FLYING SERVICE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume L, Issue 175, 8 October 1917, Page 8

FLYING SERVICE

CAREER FOR'YOUNO NEW ZEAILANiIjERS. AT~CHIJ.ISTCHURCH o. FLYINO GROUND 1 . Of t..e many I raining cent re* in New) Zealand possibly the least known, is at a lit t.e spot ealled Sockouru, almost a suburb ot Christchurdi. where the still hours oi early morning see young New Zealand aviators preparing for l f "eir entry into the nation's airlleet. This i .-round is not under military discipline, Tor tne traiiHtic <'' c.ioels m New Zealand has heV-n left to private enterprise, but tne men. none the less, will. b u regularly drafted into the lighting strength of" the Allies, ilr C W. tfeivey, secretary to tl-.-> Canterbury Avuitii'.n Company. Ltd. who arrived in. Wellington on Frioay, speaks hopefully of the work that is being done at the Canterbury .Aviation ground, says tho Post. The company was floated as the result <n 'i very enthusiastic meeting of Chnstrhurch citizens, m order to assist in the training of jue'.> who arc destined to be the most urgently needed in the final issue o'f the war. The work has gone ahead, and the company is already achieving the worthy object of its founders. | While in Wellington, Mr Hervey hopes to enrol many pupils for the flying course at Chris'tenurcn. He states IhTil in the citv any wrong 1 ideas regarding the 'hazards o) aviation I have been dissipated by the wonderful' control of the marnines displ;-/ed by | the instructor (Mr 0. M. Hill) and his I pupils. The course opens to any young man a fine cateer, having demonstrably less risks than aiy; encountered -in , tho regular fortes. T!ht? fee at Canterbury is £IOO. and the pupils reside in special quart'-rs at the aerodrome during their six or eight weeks' ''training. Upon passing his- preliminary' tests, the pupil receives a grant in' New Zealjind of £75 on behalf of the British Government, and is sent Home n't the Army Council's expense to iiiidenro' his extended, training in the Royal Flying Corps. Eight pupils, -Mr Hervey said, had already qualified and were about to start tor England. The first pupil to enter the Canterbury school, and the first to I gain his pilot's certificate was Mr E. F. I Wilding, vomigcr brother of the late Captain Aothonv Wilding, the famous | tennis champion. The early pupils of i the school, drawn" from different parts 'of the North and South Islands, had sfiow-n a wonderful keenness in, their work, and had, dooe great credit to their instructor. Major Sleernan had particularly common clod the instructional methods of Mr Hill, laying stress, on tne nnporl.ar.re of the frequent ascents anrl descents ensured by the system oi short fright* practised over tho extensive manoeuvring ground at Sockon™- . _. ~ The flving ground. Mr Hervey said, lav just live'miles fiom Chiistchurch by tramline, in an ideal stretch of Hying couutrv-. which had been favourably commented on by experts. The actual landing ground was much more extensive than that sit." 1 * Hendon. and the Canterbury Park . racecourse alongside HT.>vded -™ ir?dUiorial cfeir streteh of ' landing conntrv for' any pilot who might v<> io )••'«» a hurried descent out of bounds. The hangjrrs, standing on the edge of an unfe'hced stretch of .some hundred and fiftK j: 'acres o! land, contained a well-equi'ppea workshop, where tne pupils were' instructed very fuliy in engine work and the details of aeroplane 0 construction. li as now machines were built. The air fleet consisted of three complete machines, and two others in the making. A< Blcviot monoplane is used, not, lor My in? out merely to •'taxi" abotit the ground, to give the pupil an idea of '.'the controls and the rather unconventional ways in which a micnine will belikve on its runners. This machine is identical m type with the mon on lane on which Louis 'Rleriot ji.ade liis astonndine cross-Channel flight <.a 2-th July. 4.909. It was experimenten with by a Frenchman at Christ.'hnrch before the war. but never made a. sustained fliaht. The second machine i- a late, model Catidron dual-control binlano. the safest type of aeroplane afloat, fitted with a 60 h.p. Anzam enfine. Jn this machine the pilot (Jir C. M. Hill) takes up each pupil, and by means of the dual control, worked. | from either seat, the pupil is quickly initiated into the mysteries of flying, and is sometimes controlling the ro«i chine before he is aware of the fact. The third machine is a Catidron typo biplane, fitted with the 45 h.p. Anzam engine used by Scotland in his pioneer ' flight in New Zealand. This biplane i was actually constructed down to th» last detail'bv the pupils, under the direction of Mr J. G. Mackie, the comI panv's mechanic, and it proved to h* a machine of exceptionally gliding finalities and absolute stability. On it. nil the pupils of the school have passed their pilot's tests so for. and the passinn- of six pupils in 3>J hours on the sarn«> ma rhino is claimed as a record for any school. Mr Hill has' looped-the* loon on this machine. The'company ha« two Anzani ensrines of 100 h.p. each on the water, and biplanes of tho Caudron tvpo are building at the aorodrome fov their reception., . Questioned resnrdivK' the possiVu.itv of aeroplane construction in New Zealand, M'- HevveV replied that ho did nob think the idea was feasible at present, since the impossibility of standardisation and extensive production, apnrfc from inability to make engines, put tho industry out" of the nuestirm is » warwinning measuie. He added that it was doubtful even whether the output of aeroplanes io Britain or America could be stimulated by 10~-l" funds, as the factories there wer o we' >'"g 'it the.r fulled capacity. But \*>"v /o-ilnnd could supplv aviators of a spkmnd typeas th-' sehook at Auckland ""•? ' -■■.«»- church had proved. Ooneentv-t-■-" -u man-nower for the air fleets would bo morn profitable than dissipating time* and energy on the production of'a few machines.