GREAT PROGRESS IN AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6902, 7 May 1929, Page 10

GREAT PROGRESS IN AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY

COMING EXHIBITION.

The Prince of Wales has consented to open tho International Aero Exhibition at Olympia in July, states tihe aeronautical correspondent of the Morning Post. This exhibition promises to be tho outstanding commercial event of the year. It will initiate a far more vigorous and comprehensive policy for capturing for British aviation goods a larger proportion of the world's air markets, and for drawing the attention of foreign buyers'to the special merits of our machines.

It is understood (hat a special effort is to be made to emphasise tho superlative quality of British aircraft and aero engines, and to point out the advantages which this high quality confers. The Air Ministry is to assist in this effort by an elaborate exhibit, showing the stringent inspection which every British aircraft must undergo in order to gain its airworthiness certificate.

The regulations governing the issue of this certificate prescribe load factors often higher than those demanded abroad. It is thought important that this fact should be more generally realised, because it will not only contribute to a greater confidence in British machines, but will also serve as an explanation of their often high prices.

The special constructional system used by Boulton and Paul, Ltd., which enables metal parts to be turned out quickly yet with great accuracy; the Armstrong Whitworth steel aeroplanes, in the fuselages of which there is not a single welded point; and the Gioster metal wings which arc used on largo numbers of R.A.F. aircraft, will be somo of the feats in design which will show to the general public the enormous strides iu the use of metals in wing and fuselage construction that have been made since the last aero exhibition in 1920.

Special British inventions will be on view, among which the outstanding will probably be the Handley Pago automatic slot, and the recent development of it which is known as the "controlled slot" or "interceptor." The automatic wing slot, in the opinion of many experts, has done more to increase the safety of aviation than any other single invention. Among the Service aircraft will be single-seater fighters capable of lifting more than a ton of bombs as well as (heir full military equipment.