PROGRESS IN AIR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22512, 1 September 1936, Page 16

PROGRESS IN AIR

DOMINION AVIATION

NAVIGATION REQUIREMENTS IMPORTANCE OF RADIO Tlio opinion that the development of aviation in New Zealand, in spite of any retarding factors, would proceed as inevitably as the development of motoring, was expressed by Mr. J. S. W. Stannage in an address at the Auckland Rotary Club's luncheon in Milne and Choyce's Reception Hall yesterday. After referring to difficulties which had arisen in the negotiations with Pan-Ameriean Airways regarding the establishment at Auckland of a base for a Pacific air service, Mr. Stannage said New Zealand eventually would probably enjoy the benefits of a transtasman service, a project which the late Sir Charles Kingsford Smith had endeavoured to promote. Tt had been stated that a service would probably be available in 19.'i7, but indications were that it might be 1917 before this was an accomplished fact. Referring to air services in New Zealand, Mr. Stannage said that possibly in ten years high-speed machines, capable of 250 miles an hour, would be operating between Auckland and Dunedin, with 110 intermediate stops. Contrary to some opinions, New Zealand was not a difficult country in which to fly. There had been talk of the mountainous nature of the country, but it had to be remembered that Imperial Airways machines, and those of other large flying concerns, daily flew across mountainous country without much difficulty, assisted by all modern aids to navigation. In the future, radio would bo the sole aid to navigation in tlio air. Aeroplanes flew regularly across the American Continent with the aid of radio directional beacons, and Pan-American Airways had expended 1,000,000 dollars in perfecting a radio system for tho Pacific service. It was gratifying to note that the New Zealand Government was now actively interested in radio navigation in the air. It had to be recognised that tho United States was far ahead of Britain and other countries in aviation development. The late Flight-Lieutenant C. T. P. Ulm had vainly endeavoured to persuade Australia that certain Pacific islands were of strategic importance in relation to transocean flying, but now this territory was to be used by the United States as points of call in an airways network.