OFFICIAL TRIALS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21647, 18 May 1932, Page 12

OFFICIAL TRIALS

AERIAL AMPHIBIAN SUCCESS OF “SARO CLOUD.” (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, April 7. Following rigorous tests in flight which lasted 120 hours the Air Ministry has initiated a policy that may have important results by purchasing a powerful twin-engined amphibious flying boat. Obvious advantages attend the employment of a flying machine which is able to operate at will either from land or water. Combining with a flying boat hull and a wheeled land under-carriage which can be lowered or raised at the will of the pilot* the amphibian is clearly suited for commercial operation in many parts of the use of amphibians should mean great economy of the labour and time normally expended in launching and housing flying boats. The craft move under their own power on land or water, running down the slipway on the wheels, which are then wound in by a member of the crew, and taken off from the surface of the water. The chief drawback of the amphibian up to the present has been the weight and “ drag,” or air resistance, of the wheeled under-carriage with corresponding loss in performance. But in the larger amphibians of the kind bought by the Air Ministry this increase in weight amounts to less than 2 per cent, of the total structural weight of the aircraft and the effect on performance is proportionately small. Styled the “ Saro Cloi»d,” the Air Ministry’s new machine is one of three types of amphibious aeroplanes constructed by Messrs Saunders-Roe, of Cowes. When equipped for civil use it has seats for eight occupants in a roomy saloon cabin. Driven by the power of two Armstrong Siddeley 340 h.p. “ Double Mongoose ” motors it reaches a maximum speed of 120 miles an hour and cruises at about 100 miles per hour. With the norma] fuel load on board the “ Cloud ” can hold the air for non-stop flights of four hours, though the tanks are large enough to hold fuel sufficient for six hours’ flying in emergency. The success of tlie “ Cloud ” iti the prolonged official trials is likely to lead to a reconsideration of amphibians by some air transport companies. The British Isles and neighbouring countries offer fine opportunities for amphibian operation, and in other parts of the world much difficult territory might be opened up to flying, because amphibious machines can operate with ease even among mountain ranges wherever there are small lakes. Further, a comfortable amphibian is perhaps the ideal air yacht, affording travel in conditions of safety and scenery that no other form of flying machine can rival.