FLYING MAIL TRAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18468, 3 August 1923, Page 12

FLYING MAIL TRAIN.

——; «» NEW GIANT AEROPLANE. PROPOSALS BY BRITAIN. . LETTERS IN CLOUDS.,. Developments of the utmost public importance impend now, officially, in connection with the transport of mails by aeroplane, says a London paper. Two new facts of critical significance are:— (1) : Preparation by the authorities of specifications, .in' regard to which the British air industry| is now to be ';■ asked to send in tenders, for entirely new types of mail-carrying aeroplanes; including one vast new long-range craft, which in many respects will be the most remarkable air machine in the world. . v (2) Setting ' upj of a ■ new and expert committee, which is to begin its deliberations immediately, arid which "will, in the light of all the latest experience, investigate ; fresh ways of using mail-planes, not only within England, and between England and the Continent, but also on longer and wider Empire /routes. ' ••# These two' new developments, when shortly they bear fruit, will be: found to place the carrying^of mails in high-speed flying machines on an; entirely fresh' and far more comprehensive footing. . There is, in fact, ;on the/part'- both of the Air Ministry- and the Post Office, a firm determination to increase on a widespread scale the network of regular airmail services. / Sleeping Quarters for* Grew. The huge new machine, which the au- j thorities are to have built, is to embody, in its construction every new : idea which nearly four; years of commercial 'flying can now suggest. .In • its great mail chamber, illuminated with electric lights for night transport, expert sorters will bo able to carry on their work just as they might in a -mail train. ;.///.; So long will it be able to/remain: in the air .without alighting that the "crew" who will be in charge 01 it are to be pro- j vided with regular sleeping quarters oil j board. _ They will; in fact, work in shifts ; while in the air,' some of them ■ sleeping, i while ■ others are on duty in the control chamber guiding the great 'plane. Marvellous scientific devices are ito be' incorporated in the first great experimental machine of ■ the new type. Its crew,; in the little chamber which will be the "brain" of the metal-built leviathan,, will, be surrounded by dials, gauges, and recording instruments. :/>/ ; ; ; ' -If- necessary;/when'they; are flying at night or :' are immersed in fog or cloud, they willl :be able to bring ■, into play mechanism /which will endow ! the giant craft with a power/ of automatic selfbalance. Both in a fore-and-aft direction, and also laterally, it will, so to say, fly itself, and all the helmsman will have to do is to keep it on a compass course by means of (the rudder. ■ \ ~:■,"' ,': It will, in fact, be our first great metal-' built "ship,of the air," with its captain navigating it ;: for vast distances, by /nigh : as- well as; day, just ■- as though he were in charge of some big seaship. \. '• - ../'-/ Non-stop Plight of 2000 Miles. ; r -Art idea of how far this great/new( British j aeroplane io to be in advance* of anything produced ; before may be : ; gleaned from; the tact that, "going up if necessary/ flying 'without alighting : for nearly, 24 hours, it will be able to traverse,?non- - stop;"/ a total distance of just on 2000 mifert. -:•,'//•;///'///- -■/ ■;/. Oh the new committee which is to devise routes and loads ; for . such marvel-, lous machines, i which represent ;a./new! phase in British air design;/will; be our j Director of ; Mails, / Brigadier-General /P. H. Williamson, who; from the infancy of commercial , air « transport, has evinced the/ liveliest interest in .■:>. the /question' of accelerating letters by/ sending them - by aeroplane. /An/ interesting proposal in connection with the work of ; the committee, which will consult / great business //chiefs and groups of industries, to find out how hew possibilities in air despatch can help them individually .and ; collectively, .is that /'it should/ hold its : meetings in public.