GIRDLING THE EARTH.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 305, 24 November 1937, Page 8

GIRDLING THE EARTH.

The possibility that by 1941, or even earlier, the eartli will be girdled on regular services is field by aviation authorities. The route contemplated by the aeronautical correspondent of a London journal would be from Southampton to Vancouver, thence via San Francisco across the Pacific to Hong Kong, and finally over Northern India and the Middle East , back to Southampton, a total distance of some 2(1,000 miles. Assuming the schedules are so timed as to connect up without delay at the various stages, only two further presuppositions are necessary in order to render such a journey feasible, says the journal. One is that the trans-Atlantic air service has come into being, and the other that there is some acceleration of the existing services, notably over the Pacific and from Hong Kong to England. The time mentioned for girdling the earth in this way is 13 . days, but, eyen that brief period shrinks into insignificance in the light of other startling forecasts. In a recent address to the Royal Aeronautical Society the president (Mr H. E. Wimperis) looked forward confidently to the time when man-carrying aeroplanes would travel at about 609 miles an hour and have a range without refuelling of over 12,450 miles. That meant a girdle .round the earth in less than 48 hours—which is a performance, a commentator observed, remarkable enough for any traveller of flesh and blood. A speed record of over 440 miles an hour has already been attained, and Mr Wimperis believes 600 miles an hour is the maximum speed for level flifrht. His reasons are based upon observation of the air pressure exerted by an aeroplane in flight—a pressure which results in enormous loss of energy at the velocity of sound, which is 700 miles, an hour. At the moment FlyingOfficer Clouston and a companion have flown from Britain to Capetown and back in .77 hours 48 minutes actual flying time. The future must therefore hold immense possibilities, bringing Britain’s outposts within hours instead of days of the Empire’s Metropolis. But to travel through space at 600 miles an hour, however, may . appeal to few. The joy of quiet travel has very much to commend it to the majority of people.