AIR DEVELOPMENT

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11296, 23 August 1922, Page 6

AIR DEVELOPMENT

MACHINE LIKE A BIRD GERMAN TESTS OF MOTORLESS AEROPLANE. BRITISH FIRM INTERESTED. By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, August 21. The Handley-Page Company has a representative watching the inotorless aeroplane tests at Wadherkuppe Hill, 3000 ft, near Fulda, where Hentzen flew successfully. Mr Page, interviewed, said the object of tho motorless aeroplane is to discover the secret of birdflight. Washerkuppe is treeless, and when the wind blows against it there is a strong upward current, making soaring possible. After the machine is thrown into the air “by an elastic catapult it rises against the wind like a bird. As" the Peaco Treaty restricts Germany’s construction of other aircraft, they have turned their attention to these gliders with great success. The gliders fly so slowly that it is possible for a pedestrian to keep up with the machine and converse with tho pilot. BERLIN, August 21. Hentzen’s glider weighs 1501 b, and has a wind surface of 200 square feet. AMERICAN INVENTION. NEW YORK, August 21. Glenn H. Curtiss has announced that he has completed a motorless aeroplane, which, if the tests,are successful, will he capable of rising from and alighting on water. ROUND THE WORLD THE MISSING SEAPLANE. MAY HAVE LANDED AT BURMA. DELHI, August 21. Captain Macmillan and _ Captain Malias had 200 miles of sea to traverse between Calcutta and Akyab. A heavy wind, culminating in a storm obscuring the cloucte, followed their departure, and it is thought that possibly they were driven to land on the Burma coast, where communication is most difficult. Vessels which arrived at Chittagong from Akyab report that they saw no signs of the aviators. A Government search steamer has been dispatched. INDIA’S AIR FORCE WOEFULLY BEHIND THE TIMES. DELHI, August 21. 'Air Vice-Manshal Sir John Salmond, who has been touring the frontier, states that India is woefully behind the times in regard to air force equipment, but is improving, and _ a few months will see 70 active machines. He expresses the opinion that 100 active machines with reserves will meet the requirements of the frontier. The bomb supply, he says, is ample. He further said the efficiency of the air force on the frontier was such as t® be able to cope with recalcitrant tribes more effectively and economically than military farces had done during the last seventy years. Sir John Salmond leaves for Mesopotamia at the beginning of September to take command of the Air Forces.