AIR SERVICES.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20271, 13 August 1937, Page 7

AIR SERVICES.

THE ATLANTIC FLIGHTS. NEW MAOHINES TRIED OUT. OVERCOMING OF DIFFICULTIES. (Official Wireless.) (Received Aug. 13, 1 p.m.) i RUGBY, Aug. 12. > Four more of the double North At- > lantic journeys to be flown by the > Caledonia and Cambria are scheduled before the winter ice at Newfoundland - closes the route. , We an while interest temporarily : centres on the Short-Mayo composite 7 aircraft, which lias been designed to i overcome the difficulty of launching long-range aircraft with a maximum load and which are now ready for t trials. The first experimental flights will be made with a lower component, a I large four-engined flying-boat similar I ’.o the standard Empire boat except I for mechanism by which the upper I “omponent, a four-engined float aeroI plane, will be attached. The lower I '•omponent is powered by four Bristol I Pegasus engines, of 950 horse-power I each. I Not until both components have satI ’sfactorlly passed their trials will the I critical experiment of a joint flight, I with the launching of the upper comI ponent at a height of about 10,000 I feet, be carried out. The Short-Mayo composite aircraft I is one of three lines of attack on the I problem of commercial trans-Atlantic I flights, the other two being Empire I flying-boats, which already have been I on trial, and the de Haviland Albatross I monoplanes, experimental flights with I which have not yet been fixed. Own Railway Terminus. Imperial Airways, Limited, is to have its own railway terminus in London. It will be alongside Victoria Stas tion, and special trains will run from it directly lo Croydon and Soulhamp- - ton for passengers on the Empire fly- • ing-boat services. Plans for linking other airports with > the London railway terminal are being i pushed forward. The Heston airport • will be an 18 minutes rail Journey from i Paddington, and the new' aerodrome i under construction for the City of London Corporation at Ilford will be within 25 minutes of the city by electric train.