading edge pf the' wing. “This machine is the very latest thing in aircraft, and was designed only this year,” said Mr Withers. "It has proved remarkably successful, the first two machines having been ordered by Imperial Airways. So impressive were they that 174 of them have been ordered by the Royal Air Force for bombing and reconnaissance work. The fact that the aeroplanes used in the New Zealand trunk service will bo readily convertible for defensive purSrses will be of great value to the ominion. My company will maintain not only a licet of fast aircraft, but also a staff of highly-trained pilots, ground engineers, and aircraftsmen. All of the organisation will be immediately available in the event of war.”

SUBSIDY REQUIRED. The operation of the trunk service, Mr Withers added, would be contingent upon the granting of a Government subsidy, either in the form of a mail contract or otherwise. Now that the matter of aircraft had been finalised, it would shortly be possible to prepare and submit subsidy proposals to the Government. These would provide for precedence being given to the carriage of first-class mails, and would call for a very much lower subsidy per mile than that paid in many other countries.

“My directors and I are quite confident,” said Mr Withers, “that these subsidy proposals will receive early and favourable consideration. There is general and widespread recognition throughout the Dominion as to the value of a trunk air service, and from the postal and defensive viewpoints alone such a service obviously justifies the granting of a subsidy.” As soon as the trunk service was established, Great Pacific Airways would inaugurate a fast AucklandRotorua service. It was also intended later to operate fast direct services between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin.