FROM NEAR AND FAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20402, 2 November 1929, Page 8 (Supplement)

FROM NEAR AND FAR.

Reports from BeUingham, Washington, U.S.A., state that successful experiments have been carried out in sowing seed ov>er some 150 acres by aeroplane. Successful tests have been made in Germany of towing passenger gliders with an aeroplane, their passengers being able to descend without stopping the 'plane. The Auckland Club reports a total of 32 hours 20 minutes flying for last week. Eleven passengers were carried, and three hoars 10 minutes was spent in solo flying. Italy is said to be making a strong effort to recapture the speed record, and a special machine is being built for Major de Bernardi at the Macchi factory, which is to have an Isotta Fraschini engine. To facilitate night flying a 7.000,000candlepowtr aerial beacon has been erected at Lynn, Massachusetts. It revolves on a pedestal 89ft. above the ground, and its 10 Sashes per minute are visible for miles. The number of passengers carried in one week recently between London and the Continent was 2503, which is 503 mere than the previous record. It is significant that 1300 of these were carried by Imperial Airways. On August- 25, 1919, the first commercial flight between England and the Continent was made by a converted military aircraft carrying two passengers, and during the first week 20 passengers flew to Paris at a fare of 25 guineas each. Mr. D' Mill and Captain J. D. Hewitt rpfu-ned from Gisborne in their .Moths Last Monday. The flying time to Mangere was about four and a-quarter hours. Stops were made at Whakatane and Kaihere. Two Gisborne residents. Messrs. R. and J. Fisken, were passengers. The India Air Mail is ran m three sections, and with three different types of machines. The first stage of the flight, from Croydon to the Mediterranean, is made in triple-screw Armstrong. Siddeley air liners. On the Mediterran«ean section, being over water, triple-screw Short Jupiter all-metal flying boats are used. From Cairo to Karachi D. 11. Hercules carry the mail. A new and improved form of compass swinging base has just been installed at Croydon aerodrome, England. The base comprises a rotating turn-table, or central platform, capable of being locked on the eight principal points of the compass. Heavy aircraft can thus be swung quickly, and in a very simphe manner, while the handling of a light aeroplane will be a one-man job.

While everybody is talking about the Schneider Cup, few know who Schneider was. He was a French engineer and sportsman, named Jacqueu Schneider, who gave his irophy in ISI3 originally 'far i'e a worthiness of ssaplftnes rather than for speed. In 1927 he was living in dire poverty in a small cottage in the South of France, and he died at Beauliea in May of last year at the age of 50. :