AVIATION GOSSIP

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18164, 31 October 1930, Page 10

AVIATION GOSSIP

GLIDING OVER CHANNEL,

® By “ Eagle.”

£IOOO PRIZE OFFERED. A great chance for adventurous young men is provided by the offer of a £IOOO prize for the first British pilot to cross the English Channel in a glider or motorless aeroplane. In a single swoop the successful competitor may make both history and. fortune; but he must dare the risks. The offer • has been made to the newly-formed British Gliding Association by Mr A. J. Wallace Barr, on behalf of . Messrs Cellon, . Ltd-, the aeroplane “ dope ” manufacturers, and the first attempts are likely to he made early /this summer. The London Sunday Chronicle learns that the announcement of the £IOOO prize offer to British glider pilots has decided a number of prominent German gliding experts who at present hold all the records for motorless flying to attempt to he the first to achieve the Channel crossing. • '< Though, of course, thev will not be eligible for the prize, they are keen to secure tlj„e honour of making history, and a thrilling international struggle may result. Already, it is understood, gliders are being put under construction for a race to be first in the air over the Channel. Herr Hans Richter, one of the most famous of the German glider pilots, who recently established a record by remaining in the air for over fourteen hours in a “ sailplane,” the most advanced type of glider, is expected to be another. •

Several French and Belgian airmen are also expected to make the attempt. No names were available at the headquarters of the British Gliding Association of British aspirants, but the assurance was given that Britain’s gliding honour will he well defended. “ You can take it for granted that we shall do everything in our power to earn the distinction,” stated an official.

“The Royal Aero Club is to draw up the rules,” Mr Barr, who announced the £IOOO prize offer, told the Sunday Chronicle, “hut one of the conditions will be that every machine that competes must be launched into the air by manual power.” Aeronautical experts regard an engineless flight across the Channel as one of the greatest achievements in the history, of aeronautics. Mr L. Ward-Flanders, secretary of the British Gliding Association, believes that there is a good chance of an Englisman being the first to cross the Channel in an engineless .machine/ “ It is possible to achieve flights of flfty miles or more, , he said, “and there are no great practical difficulties in the way of the projected crossChannel Journey. By going up to, say, 1000 feet above Dover or Lympne it should be a simple matter to reach the French coast.”

On the other hand, Mr Gordon Englandi 1 an expert on .the construction of featherweight bodies such as are used in Engineless ’planes, thinks that it is likely that the Germans will first achieve the feat. His view is That the English exponents of gliding lack the experience of the Germans. “ I do. not intend to make the attempt myself,” he told the Sunday Chronicle, .“but there is no doubt that there are plenty of young Englishmen who will be keen to make the attempt.”

NIGHT FLYING.

AIR MAIL SERVICES. It is understood that the Belgian authorities, who have had a night air mail service operating for some months between Brussels and London, are well satisfied with the loads they have been getting and with the working of the service, which is consequently being continued. Similar night services have been established in Germany, and in the United States and more recently in Canada. There is no doubt that even if such night flying services are not immediately paying propositions, ■most valuable experience is being gained. The Civil Aviation Section of the London jChamber of Commerce recently submitted suggestions to the Air Ministry on the subject of nonstop night air mail services to various .Continental centres, about 1,000 miles

distant from London. They have been given to understand that the _ Air Council fully agree with the Section’s view that it is most desirable for this country not to lag behind in the developments which are taking place in the direction of the establishment of night air mail services. The Section have now put their views before the Postmaster-General. Attention has been directed to the valuable saving of time from to 2 days to he effected in the delivery of mails tp such places as Budapest, Madrid, Rome, Stockholm or Warsaw, if non-stop flying services could be introduced, which would also enable mail to be dropped at other important places en route. These special fast services would necessitate the use of a light type of aeroplane, as the services contemplated would be purely postal and would not involve the carriage of passengers. It is understood that there would be no obstacle, except in respect of finance, to such services being undertaken by concerns other tlian Imperial Airways should the latter be unable to do so. It is to be hoped that the Post Office will take steps to speed up the-mail to the Continent by means of services on the lines suggested by the Civil Aviation Section of the London Chamber. Whilst it is appreciated that some form of assistance for the operating company would-have to be forthcoming at the outset, at the same time the speedier delivery of letters would result in good loads- being obtained and in the services ultimately becoming remunerative-

Further, \it is , essential that the Postal Authorities in this country should take some action without delay in view of the activities of other countries in this direction,.

AUSTRALIAN GOLDFIELDS. NEW AIR SERVICE. Always anxious to serve the community, West Australian Airways has been investigating the creation of a new service. It is generally realised on all sides that a revival of gold mining would be greatly in the interests of the State and Commonwealth, and anything which will assist towards that end. will- indirectly benefit the whole population. It is appropriate, therefore, that the company should seek ways and means of providing frequent and rapid means of communication to some of the prominent mining fields of the State, which are at present only to be reached after tiresome travel over many days. For instance, tp reach Wiluna occupies three days’ train travelling, and in the summer time, with the thermometer registering between 100 and 120 deg., it is invariably anything but a pleasant trip. With an aeroplane, the trip could be made in a morning, and tihe temperature could be made to suit the passenger, for at 50001‘t. the air is usually 20 to 30. deg. cooler than at ground level. Two alternatives have been investigated. One is to leave Perth on a Wednesday morning and, touching at Mount Magnet, Meekaiharra and Wiluna, arriving at the last-named centre in the afternoon. Leaving the following morning, the machine will travel via Lawlers and Leonora to Kalgoorlie, where it would arrive in time for lunch. On Thursday afternoons the machine would leave KalgOorlie for the new goldfield at Eldju&inai returning that evening. On Friday morning, the machine would take off from Kalgoorlie for Wiluna, via the Leonora' and Lawlers route, and on Saturday fly from Wiluna to Perth via Mount Magnet. ,

The second alternative is to run a frequent service between Kalgoorlie and Wiluna only, with calls at Meeltatharra and Mount Magnet or other centres as required, and with additional trips to Edjudina. There are many mining men whose duty it is to make frequent visits to fields in these areas and who deplore the great loss of time occasioned by travel. To them such a service should prove an inestimable boon, while in the matter of mail and freight service it should serve the same purpose and he just as popular as the North-West aerial mail which has developed from a small beginning to something which the people of those parts could not possibly do without now.