Giants of the Air

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6630, 8 June 1928, Page 6

Giants of the Air

In our leading article yesterday mention was made of the groat possibilities lying ahead of hcavier-than-air ocean flying, and the prophecies of the builder of the Bremen were quoted in support. Papers to hand last evening give further details of the great strides being made in England and on the Continent, particularly in the design and construction of huge flying boats for the swift transport over wide stretches of water of passengers, mails, and merchandise. According to Mr. Harry Harper, a well known writer on aeronautics, machines of this type are being built in Europe and England, and will soon be flown, which will dwarf in size any marine aircraft attempted hitherto. The keynote of the construction of these new machines is a long, slender, boat-like hull of lightweight metal, strong enough not merely to float on smooth water, but to ride out rough seas. Mounted above the hull are curved sustaining planes, also engines and propellers, and as soon as the air-screws, actuated by the motors, have drawn the flying-boat across the surface of the sea at a sufficient speed, the wings exercise their required lift and the craft leaves the water and soars upward. A fine sight it is to see one of these big winged boats take to the air after a foam-tossing rush across the water.

“ I was privileged the other day,” said Mr. Harper, “to enter an aircraft factory and examine a giant airboat in construction, and it seemed almost unbelievable that such a structure of metal should go soaring through the sky. It is there that the secret lies. Years of research arc incorporated in metal alloys which combine amazing lightness with astonishing strength, and the advantage of such alloys is that flying-boats become practicable which would be out of the question, owing to considerations of weight, if frames and spats of wood were employed." ’ Already marine aircraft of metal have been rendered appreciably lighter than similar machines of wood, while with increases in size it is expected that the weight-saving will be even greater. And such economies can be utilised in improving fuel range and load capacity. It is by forsaking wood for lightened metal, and by adopting improved systems of construction which in themselves effect weight reductions, that designers see their way to produce marine aircraft of a size, strength and lifting power sufficient for the establishment of regular aerial routes above seas and oceans. A wonderful prospect lies ahead. The British Air Ministry is experimenting at the present time with a flying-boat weighing 10 tons and driven by engines developing a total of more than 2000 horse-power. In one multi-engined airboat recently tested there is sleeping accommodation for seven men, together with provision for cooking meals. This craft carries riding lights, anchor and foghorn, and would be capable, if necessary, of remaining at sea for weeks. It is equipped with a small lifeboat so shaped that it fits snugly along the top of the hull. One metal airboat, the German Rohrbach, can, when it alights at sea, run up two telescopic masts and set a pair of sails. Then, sailing like a ship, it can attain five to six knots across the water.

No country, during the past few years, says Mr. Harper, has devoted greater attention to super-giant flying-boats than Germany. The goal -before her experts is the establishment of a commercial air service across the Atlantic to the United States. Many German technicians now hold that, though for a certain period the large airship may be the most suitable machine for ocean flights, the ultimate solution of the problem will be found in huge multimotor flying-boats, capable of surviving bad conditions, cither in the air or on the water.

The Dornicr Company arc now well advanced at their works on Lake Constance with the construction of an airboat so large as to eclipse by comparison any existing heavier-than-air flying machine. This new craft, which is to ho ready for trial toward the end of the year, is an enormous monoplane boat, with one huge sustaining surface of metal. Along the upper surface of this wing arc 12 engines, developing a total of 6000 horse-power, and placed in groups of two, one engine being immediately behind the other in a tandem system adopted in previous Dornicr machines. In the hull beneath its wing the air-boat will provide seating and sleeping accommodation for 50 passengers, in addition to a working crew of ten. As soon as it has passed its trials this leviathan, which will weight ii tons, is to set out upon an experimental flight from Hamburg to New York. The aerial journey will probably be made via the coast of Spain and the Azores. Atmospheric conditions on this southerly route are generally more favourable than in the North Atlantic.