MORE AIR-MINDED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 87, 13 April 1938, Page 9

MORE AIR-MINDED

PEOPLE OF NEW ZEALAND

AVIATION IN AUSTRALIA

“The public of Australia are not nearly as air-minded as New Zealanders,” said Dr. H. Kenrick Christie while recounting some of his holiday experiences to members of the Wanganui Aero Club on Monday night. “There is nothing like the enthusiasm for flying among the people of Australia as there is in this country.” Dr. Christie said that, proportionately, commercial aviation was better patronised in New Zealand than in the Commonwealth.

During his stay in Sydney, Di. Christie paid a number of visits Lo Mascot Aerodrome, where he was able to do a certain amount of flying. One of the machines he flew was a Swallow ’plane, which can be stalieu at 22 miles an hour without going into a spin and has a landing speeu of about 30 miles an hour. The controls were differently placed than in the machine he had flown in New Zealand, and for that reason he did not feel altogether at home in IL. The machine he would recommend for training purposes, however, was the Ryan, an all-metal American machine with fabric wings. This craft had a performance much the same as that of the Miles Hawk. Its cruising speed was 120 miles an hour and landing speed 50 miles per hour.

Mascot on a Saturday afternoon was a very interesting place, said Dr. Christie. It was then that most of the training and pleasure flights took place and it was common to see 20 or more ’planes on the ground or in the air, with commercial machines coming and going at frequent intervals. The traffic was controlled from a two-storey tower by a system of signals and lights which regulated the take-offs. Tnere were two diagonal runways. In taking off, pilots had to fly straight from the ’drome lor 300 yards before making a left turn and one circuit of the Held. When land, ing, pilots had to give way to commercial ’planes which might be coming down at the same time. At Mascot, Dr. Christie saw the late Flight-Lieutenant Ulm’s 'plane, Faith in Australia, which is now used for giving pleasure flights. It was possible to get a 30-mile flight for 10s he said. Three or lour companies were operating at Mascot, giving joyrides and private flights. Dr. Christie also saw an early type of Taylor Cub machine which had been flown around , ustralia, the cost of the trip being £3B.