IN A HANDLEY PAGE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 15, 20 January 1919, Page 3

IN A HANDLEY PAGE

A TRIP OVER LONDON.

THE “’BUS” THAT CARRIES TWELVE.

The following description of a trip in one of the famous Handley Page aeroplanes is extracted from an article by Mr H. Campbell Jones, Of the Sydney Sun, who visi.ed England With the Imperial Press .Delegation ; Prophets declare the Handley Page bombing machine to be the precursor of the giant passenger machine of the near future. These mammoth biplanes are the product of a man who never knew anything about practical aviation before the war, but who has since revolutionised aerial warfare with his superDreadnought bombers. Handleyi Page is a young engineer with tho keen, eager face of the Creative zealot, and Ills gift to the great cause has been the finest bombing machine in existence, It is fully 100 fte. from tip to tip of its im-mciu.e wings. It has two enormous propeller:, or rather tractors. The great “ ’bus” weighs close upon three and u half tons, and is capable of carrying three tons of bombs, which, properly dropped, would knock the s offing out of Berlin,

The oversea journalists were taken Up in ’buses nine at a time. Cue sat in the observer’s forward cabin, an eaglets eerie which juts out into space, two were pressed in o the pilot's box, which is crammed with mechanical apparatus, and five others found standing room in a kind of well in the -back, or fuselage, behind the wings. When experienced airmen travel in a ’bus—they come daily from France —twelve are carried without- trouble.

The mammoth ’bus ran far up the field to the gentle rise before it reluctantly left the ear.h with the two propellers roaring with Bull of B-ashan din. The first sensation is the soft swayirioi of a good sailing ship in a stiff breeze, with the sail s straining at he cleats and the stays whistling. Fur the ’bus breasting a half gale at 89 miles an hour makes you think that you have entered the cave of all the winds.

Talking is out of the question. You can onlyi converse by signs, and you must keen your face fair into the wind, otherwise the wind pressure will force one of your nostrils in and cut down your breathing space by half. If you ever saw the Christmas pantomime of “Sinbad the Sailor” you commence to appreciate the feelings of the hero when he clung io the claw of a roc. Down below the landscape rushes behind, but the machine itself appears stationary. 'One of the illusions of ’.he air is that you are dom- 90 miles or 130 mile s an hour and yet are not moving. Stealing out beyond the pilot is a Lewis ma-chine-gun, which can pour out 600 bullets a minute. On a stage behind ibe •well is a pivoted gun, which can sweep the whole horizon. Genius has discovered a method of synchronisation which enables the Lewis gun to spit lead through the two propeller blade t, though they are revolving at a speed which makes them a blur to the eve

It is the pilot’s job -to work the na chine and to fight, the Tewis gun pok ing straight ahead.

It is the observer’s du.y to chart, the course by land maps and stars and ■to fight, the rear gun, which can be aimed in any direction. The great ’bus nosed its way to two thousand feet, and droned violently across London and its environs, without- anyone recognising landmarks until theyi were pointed out by the pilot. People in the street -were ’insignificant dots, houses no larger than the to vs of childhood, trees became tiny shrub-, cattle and horses smaller than those i t fclie nurserv of Noah’s Ark. Trains and railway trucks dwindled absurdly. A long goods train appeared to be abou an inch wide and 20 inches long. Try to drop a marble from the too of a two-story house on a pebble which you can just see, and you have some slight conception of the superb markmanship demanded of an aerial bom be/.

The wonder is that lie ever hits anything. It must of necessity- take tons upon tons cf explosives to reach any' chosen ta-get.

The bus a cab horse compared to the swal!ow-like scuu- or chaser, but 80 rules an hj ur L: some speed, and w.-.en tne pi,oi next me obviously had_ d rtifn :y in ,ke. T i„:. the monster straight, and we fell shriply m if to joust a-, a Lnace of houses, the pace suggested a fragnier -tsry end. However, the . man prevailed, and with a senes oi soft bumps wo descended upon ■<nr hell. 1

, I sttaid i haj lost control, - ’ the pilot s aid comfortingly as he screwe-. on: if lr> seat and made a bee-line for. a drink.

Buses have j>a-d habits, especially jjf -hev hit a popket 0 f air. The smaller, ■wifter machines bridge the void with their momentum. The slower Goliath may drop like a gull when it spo's food on the surface of the sea.