SOVIET AIR FEATS.

Western Star, 3 December 1935, Page 3

SOVIET AIR FEATS.

Two remarkable air achievements are announced hv the Soviet authorities, aavs the ‘Daily Telegraph’s Mowcorrespondent A military plane madea SOO-mile flight by refuelling from a. «dider it was towing, and a giant pnro. chute-kite lifted a load of four lon< and three ainucii to a height ol 0,-o. feet. , , The plane, the “P. 5.” refuelled iron two petrol tanks fitted to tho glut”With tho additional supplies it was a to keep going for 17 hours. a s against four hours with its own supply. Tt flow from Moscow to Koktebel Aerodrome. in the Crimea, a distance ol more than twice, the plane’s lioim,.l range nf 450 miles. This is claimed to he a woild nonstop roeoid for an ‘‘air train.” An attempt is to he made to send th c . parachute-kite into the stratosphere (6 1-5 mill's up). The plan is to attach it to tho ground by a line steel cable, supported bv a vast number of small, parachute-kites. Apart from this scheme the parachutr. I kite miullt have ennsiderabb. value at lower altitudes over enemy linos ini i wartime

The Soviet, authorities a-e now nurd, ing a siintll all-steel, absolutely ri -i <1 and iinn-inflammable aji-shii T, will ho of high tcllsile steel, electrically welded. and 1413 ft long. T'lh, however, seems a more doubtful adventure, because tli ( . Aincric-ms tried and failed to build a si I isl'-m-tory '!'i|' of a similar kind in duraluminium eight years ago.