A BIG SCHEME

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20110, 31 March 1928, Page 7

A BIG SCHEME

AIR SERVICES .German ’Plane’s Atlantic Flight Explained A WET RUNWAY IBEMEN S TAKE-OFF DELATED Received March 30, 11 p.m. A N.Z.) LONDON, March 29. ! * A Benin message stat“s that interesting revelations regarding Isoehl's impending trans-Atlantic flight are maae by tiie Koiniche Which says that the adventure is part of projfoganda for a great worldwide aerial freight service, which is j being jointly arranged by the North ■ German Lloyd ana Junkers Companies. The paper states that the Limerick | • Steanipship Company, the North Ger- ' man agents in Ireland, obtained per- t mission from Ireland to land and re- i preseutatives have also been despatch- » fcd to South Africa to arrange a ser- i vice between Cape Town and Johannesburg, another to Madrid to arrange B service between Spain and South America. A Ear Eastern service is be ing. arranged from Japan, while Frau Hertha Junkers is acting for the undertaking in the United States. Secrecy is being maintained about all the schemes because the companies do not wish their names to be associated with failure, in the event of Koehl’s success the executing of the comprehensive programme will at Once be taken in hand. The paper adds that similar plans are contemplated by the Hamburg Amerika Line and the Bumpier and another big aeroplane factory. Reports from Dublin regarding the crew of the Bremen, show they are sib I ent, but it is known they are aking pvery precaution against failure. With characteristic thoroughness, a half mile yunway ending in a great platform of planks, has been built at Baldonnell. Baron von Huehefeld has shown the utmost care in providing an antifreezing device to prevent the collection of ice on the wings, though it is not stated just how it is managed. He said: “We simply cannot afford to carry wireless, because it is tou heavy.’ ’ Code signals have been arranged and notified to all vessels on the mapped route. A green rocket means ‘‘asking direction to American coast,” and B red rocket means “down in water, eend boats.” It transpires that the Germans attempted to take off at dawn but the ’plane was unable to rise from the saturated aerodrome. The crew are bitterly disappointed, especially as the midnight advices from mid-Atlantic ships indicated that flying conditions were exceptional. The crew do not conceal their anxiety to leave.