SAFE AIRCRAFT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 200, 23 August 1929, Page 7

SAFE AIRCRAFT

AMERICAN COMPETITION. THE BRITISH MACHINE. [ British Official Wireless. ] RUGBY, Aug. 21. The new British aeroplane with which it is hoped to win the Daniel Guggenheim safe aircraft competition in the United States this autumn will soon leave this country for America. Those who have seen it fly say that it has remarkable properties of slow flight at amazing angles to the ground. The aeronautical correspondent of the Times says that the machine has been designed by the Handley Page Company, and full advantage has been taken of the automatic slots, the use of which retains lateral control of the aeroplane when its speed has become so slow that otherwise it would stall and spin to the ground. Its wings are more than usually well provided with slots, and in addition, there are flaps along the trailing edge which also greatly add to its capacity for slow flight under perfect control. A photograph of the machine represents it as leaving the the ground at an angle of at least 45 degrees. Such an angle is impossible for a normal machine, and the fact that it could fly off the ground in such a position with perfect control indicates that a pilot, when landing, should be able to do so at such a slow speed that the machine can be regarded as a'lmost foolproof. The first prize in the competition is of a value of about £20,000. All the competing machines must be presented at Mitchell Land (Long Island) on or before October 31 next. According to the latest information there are at least twelve entries.