NEW BRITISH AIRLINER.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20230, 26 June 1937, Page 23 (Supplement)

NEW BRITISH AIRLINER.

I FLIES 2500 MILES IN 13J> HOURS. ENGLAND TO EGYPT, NON-STOP. Britain’s new flying-boat airliners are exceeding in service the most; sanguine hopes of the men who designed them. Eight of the fleet of. twenty-eight four-engined monoplanes ; ordered from the Short company have j already been delivered to Imperial Air- j ways, though only nine months have elapsed since the first craft of the j kind made its first flight. Six of them ; have gone into service on the Empire j routes, and will soon be flying through i to India and South Africa; two are; pecially equipped for long range ex- . peri mental flights preparatory to es- • tablishment of regular mail and pas- j senger services over the North At- ■ lantic. Time schedules on the European sec- j dons of the Empire routes have been reduced by more than fifty per cent.! Cruising speeds from take-off to; touch-down are being maintained at | more than 150 miles an hour. In fav-, ourable conditions much higher speeds are registered; recently one boat trav-1 elled between Southampton and Mar- j seilles at an average of 200 miles an • hour. Performance of this high order ; —notable indeed in an aeroplane weighing nearly twenty tons when fully laden—is linked with a degree of comfort for the passenger not prev- j iously approached, and seaworthiness which has been triumphantly tested in . the fury of full Mediterranean gales, j Even more spectacular have been j the achievements of the long-range ' boats, which differ from the standard craft in possessing tankage for the carriage of no less than 2,320 gallons of fuel. Step by step the flying trials which will provide a sure basis for

safe and regular exploitation of North Atlantic air services are going on. Non-stop flights between Marseilles and Alexandria have been succeeded in the past few days by an outstanding journey from Southampton to Alexandria without intermediate alighting, and a trip around much of Britain in less than nine hours. The “Caledonia.” The flying-boat, “Caledonia,” carrying a crew of five men and 800 lb. in ballast, ascended from Southampton Water at 4.15 a.m. Thirteen and ahalf hours later she came to rest in the harbour at Alexandria, having flown 2,500 miles at an average speed of 170 miles an hour. All through the day radio contact was maintained with short wave stations in London, and the last message, when the r&dio operator said he was just about to wind in the trailing aerial before alighting, was plainly heard here. At Alexandria radio operators on the flying-boat “Cassiopeia,” which was riding at mooririfes in the harbour, also maintained touch with the “Caledonia.” In little more than four hours after the start, the boat was flying over the Mediterranean, having maintained a speed of more than 180 miles an hour. - The “round-Britain” journey was undertaken by “Cambria,” the sister ship. In 8 hours 42 minutes she covered nearly 1,350 miles, circling oyer many towns on the route, including Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin, and Swansea. She flew all through the day at levels between 1000 and 4000 feet, giving many thousands of people their first view of one of the new marine airliners. She carried a crew of five and two “observers.” At the the tanks contained 1600 gallons of fuel, and when the journey ended there was still enough fuel left for about four hours’ more flying. During the flight tests were made of the new meteorological and radio organisation at Rynanna, on the west coast of Ireland, which is the probable landfall of the North Atlantic services of the future. Previously, the “Caledonia had spent six hours in the air above Ireland and the Irish Sea to practise working with this new .terminal radio station, which will be an essential factor in safe operation of trans-Atlan-tic services. Evidently, the conduct of the longrange boats has justified expectations that they would be well suited for experimental trans-ocean journeys, though craft of double the tonnage may be needed for the carriage of a reasonable load of mails and passengers on regular services. Especially significant is the Southampton-Alex-andria flight, which carried the “Caledonia” several hundreds of miles farther than the length of the direct Atlantic crossing of 1000 miles between Ireland and Newfoundland. Loaded up to a weight of 45,0001 b., which is two tons more than the normal loaded weight oT the standard Empire boats, the "Caledonia” and her sister ship have a calm-air range of 3.500 miles at. a cruising speed of 160 miles an hour. With that overload, the craft have astonished the experts by taking off in thirty seconds, and a further increase in loading would appear permissible. NO RHEUMATIC NIGHTS NOW. “ All the pain has now gone—l can get a good nlgdit's sleep." says Mrs F. B ~ retone, who removed the agony and swellings .»r acute Rheumatism with Rlrnifl Rheumatic Remedy. It is palatable and smooth, and absolutely reliable in the removal of pain, swellings, anti all sharp twinges. Money-nack Guarantee. Three months’ supply, 0/G, from J. IV. Irvine. Ltd., Chemists.