"THE BERLIN BOMBER”

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 31, 6 February 1919, Page 2

"THE BERLIN BOMBER”

f . - 1 ■ ''il" ■ FLIGHT IN A HANDLEY-RAGE. TRIAL TRIP WITH 41 PERSONS. LONDON, Nov. IP During the fateful days a : week ago, when- the Germans were considering the terms of armistice and the allied armies were threshing along from line to line, 'arid; frOm/ town to town, '".there Was otic thought predominant in the minds of all civilians. The peace was by now taken for granted, bqt one and- all breathed aloud the prayer: “I only hope they’ll drop a few bombs on Berlin before they stop.” Tt was a popular conviction that "they would, and so uri J doubtcdly they would, but the super-

r iiatl a'flight in lifer a few days ago, ay flli '4O, others. . .She is. a Handley-Page, jwit'h a spread'and four engine* aggregating 1400 horse-power. A tremendous creature she looked, as with wrings back against sides like h' locpst she, was dragged slowly across - lie 'ground by’ a solemn little'tractor. ’The .aeroplane "herself weighs seven and. a-hftll tons/ and carries nearly 1000 -gallons of petrol. 'Whiih wourd have ; been ample to take her to Berlin and ' i back 'to the * Bntiah lines. When, fully loaded 1 " with tbidfibs .her'" total weight is 15 tons, and it is ’astonishing with what ease Vjfie rises her ; fpur' runners, and-'swims up'-into , ■,./ .i • It topk only a. <►! circling ; over the aerodrome to rise’ v to a Height • '6sQpft-.,, at which altitude the clouds - far'-below "loafc like. the ,sea. , For--half-, j aivhodr '.'we ’cruised about over London, - i getting good vie'ws of the city and of ■ small! stream which w© know as the /rhanies, although; at'’that altitude -it j ;tls.n the Avon in j ChristchUaxrh. 1 JVe-hadi enough petrpl to ' Si?,- Ip and back, but * itj was al'imay getting daric when we went op/ , iind' 'pilot could dhly’ find 'His way back’by means of,.a flare on the aerodrome. ' T*he idurhey wpa qdxte fut: 'lt was‘a demonstration''of the won- . derful accuracy and.' reliability of modern industry. Beyond the sectional Which hre" very 'iipnilte',' the r feriisfled'm’achihe' ba4 .test at all, .and yet it went up intb the air with complete confideafie. ’ \Nlew ZealancFtTepecial *> nt.PTe.it ' in.' these rijachihes 'flee' in ’ the . fact that jShr d&seph Ward bas made full inquiries tb the prospects of carrying mails by‘th'eini. /*:•.. IMf Page eays that on© of the smaller machines,; Which, - Until this one appealed, were the largest'in the world,, will carry comfortably three or four tons >r mail matter. The real value of the aerdplan© Is’ over of 200 ot 300 milfes br mofe.' Fdr short distancesit is hardly necessary. At the same time, if it goes to drop mails at way’ stations, •Mr Page, considers, that the trouble is Iso little that the machibe might as well | alight.' • ' ‘ Our pilot Was an American, Mr ClifI fom Prodger, among the passcb-’ 1 gera were ■ several-overseas' press 'corresi pohdehts. Lord Lisburn,' some ladies, j apd a mechanic m-med' Foch, who was taken tor luck. ' . t