BRITISH AIR SERVICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17110, 15 March 1919, Page 9

BRITISH AIR SERVICE.

PROSPECTS OF THE FUTURE. DAWN OF NEW ERA. 'GIRDLING THE EMPIRE, . [raOit OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] ; LONDON, J«i. W. The immediate prospects of aviation as on industry was the subject of an inspiring address given at the London Chamber of Commerce by Major-General Sir P. H. Sykos, chief of the air staff. Aviation, he said, was a child of war, but it was now on tho threshold of a newexistence in the realms of civil and commercial life. The opportunity was tinrivalled, the conditions ideal, and they must guide it along right lines. Thero must be no flash in the pan or exploitation oi a new industry by ignorant or unscrupulous persons. Here they should pit tho brains of their inventors and engineers against those of tho whole world, and they had no reason to fear the issue. "In aviation we have gained for ourselves the foremost place in design and technique of aircraft and engines,, and British manufacturers may safely be trusted to maintain ai.d improve their position," he continued. '' State assistance in design and research work must continue A policy of safety must prevail, nnd the aerial ' plimsol] line and the 'Al at Lloyd's' must brand every British aircraft with the hall mark of quality and security. (Cheers). The risk and danger of flying is in really very much less than is often -supposed. . The 'mprovenients in the design and. construction of aeroplanes and engines' have brought us to a position in whikh, with prudence and judgment, the risks of flying are very small, lata! accidents have been surprisingly few, and the average has now Reached the high figure of 1170 hours flying per fatal casualty. Since January, 1916, a total of 5340 officers have been killed on the western front. Nearly all these casualties have been due to battle, and only a small proportion to accidental causes. The total flying done during the same period has been close on one million hours, equal to 114 years."

Long-distance nights. ';- " The difficulty of crossing the Atlantic," General Sykes said, " is not so much | one of endurance of the machine and per- | sonnel, but of navigation, meteorology, I and wireless, In regard to overland, travel ! the chief difficulty will be the' selection and equipment of routes.-' r Landing grounds must be provided and conspicuous marks and indications given. . Repair facilities must be established where sk.illt? 1 personnel is available. The stoppingplac >s must be linked np with centres of distribution of postal and other merchandise and arrangements made for the control traffic both by day and night. All the Royal Air Force has had m mind, when the long-range and special flights to: Eptypt and India were undertaken, was to blaze the trail and gain experience. In good weather a machine, starting from London, will doubtless fly direct to Marseilles without stopping; thence, with a short stop at Piza or Rome, to Taranto. . The next point of stoppage will be Suda Crete, where an English aerodrome at present exists. At Cairo it will probably be advisable for mails to be transferred to another machine in order that the one which has flown from London may be erven a complete o?erhaul before return to England. Cairo must be considered and equipped as a first-class store.and.repair base, as it is the half-way house to India. The stages on the journey to India average some 350 miles, .each;* the total distance, London-Delhi, being ' approximately 6000 miles. I think we are justified in looking forward to the aproach of a weekly mail service by air between London and India, the lima 'of passage not exceeding seven or. eight days, which would appear to be advantageous from the commercial viewpoint. "Another route of great interest which the Royal Air Force hope to .open up ia the 'All Red' route from Cairo to the Cape. Survey parties have already been sent out from Cairo to report on such facilities as exist, and for some weeks surveyors have been in Central Africa looking for aerodromes. (Laughter.)

. -. Flying and the Press. "Although it is in connection with longdistance work that aviation lias most to offer, yet it is well not to overlook the possibilities of such routes as LondonDublin j and London-Glasgow. , ,la • the former case the distance is 288 tailes, arid in the latter 360. Study is now ( (eing given by the Air Ministry to these in- com. nection with- their possibilities for iu£<nt mails and newspaper work. New spacer proprietors may easily find it advantageous to use . high-speed aeroplane? fnr conveyance of copy, stereotypes, "phonographs,, and so on, between such centres as London, Paris, Glasgow, and Dublin, for use in the simultaneous publication of identical issues of their newspapers. Flying boats from sea bases' 'cannot bo operated with regularity and ease from an extemporised station, and it niu'it'tin remembered that all forms -of seaplanes are, on the whole, more bound ;>v weatlier conditions than aeroplanes. As aircraft becomes larger there will be a certain amount of levelling up in this respect. Airship Prospects. " It may well ho that for comromcial pup. poses the airship is adapted for lon?-HJB-tance jounie\s involving non-stop flights. The airship has the inherent advantage over the aeroplane that there is. practically no limit whatever to its range provided it can be made large enough. The large, rigid airship is still in an embryonic stage, but there is no reason why they should not be built capable of completing the circuit of the globe. There need not necessarily bo compe'ition with ■ the' aeroplane, and the aim should be to undertake such journeys as are unsuitable for heavier-than-air craft. Schemes for the development of the airship for commercial purposes may belong to the future more than to the immediate present. Its possibilities should, however, not be forgotten. " One of the most important of the attendant problems to be solved is ..'the influence of the weather on tee operation of any flying service. At present the weather still is the great natural snaray of aviation. That it will before'. long be mlly conauered thero is very little doubt. There are at present 31 Royal Ah Force meteorological stations in ; -the -Ujijtgd. Kingdom alone, and there seems every likelihood of this number increasing rather than decreasing. The development of both meteorology and wireless telegraphy should take place along broad Imperial lines. ; British': aircraft will-scon bo as widely spread as is'the BlifeSh Empire."