ATLANTIC AIRWAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22818, 27 August 1937, Page 11

ATLANTIC AIRWAY

COMPOSITE MACHINE MID-AIR LAUNCHING TRIALS NOW IN PROGRESS By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Recoived August 20, 0.5 p.m.) British Wireless RUGBY, August 25 A Short-Mayo composite aircraft, which it is proposed to employ in experimental flights across the Atlantic in the near future, are undergoing trials at Rochester. Successful tests of the lower component, a four-motored flying-boat named Maia, have already been made. The upper component, a Mercury four-engined float seaplane, will now be tested. After further trials of the two components separately, the Mercury will bo attached to a wing of the ilyingboat and they will ascend together as a composite aircraft. When this has climbed to a suitable height the locking mechanism securing the two components will bo released and the seaplane will rise clear of the flying-boat and proceed independently. It is hoped that by. this method of mid-air launching mail loads will be carried longer distances non-stop and at greater speeds than by surface launching. Carrying 10001b. of mails the Mercury will have a range of 3500 miles at a cruising speed of 160 to 170 miles an hour.