AUTOMATIC PILOT TEST

Taranaki Daily News, 15 March 1935, Page 5

AUTOMATIC PILOT TEST

MYSTERY FLIGHT BEGUN EXPERIMENT IN AMERICA NEW COMPASS DIRECTOR FOR PACIFIC SERVICES? Rec. 7.10 p.m. Oakland, March 13. An army aeroplane equipped with a robot pilot, the description of which has been kept a complete secret, started a mystery flight into “nowhere” at dawn to-day to test the equipment, It is rumoured that the plane might be en route to Honolulu. Previously the craft was subjected to short tests, which apparently were satisfactory. It is carrying 1600 gallons of fuel. Officials later explained that the robotcontrolled plane was on a final test flight preparatory to a flight to Honolulu within a few days. A new type of compass director will be used. The present flight will extend far enough to pick up radio beacons from Hawaii. If this is successful an automatically controlled flight to Honolulu will easily be accomplished. The Navy Department has at the same time authorised Pan-American Airways to establish bases at Midway, Wake and Guam Islands. It thus appears that the experiments with the robot are closely connected with the establishment of a trans-Pacific air service. A Navy Deparment order stipulated that the bases could be taken over the event of war.