CONQUEST OF THE AIR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20982, 19 September 1931, Page 11 (Supplement)

CONQUEST OF THE AIR.

NEW BRITISH FILM. HISTORXT'ROM EARLIEST DAYS. An interesting film, showing man's conjjufst of the air from its earliest experimental stages to tho present day, is ' (o be produced by British International Films at Welwyn studios, under tho direction of Donald Carter. "Tho History of Flight" will show man's first- conception of aerial transport by his own motive power, in its mythological stages, its transition medieval and modern experiment by rncajis of heavier-tlian-air machines for commercial and military purposes, and will culminate with the thrilling presentation of the Schneider Trophy contest. Among tho interesting flights to be filmed will bo tho legendary attempt of Daedalus anfl his son Icarus, as chronicled, in Greek mythology. In order to escapo from an island imprisonment the lather fashioned wings of feathers and vax which were strapped to the boy's shoulders. The joyous youth, however, -flew- too near the sun which melted tho y;ax, and /Icarus fell into the sea and perished. Leonardo da Vinci, the Florentine artist, more generally known for his Mona Lisa " than as a remarkable inventor of the 16th century, made a flight from the walls of his castle by means of wings constructed similarly to a bird's. His achievement and that of another medieval airman, Francis Lana, who constructed a machine of four copper balls in which the air was to be exhausted in order that it should. become lighter than the surrounding air, will be depicted in the film. -The earliest commercial proposition—that of machine which should travel to India, via Cairo, and Otto Lilienthal's gliding experiments in 1890, present other interesting steps in aviation's progress as depicted by " The History of Flight," and in addition, the magnificent exploits of such aerial pioneers 8s Santos Dumont, the Wright brothers, Colonel Codv, tho Farman brothers, Latham and Bleriot, will be pictorially reproduced. By the permission of Messrs. Napier •nd the Supermarine Aviation (Vickers), Limited, makers of Schneider Cup winning machines, pictures of the modern wonders of war-time aircraft will bo secured for what must surely be tho most entertaining and instructive of aviation screen productions to date.