AIR TRAVEL O’ER LAND AND SEA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18643, 24 December 1928, Page 5

AIR TRAVEL O’ER LAND AND SEA.

NOTES AND COMMENTS ON MODERN FLYING.

(By “STRUT.") Daily, something new about aeroplanes and flying is announced. During the past week, the great achievement of Sir Hubert Wilkins has stirred the scientific world. In the course of one flight, he has settled an argument that has been going on for years and that, were any other means but flying used to endeavour to settle it, would still be unsettled. He has discovered that Graham Land is an island. To thousands of people, it means nothing; in fact the average man has a very hazy idea of the location of Graham Land and last week, before Sir Hubert’s flight, he would have been unable to say whether it was in the heart of darkest Africa or somewhere near the North Pole. Now, he knows it is somewhere near the South Pole.

To scientists and explorers and aviation enthusiasts, the brief message of the flight in the Antarctic is news that conveys a thrill. For weeks, this noted Australian has been waiting, impatiently perhaps, for decent flying weather. He got in and even he, probably, did not know when he took off that he was going to .make an important discovery. If he does no more than this, he will have proved that flying is possible in the Antarctic and that the aeroplane is one of the most valuable adjuncts to exploration that exists today.

Freight Carrying. The news that was announced from Australia on Saturday that an estimate is being prepared of the cost of carrying wool by aeroplane is another indication of the potentialities of air transport. Up to date, the only goods carried b} r air have been light, but extremely valuable cargoes, notably securities, gems and silks. These have all been handled with success by Imperial Airways, Ltd., the premier British firm, and it is interesting to note, incidentally, that the insurance rates on these are lower if they are transported by air, than if they are carried by other means.

Now there is a distinct prospect of carrying much heavier and bulkier cargoes. The plans at present allow for the construction of an all-metal machine to take eight or ten bales of wool, roughly, two tons. The freight rate quoted is about £3O a ton, a price to New Zealanders that seems to be out of the question. But, in Australia, it sometimes takes weeks for wool to be hauled to the markets and in the case in which inquiries are being made at present, the present rate is about £3O a ton, so that air transport offers a big advantage over other forms. The principal advantage accruing from the use of an aeroplane for this work is that the wool would be taken from the shed to the city store in one day, thereby catching the early sales of the season, when prices are usually high. Under ordinary conditions, wool from Central Australia reaches the stores barely in time for the last sales, when most of the buyers have fulfilled their orders.

Canterbury Aero Club. Little is heard these days of the Can terbury [Aero Club. Nothing has been done to consolidate the enthusiasm that was apparent three months ago. Members have heard nothing of the activities of the committee for some weeks, the last announcement being in regard to subscriptions. Auckland, Hamilton, Hawke’s Bay and Blenheim Clubs are making definite progress, although they are without machines. It is high time that the local club made some move and an excellent method of starting the New Year would be to commence a course of lectures for pupil-members.

The club cannot be blamed for being careful of its funds. The appointment of an instructor can well be left until the machines are in sight, but there are several pilot-members whose services could be called upon to give lectures in the theory of flying and even if these were of only a general nature, it would be achieving something and helping to hold the interest of members. A Week Saved.

The weekly air mail service to South America has achieved remarkable success, a week being saved on letters from London to Rio de Janeiro. The first return mail arrived at London, having left the Argentine on August 31, and Rio a day later. That sent from London also reached River Plate in twelve days instead of the usual eighteen to nineteen. The claim is thus made that it is the quickest commercial mail ever delivered over this 6000-mile journey. The route is from Paris by aeroplane to Dakar, West Africa, and on to Cape Verde Islands. Thence a fast steamer goes to Fernando de Noronha Island, whence an aeroplane starts for Rio and Buenos Aires. Air Liner Wireless. A message received at Croydon Aerodrome' from Cairo recently announced that telephone conversations from an air liner in England had been picked up distinctly there. The conversations were sent out by a’ big Vickers Rolls-Royce machine, which w r as carrying out experiments with short-wave wireless telephony. This is claimed to be a world’s record in long-distance telephone transmission from an aeroplane in flight.

The R.A.F. Cairo station officials state that they heard the pilot calling and received his message. The feat is regarded as all the more remarkable from the fact that the power used by the aeroplane was only sufficient to light an ordinary electric lamp. Overhaul Needed. Strong denunciations of stunt flying are being printed in Paris. The attraction of the Atlantic is regarded as partly responsible for the sorry position in which French aviation finds itself.’ Instead of developing on sound lines, efforts have been concentrated on the construction of immense flying cisterns. which, even if they carried their dirfiinishing gas safely across the At-

lantic, would not advance the cause of aviation. Lindbergh’s wonderful exploit is always praised unstintedly, but he having shown what could be done, it would have been better, think many French writers, if French aviation, without bothering about the immediate accomplishment of a particular feat, had tried to improve aeroplane building. The opposite course has been taken, with the result that French pride has been unnecessarily humiliated by an exceptional series of air accidents, culminating in the fall of the ’plane in which was the Commerce Minister, M. Bokanowski. These disappointments, failures and casualties have determined the French Government to place aviation under stricter control. It is agreed that an Air Minister shall be appointed. Hitherto aviation control has been shared by four Ministers. TJiere was military aviation, naval aviation, colonial aviation and commercial aviation, commanded by the Ministers of the Army, the Navy, the Colonies, and Commerce There was no co-ordination. Meanwhile two score of manufacturers, in an industry in which there is at present room for only a few good firms, have competed with each other in being first to cross the Atlantic from east to west, and similar stunts. Events of the past few weeks have taught the French a lesson. One Air Minister of technical competence will endeavour to guide aviation aright and presumably will have some say in the timeliness of extraordinary attempts which bear little relation to the steady development of a mode of locomotion of rapidly increasing importance. France was the pioneer in this field and does not wish to be left behind. Therefore, with the establishment of an Air Department it is resolved to redeem past mistakes and put its aviation house in order.