GERMANY'S BOLD EXPERIMENT.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 17947, 4 May 1928, Page 9

GERMANY'S BOLD EXPERIMENT.

Shooting ’Plane into Space. OPENING UP ENTIRELY NEW FIELD. (United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) (“The Times.”) (Received May 3, 9.15 p.m.) LONDON, May 2. The Berlin correspondent of “The Times” says that a serious attempt to shoot an aeroplane (with a human aboard) into the air will shortly be made at Berlin.

A contract has been completed Vrn the application of the Opel rocket system to aircraft.

The occupant of the aeroplane will be Herr Raab (pilot of long experience), who once astonished Berlin by landing in the TJnterdenlinde'». The aeroplane is Raabkatzensfein GraSmalcke Company’s light ’plane, and weighs scwt. Two batteries of rockets will replace the engine, one on either side of the fusilage, between the ’plane’s cross bracing. The structure has been specially strengthened to resist recoil, and withstand the high speed. It is expected the pilot’s part will be to bring the aeroplane to earth hy a gliding flight after the rockets have burned out. If the experiment is successful, an attempt will be made to progressively increase the heights attained by the use of more powerful rockets. The pilots will be provided with an oxygen apparatus and a parnclAite. The Opel Company believes it is technically possible to propel an aeroplane by the rocket method to immense heights well beyond the earth’s atmosphere. It is clear that a single successful rocket flight Will open up- an entirely new field in aeroplane research, and might affect, in important ways, the whole future of aviation.

The rocket ear, which carried out a most successful test recently, will shortly be tried out near Berlin in the world’s speed record.