AERIAL LINERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19254, 19 August 1924, Page 8

AERIAL LINERS.

LONDON-SYDNEY SERVICE. AN AMBITIOUS SCHEME. (Pm United Peess Association.) AUCKLAND, August 18. Plans are now being prepared to pave the way for the inauguration within three years of an airship service between London and Sydney, and the possible extension to Now Zealand, according to details supplied by Sir Keith Smith, who arrived by tho Niagara from Vancouver, en route to Australia, to take up a proposition with the Government and other interests. With Sir Keith Smith is Mr A. H. Ashbolt, who has just completed a five-year term as Agont-genoral for Tasmania, and who, during his sojourn in London, was instrumental in starting the movement for an airship service to Australia. Sir Keith Smith and Mr Ashbolt are both interested in this ambitious venture, and the details are so far advanced that Mr Ashbolt was in a position to discuss tne schedule of fares and the prospective itinerary of tho service. Tho faros have been based on the present scale for voyages by P. and 0. steamers. On this basis tho first-class fares for the airship service will not exceed £l2O for a single trip from London to Australia. Tho airships will bo veritable liners of the air. An idea of their size may be formed from the details of the accommodation. Provision will be made for 120 passengers and 12 tons of luggage and mail matter. Their cruising range on a nonstop run will be 2500 mill's at an average speed of 70 miles an hour. ihus the ships will be able to do the journey from London to Perth (West Australia) in eight and n-half days, and from London to Sydney in 10 days. These periods allow for wayside stops at different stations along tho route, thus enabling tho nassongers to have a look at foreign scenes in a manner similar to that en'oyed under the present system of ocean navigation. At each station the airships will ho replenished with fuel and other supplies. The equipment and general furnishings of these earial cruisers will 1m on a scale of comfort and attractiveness. Tho intercar will he fittted with cabins of different dimensions, one serie-s giving tion for two passengers in each cabin and four passengers in the larger cabins. There will ho smoke room, dining roorm and a promenade or look-out platform right on ton of the structure, allowing the passengers an unparalleled view of the world Mow. A feature of the construction and equipment will he the safeguards against fire. Hnec>al provision will be mode for the use of kerosene as fuel. This will eliminate the liar per that was present in two recent crashes of airships. . Arrangements for tho proliminQ-ry tests have been completed, and masts are being erected at stations at Cairo, Karachi, and Bombay. Two old airships, R 33 and R 36, will bo anchored to the masts for two months to test the strain and stress of the air currents. There will bo other experiments regarding weight, and from the knowledge trained tho norfected airships will be built, being finished probably in two and a-half years’ time.