AVIATION ADVANCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23058, 8 June 1938, Page 16

AVIATION ADVANCE

POSITION IN AUSTRALIA ROUTE MILEAGE INCREASE THE FACTORS RESPONSIBLE [iaiOM OUlt OWN correspondent] SYDNEY, June 3 "In the past three years the route mileage covered by passenger aeroplanes in Australia has increased by 50 per cent, and the number of miles flown and the number of passengers carried have trebled." Major A. Murray-Jones, managingdirector of the De HaVillaiul Aircraft Proprietary, made this statement at the monthly meeting of the Australian Gas Light Company's Popular Science Club in the Y.W.C.A. Hall. Ho attributed the rapid expansion of commercial aviation services to several factors. The first was the engine development. The power of aero engines compared with their weight had increased very considerably in the last six years, and the power output of comparable engines of the same makers had doubled in the same period. This was the result of metallurgical improvements and the production of better fuels. The next factor in development was the constant-speed air screw, which allowed the maximum of running power to be taken.out of tho engine at all times instead of the make-shift efficiency of the old fixed-pitch propeller. Aeroplanes also have been ''cleaned xip." Tho lupips and knobs had been taken off them and they now presented smooth streamlined surfaces, which offered much less resistance to the air The development of wireless ns n safety factor was another srreat advance. Many wireless aids were now lieinir provided in Australia. These included a system of radio beacons on all the main routes. By means of tho radio beacons aeroplanes would be guided over tho ainvays from one end of Australia to the other