ATLANTIC AIR LINE PROSPECTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 104, 4 May 1937, Page 10

ATLANTIC AIR LINE PROSPECTS

Tests May Take Two Years

|£XPERIMENTS NOW IN PROGRESS in England in North Atlantic flying. with a view to the establishment »f a regular British service, are expected to be prolonged far into next rear. On the first flight, Rynanna, Co. Clare, which is to be a port of call, will not be used. i It is probable that the large number if pioneer North Atlantic flights that have been made have given rise to a belief that the difficulties in the way of a regular service are no longer very formidable. But an analysis of those lights throws light on tb.e nature ol the problem. No flights have been made in November, December, January, February, or March, and with only three exceptions all the successful flights were made in May to September period. This is evidence of the existence of a very difficult season of the year.

On the west to east direct crossing there have been 22 successes and 13 failures, but on the east to west crossing, with the same number of failures, there have been only 10 successes. This is evidence of the special difficulty of the east to west journey. All the pioneer flights have been car ried out without regard for the commercial considerations which must govern a regular service. These realities, however, only serve to illuminate the confidence, due to new aircraft designs and improved engines, with which the coming experiments will he faced. There is abundant reason for astonishment at the progress in the technique of flying and of the living machine which has been made since Aleock and Whitten Brown made the first direct North Atlantic crossing bv air only 18 years ago. A regular air service across the North Atlantic is now assured. The nations are resolved upon it; and, indeed, there ha« already been seasonal operation with the aid of a half-way ship. ■For the experiments Great Britain is making considerable preparations, and will try out more than one operational method. Tt is not impossible that one of these methods may justifv its adoption, and that a regular service may not have to await the development of a new type of aircraft, sav, a 56ton flying boat. But. even if wo possessed such a craft to-day. it would still be necessary to carrv out mnnv experiments. The meteorological study of the conditions has been going on for the past two years, and the Air Ministry is setting up a permanent organisation. Much data was handed down front the work done in connection with the British airship programme, abandoned with the

loss of the RlOl after it had born fruit in the Atlantic crossing by RlOO. the second British airship Atlantic laurel, R 34 having blazed the trail in 1919. Experiments will be made by two of the new Empire flying boats which have been specially tanked for long-range work, and by the De Haviland “Albatross” four-engined land aeroplane, 'a type embodying several remarkable but at present secret features. This new type may on a greater scale repeat the British design triumph won by the “Comet” of England-Melbourne race fame. The “Albatross” is a 14-seater of a cruising speed probably exceeding 200 m.p.h., and a range of some .3000 miles.

Also the Mayo Composite aircraft, by which a heavily loaded high-speed machine will be launched from the back of a big flying boat during flight, thus taking independent flight at a much greater speed than would be possible directly on water or land, will be tried. An alternative to this method of enabling a machine to carry extra fuel or freight ■will be provided by refuelling in the air, for which Imperial Airways has provided some of the means for another experiment. There is then the prospect of much interesting and important flying this year. The possible adoption of a land aeroplane for Atlantic crossings is consid - ered because of the difficulties in th way of a flying boat service which would have a terminus in Canada or Newfoundland, where the waterways ere ice-bound in winter, or if they are rot frozen over the cold is often so intense that spray made during a flying boat’s manoeuvres on the water freezes over the machine. The direct flying boat service, however, with co-operation between Imprial Airways and Pan-American Airways, will use Baltimore as the American Terminus. Before the direct crossing experiments a Bermuda-New York service, in which an Imperial Airways Aying boat will take part, will begin. One of the Empire flying boats, the Cavalier, is already in Bermuda. As regards the South Atlantic, the report of the Warren Fisher Committee on international air communications, expected within the next few days, will probably recommend that a proposal put forward by a group of shipping companies shall be accepted.

Don’t worry about what people are thinking about you, for they are not thinking about you, but wondering what you are thinking about them. —Anon.