GREAT MONOPLANE

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1933, Page 14 (Supplement)

GREAT MONOPLANE

RECEPTION IN SYDNEY. ENGLAND-AUSTRALIA AIR MAIL. 7 ■ ' : Sydney, June 29. An event in Sydney this week has been the arrival of the Imperial Airways’ monoplane Astraea, the largest aeroplane yet seen in Sydney, after a flight from England which began on May 29 (says the Wellington Post’s correspondent). Major Brackley, air superintendent of Imperial Airways, Ltd., was in charge of the machine, and -he said the object of the flight was to let the people of Australia see the type of machine his company proposed to use if it were given the contract for the carriage of. mails from Sydney to Singapore. He explained that the ordinary services of the company would be extended to Singapore at the beginning of next January, and after that there would be a weekly service between that point and London. It would not be practicable to confine the service between Australia and Singapore to mails, unless the company was prepared to meet a heavy loss. In any event it was the policy of Imperial Airways to run passenger traffic in conjunction with the mails so that the aerial routes would become selfsupporting at the earliest possible date. Mail and freight aerial services could, of themselves, never become self-sup-porting. The Astraea represents the latest British, development in passenger-carry-ing aeroplanes, and as such, has attracted a great deal of attention in Sydney, used as the people are to the appearance of aeroplanes over the city. The roar of the four-engined monoplane quickly attracts attention, and necks are strained as the giant makes her frequent flights over the city and harbour. Everything possible is arranged in the aeroplane for the comfort and convenience of the nine passengers which it is designed to carry. Each passenger has an individual armchair, which can also be used for sleeping, and a table. The noise in the cabin has been reduced to a minimum, and it is easy to converse without raising voices much above the usual pitch. The heat and ventilation of the cabin can. be regulated so that they are comfortable in all weathers. On Ordinary flights a steward is carried and he serves refreshments. , This particular type of aeroplane is

remarkably steady in the air, and the absence of vibration reduces to a limit the possibilities of air-sickness. The ease with which the Astraea landed at the Mascot aerodrome in Sydney was the -cause of amazement. It was brought to the earth with a slow, gliding motion, and was pulled up 300 yards after it had touched the ground. The passengers who had joined the aeroplane at Brisbane scarcely knew that they had landed until the engines were stopped. The enormous size of the machine is realised only after a close-up inspection. It weighs, when fully loaded, almost ten tons. It stands 14 feet in height, and its length is 71 feet, with a wing span of 90 feet. It is a high wing, unbraced type of monoplane, with four ArmstrongSiddeley double Mongoose air-cooled engines, each of 340 horse-power. The normal cruising speed is 118 miles an hour, and the maximum more than 150 miles an hour. A height of 9000 feet can be maintained with one engine stopped. It is emphasised that the flight from England will be of immense value to Imperial Airways Ltd., which, it can be definitely stated, will be among the tenderers for the aerial mail contract between Australia and Singapore, connecting with the mail aeroplane for London. The tender forms will be complicated affairs, and the Commonwealth Government, which has been working on them for some time, is unable to say when they will be ready. Imperial Airways is bound to meet with competition from Australian companies. By an agreement with the British Government, Australia has been made responsible for that section of the route between Darwin and Singapore, and the Defence Department has been attending to the details. The department has been criticised for the apparent delay in the calling of tenders, but the Minister has pointed out that many safeguards have to be provided, and for that reason the requirements are very comprehensive.