MAJOR MAYO

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 8 September 1938, Page 14

MAJOR MAYO

31)0 M.I'.H. LANDPLANK CAN ALIGHT ON OCEAN [By Air Mail—Special Correspondent! LONDON. 13th August. Major R. H. Mayo, designer of the composite flying-boat whose upper component flew the Atlantic in July, believes that composite land planes will be the future means of ocean air travel. “It is well understood that land planes are capable of far greater range than seaplanes.” he said this week. “The floats of the Mercury, the upper component of the composite aircraft, retard her cruising speed by about 50 m.p.h. "The essential features of the land type of composite or ‘pick-a-back’ craft which I have just designed are the same as those of the Mercury. It has a range of 3500 miles, which is ample for the North Atlantic crossing, a cruising speed of 270 m.p.h. against a headwind of 30 m.p.h. and it will have a retractable undercarriage. “The separation principle will be precisely the same as that of the Mercury and Maia. It will, similarly, have four engines, three sufficing to keep the plane flying, and in mid-Atlantic, when the load is lightened, two. “It will be capable of alighting safely on sea. though not, of course, of taking off again ”