AIR LIGHTHOUSES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20643, 15 February 1929, Page 12

AIR LIGHTHOUSES.

NIGHT FLYING IN AUSTRALIA. CONVEYANCE OF MAILS. (From Odr Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, February 8. II the authorities approve of the giant air beacon which Union Theatres, Ltd.,pr6poses to erect at its own expense and also to maintain, on top of the colossal State theatre atid shopping block in Market street, in the heart of the city, that big picture enterprise will be credited with a very graceful and practical gesture towards' the . furtherance of commercial aviation, by^assisting to make night flying safe, especially as it relates to the carriage of mails. There is an .insistent denVand that aeroplanes shall be used more largely than at present for mail conveyance. The air beacon, 50 feet in height, 250 feet above the street level, and flashing out a revolving beam-of light for a distance of 15 on 20 miles, would he a nice advertisement for the State . Theatre, which .is to be opened about April. But that,',as Kipling says, is merely by the way. It will make the towering new theatre a landmark all over the metropolis. Whether the Civil Aviation Department, the Navigation Department, and the civic authorities will pass favourable judgment on the proposal and deem it ■ a suitable, site for an air beacon for sky riders at night, remains to be seen. Night flying, with mails ' and 1 passengers will certainly never comb into its own in Australia, as it has .done. in Europe and in America, without • air beacons. The need for thorn was specially emphasised at Richmond, the New South Wales base of the Royal Air Force, when Kingsford-Sinith and Ulm landed on their return Tasman flight. The air lighthouse crowning the-State Theatre, assuming its installation is sanctioned, will be something like the famous Lindherg beacon in the United States, and will, in fact, be Sydney’s Eiffel Tower in miniature. The question whether it will be called the Kingsford-Smitb or the Hinkler beacon will’ be left to the popular choice of the public. This will be another enterprising move which is likely to make opposition picture interests green with jealousy. There will, of course, be air beacons traversing the route of the big PerthAdelaide service,, to operate in a few months, but outside of that the huge revolving -light surmounting the State Theatre will be the only beacon of its kind in Australia. It is something of a commentary on the outlook iu Australia on commercial aviation, especially when one thinks of the galaxy of brilliant airmen which the Commonweath has produced. The late Harry Hawker, for example, Sir Ross Smith and Sir Keith Smith, who blazed the air trail from England to Australia, Parer and M‘lutosh, whose amazing flight from Loudon in a gimcrack machine is a matter of history; Bert Hinkler, the young Queenslander, whose solo dash from England to Australia iu a light aeroplane will always remain of the world’s epic flights; KingsfordSniith and Ulm, whose great Pacific and Tasman flights added another brilliant page to aviation history! Sir George Wilkins, and-others. Notwithstanding those inspiring examples, Australia, is a backward country as far as aviation is concerned. What has been accomplished is owing in the main to private commercial enterprises and to aero clubs. As for the Royal Air Force Jts story is one of tragic disasters. . What Australia needs is half a dozen practical air-minded politicians in the Federal Legislature. The president of the Aero Club of New South Wales (Captain Geoffrey Hughes),, who is an old war pilot, aspired to parliamentary honours at the latest Federal elections, hut, unfortunately for aviation, he was turned down at the selection ballots, hew men have done mope to promote %mg in Australia than Captain Hiighes, whose status the Commonwealth Government fittingly acknowledged when it appointed him as the mouthpiece of unofficial aviation interests at the bin international Air Conference in Wash ington.