The Star. THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1918. FLYING PROSPECTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12289, 11 April 1918, Page 4

The Star. THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1918. FLYING PROSPECTS.

Aviation ton years ago was a risky, experimental science, in which the only thing certain was that henvier-lhan-air machines would fly if given sufficient driving power in relation to weight. I ho development of the petrol engine, in fact, only pub into practice the flying theories of an earlier ago; hut the demands of war have pushed experimentation to a point that might not have been reached in fifty or a hundred years of normal research. The aeroplane stands perfected to-day in consequence, with the risk to human life virtually eliminated, or subject only to the results of careless workmanship. Aviation has boon of the utmost value iti the war. The airmen have been not only the eyes of mvvy and army, but a definite offensive weapon by land and sea. Complete mastery of the air must bring with it complete mastery in every arm of warfare, and in the defensive insurance against future wars Britain's “all in all” will bo translated, almost inevitably, from sea to sky. The view has been expressed that the areoplane will put into the hands, possibly, of Asiatic hordes, an offensive weapon that will threaten the world’s peace, but in those matters it may confidently be reckoned that tho qualities that have made Britain great will ibe as truly sustained by her air fleets in the future as they have been by navy and army in the past. Those considerations give added importance to the far-flung aviation centres of the Empire. By private enterprise and without Government assistance, Auckland and Canterbury have established training centres from which a hundred pilots have already gone forward to the Allied air fleet. The record of these enterprises is one tba.t their founders and the Dominion ought already to bo proud of. The safety of flying may be judged from the fact that of the first sixty candidates who entered the Canterbury Flying School, not one has failed to emerge with a pilot’s certificate. The commercial possibilities of flying after the war appear to be almost limitless. Already from Italy, overseas mails are carried by aeroplane, and American centres are planning a huge aerial service. In New Zealand Sir Joseph Ward has declared that the aerial carriage of letter mails between important centres is a certainty in the near future. Christchurch with its steady winds and open landing grounds is destined to become an important aviation centre, and simultaneously with the training of cadets for the standing air fleet, commercial activities of limitless possibility may centre in the extensive aerodrome that has been laid out on the edge of the city.