The Daily News. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1924. THE NEW AIR AGE.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 December 1924, Page 6

The Daily News. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1924. THE NEW AIR AGE.

In a remarkably interesting and thrilling article by Mr. Harry Harper, in the Contemporary Review, it is stated that the ideal constantly before air enthusiasts —an ideal that is drawing steadily nearer —is for the world to be girdled, regularly, by one hundred iniles-an-hour airways, operating by night as well as by day. No one can realise, save those behind the scenes in flying to-day, what strides are being made. Towards the end of the war, certain part of aeroplanes were being built of metal, while to-day, after wonderful re searches, aeroplanes are being bu.lt completely of steel, and are being turned out lighter than similar machines of wood. Possibly some stretch of imagination will be required to enable ordin ary people to grasp the astounding intention of bringing into use air expresses at five miles a minute, and carrying passengers from New York to London in fifteen hours; to Australia in nine days, or even much less; yet it is confidently believed that, before long, there will be witnessed a fleet of slim-hulled air-liners soaring up from London for t,hgiy high altitude rushes across the world. When Jules Verne thrilled the reading world witli his fantastic ideas of girdling the earth with a passenger service which took eighty days, it Was generally thought that such a prophecy was the height of romancing. What would they,'.say now at the forecast of performing such a journey in one hundred hours? Such a wonderful accomplishment can hardly be envisaged in these days when the story of man’s conquest of the. air is a never-ceasing source ,of astonishment. Men, steel and oil —these are the conquerors of the air-—the annihilators of space. It would seem that what science has done in regard to cables and' wireless, aeronautics is now to accomplish for our bodies, hence the reference to the new air age. Mr. Harper says: "It is a vision great and splendid! It is a new world we glimpse. Imagine what it will be when, in our holidays, we are wafted, magically, to and fro between London and those beautiful islands of the far Pacific." It is asserted that plans now being developed by Imperial Airways, together with the tests decided upon with huge airships, enable experts not only to map fresh links in airlines which are to girdle the globe, but to sketch time schedules for complete round-the-world journeys by aeroplane express and airship liners, for both passenger and goods services. The new multiengined flying transports which the Home Air Ministry is now ordering will have such a fuel capacity that they will be able to fly long distances without alighting, while provision for refuelling in mid air can be arranged, if necessary, on long stages. It is only by flying at high altitudes and taking full advantage of the lessened resistance of the air at great heights that the proposed speed ean be obtained by these winged expresses. The oceans would be crossed by “elippers of the clouds at five miles a minute—New York to London in .fifteen hours. Obviously such a marvellous achievement means far more than mere rapidity of transport. It will mean that the peoples of the world will get to know each other in a way that ■would otherwise be impossible. From knowledge to friendship jg

only a-step, facilitated by meeting frequently. May not this new air age, therefore, be a great factor in the salvation of the world? Mr. Harper contends that the development of air transit in the manner described has been sent into the world to be a final test of mankind, and there is nothing far-fetched in the assumption. | There is, of course, the danger of isuch a service being misused—for purposes of destruction rather than for beneficial service, [ —but such a calamity is too dreadful to contemplate. If the power is rightly used, civilisation will move swiftly into a great era of peace and world progress, eliminating racial antipathies and international misunderstandings..