AVIATION PROGRESS

Taranaki Daily News, 19 November 1932, Page 1 (Supplement)

AVIATION PROGRESS

MACHINES STAND THE TEST

(By

“Aero.”)

The aims and objects of the constructors of British aircraft-and their recent achievements in the way of engine improvements and body-work were dealt with in last week’s article. This week it is intended to give a brief outline of the a,erial achievements resultant upon the success of those improvements when put to the practical test of actual work in the air.

A firmly defined, smooth line drawn in ink on the recording chart of the height registering -instrument which Mr. Cyril Unwins, chief test pilot of the Bristol Aeroplane Company, recently took to a height greater than any previously reached by man in an aeroplane, has revealed to the scientists something of the perfect manner in which Britain’s new world record was achieved. Study of that single, infallible line and a few calculations enabled them to fix the greatest height reached at the figure of 43,976ft.—2J miles beyond the summit of Everest, the world’s highest mountain. Altogether the flight- lasted two hours, of which all but 20 minutes were occupied by a steady, smooth climb to the loneliness of the “stratosphere”— the .region, of the tenuous upper air which lies above the .denser layers where life can exist.

; ‘The new .British , achievement puts in proper perspective the much-boomed intentions of certain foreign manufacturers to invade the upper ah’ at some unspecified future date in special “stratosphere” planes. The British pilot sat in.no air-tight cabin. The engine was not supplied -with fuel through'a complicated series of super-chargers and no special gearing or propeller 'was called on to aid the. machine in getting off. The aeroplane was a standard British machine, of a kind supplied for Service use in South America and the Irish Free State, and modified only in detail. Actually the aircraft employed was built as long ago as 1927. And the powerful heart of: the machine—the most important component in establishing the new record—was not a specially designed engine.' It was a normal Bristol Pegasus super-charged radial air-cooled unit, with- certain alterations to meet the exceptional conditions" of. the flight; siinilar engines can be acquired in numbers for ordinary military and civil use. For this very r'easdfi the Bristol company believes that its demonstration has provided facts much more immediately useful than can be hoped from the elaborate schemes of the French and German builders of special “stratosphere” aircraft.

Once again the British monoplane air liners which fly regularly with mails and passengers between Perth and Adelaide have set new speed records for the journey. In May one of these machines flew the 1450 miles separating the two Australian cities in 10 hours. Details have come to hand of the journey completed on August 3 and 4 in 9 Hrs. 40min., making the new record average speed for the run no less, than 150 m.p.h. • • The aeroplane left Perth With. English mails/on ; board after soma considerable delay awaiting the steamer. Krom Perth to .Kalgoorlie—3so miles—occupied 2hrs. 27min., thb next stage of 400 miles to Forrest 1 only Bmin. longer, making a day’s run at an average of 153 m.p.h. Next day. 355 - miles from Forrest to Cediina took 2} hours exactly, and 345 miles on to Adelaide only 2i hours. Though a favouring wind helped materially in setting this new record, .the flight is yet another indication that in the Vickers Viastra all-metal monoplanes employed on the Perth-Adelaide run Britain produces one of the fastest large passenger-carrying aeroplanes yet placed in commission. Urged by the power of two 500 h.p. Jupiter motors its normal cruising speed is in the neighbourhood of 120 m.p.h., with a full load of 12 passengers, mails and freight. • The Viastra monoplanes are the only large aircraft yet produced in Great Britain which are built in metal even to the coverings of wings arid tail unit. They are shapely craft, with clean, efficient lines and are designed for installation at 'the' wish of the operator with one, two or three motors. Swift and inexpensive construction was a dominant note in working out the designs, and machines of the type can be built ..in large numbers in exceptionally quick time.

The .uneasy regime which permitted British air liners to fly across Persia is definitely ended, after years of argument and short term agreements, and from now on the Imperial Airways’ planes will follow on their way to India a route along the Arabian shores of the Persian Gulf. Though the new airway is longer than the route across Persia there is 'general relief at the prospect of freedom from unsatisfactory dealings with the Persian authorities, and the operation of highly efficient .biplanes equipped with extra fuel tankage for the longer stages demanded by the Arabian section will render unnecessary any lengthening qf the scheduled time for the Egypt-India journey. For the halts at Bushire and Jask are substituted calls at Bahrein and Sharja, when the air liners will fly direct to Gwadar on the way to KarachL Between Basra, the' point of divergence from the old route, to Gwadar along the Arabian shore is 1070 miles, a distance which the airway planes will accomplish with ease well within two days..

Emergency landing-places have been prepared at .close intervals. ,At first the idea was to employ flying boats over the Arabian section, and here the cnijses made by Royal Air Force flying boats which are stationed at Basra proved of great value. Study of the reports of the military flyers revealed that all along the stretch of the Arabian shoreline which .is. known as the Trucial Coast, there are only two places which make safe harbours .for marine aircraft. The position was.further complicated by the reluctance of the sheikhs who hold power in those districts to agree to operation of the air line over their territories. Then the Sheikh of Sharja offered to provide land for an aerodrome and the problem was solved. Entrusted with, the regular operation of the new section are four Eastern type four-engined Handley Page Type 42 biplanes—with their sisters on the European routes of- the company the largest landplane air liners yet commissioned in the world. Each member of the fleet has been fitted with extra fuel tanks to bring its operating range up to 600 miles, providing thus an ample margin for dependable: flight over the longest of the stages/.required by the new route. Generally the air liners will fly slightly out to sea, to avoid as far as possible . the sand swept 'by the wind from the Arabian desert up to heights of as much as 10,000 ft. and to ensure comfortable “bump-free” travel for the passengers.