AVIATION.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20097, 28 November 1930, Page 3

AVIATION.

* NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS. SOARING AND GLIDING. (*EO!£ OtTB OWS COEKSSxOirDEJST.) LONDON, October 23. , Herr Robert KronMd, who las made a gliding flight of 100 miles, going where he wanted, and landing at a predetermined point, was the guest of honour at a dinner given on Tuesday evening by the British Gliding Association at the Trocadero under the I chairmanship of Mr F. Handley Page. | Herr Kronfeld was the winner ..of the association's prize, at the recent International Gliding Competition held in Germany. The chairman, giving the toast t>f "Our Guests" said their aim must be to secure that knowledge which birds had by instinct. It was possible to fly with very little power if only they could find out the secret of the birds. Herr Kronfeld, acknowledging the compliment, expressed the view that in the near future it would be possible to soar and glide not one hundred miles but many hundreds of miles. The important thing was not that he had flown 100 miles, but that it was. possible to fly a long distance without an. engine. (Cheers.) Squadron-Leader T. H. England submitted the toast of "The British Gliding Association," and Mr Gordon England, responding, said there was no diffi- | culty in producing a cheap aeroplane—it was as easy as making a cheap car. But the trouble was, who wanted it? He believed gliding would create the demand. Mr R. Matheson (New Zealand) was among the guests. light Aeroplane Records. British light aeroplanes set tip new records ln long-distance flying this week, emphasising in no uncertain fashion the world supremacy of the British touring aeroplane asserted in earlier notable flights this year. Probably the most significant achievement of the light aeroplane flyers was the' arrival at Cape Town of the South African pilot, Mr R. F. Caspareuthus, nine days after he left England, more than 8000 miles away. This is the quickest flight ever made from' England to Cape Town, surpassing the Duchess of Bedford's famous outward journey by half a day; further, Air Caspareuthus flew alone, and his flight is more worthy of merit as a personal achievement than the splendid trip of the Duchess's "Soider" monoplane and its crew.of three. . The modern British light aeroplane, therefore, is again proved capable of flying day after day non-stop stages of a thousand miles or so. What the aerocar can do to-day in the course of a sporting flight, the air liner should easily surpass to-morrow, and Mr Caspareuthus has indicated to Imperial Airways, over whose Cairo-Capo route he flew, how mails and passengers may be carried through the entire length of the African continent at a speed which I places Cape Town nearer in point of I time from London than was Edinburgh 1 little more than one hundred years ago. i London-India in Five Days. Slmijltaneosuly, two airmen have established new intermediate solo records j on the well-worn way to Australia. Wing-Commander Kingsford Smith, who j flew the Southern Cross monoplane around the world, arrived at Karachi, India, at 5 p.m. on Monday evening, having flown from London in five days, one flay better-than the solo flight ac--1 complished earlier this yoar in a British craft by Miss Amy Johnson. His small aircraft, a light biplane -with an air-cooled motor of 120 h.p., carries fuel sufficient for a distance of 2000 miles. ' No less than 100 gallons were taken into the air at the departure from the London Air Station, Croydon, a load which is believed to be the greatest every air-borne by a light aeroplane. ; Tho other Australian-bound airman, Flight-Lieut. C. W. Hill, who also reached India five days after, starting, arrived at Rangoon two days ahead of Squadron-Leader H. B. L. Hinkler's record solo time set up in February, 1928. Flight-Lieut. Hill flies by night as well as by day, and his experiences are bound to provide valuable data for the future operation. of air line services between dusk and dawn over the difficult region? of the tropics where frequently tho night is less forbidding than tho day to .the air traveller. At night the air is quiet and free from the atmospheric disturbances. generally styled "bumps" and the airman is released from the burden of the day's great heat. These three great lone flights bear especially valuable tribute to British light aircraft because three different types of machine are represented. Mr Caspareuthus flew in a -Puss Moth cabin monoplane, a craft which unites high performance with saloon car comfort; Flight-Lieut. Hill flies a Gipsy Moth touring biplane, an open cockpit craft which cost, £4OO les3 than the Puss Moth, and Wing-Commandcr. Kingsford Smith's record-breaking aeroplane is an Avro "Avian" in direct line of descent from the craft used by Squadron Leader Hifikler.

Tho everyday reasons behind these throe flights show clearly how far aviation is accepted as.a normal way of getting . about the world. Mt Caspar'euthus was flying a machine bought by a friend, who intends to use it in South' Africa; it was flown out instead of being sent by steamship. Wing-Commander Kingsford Smith is on his way home. Flight-Lieut. Hill, who is also an Australian, wished to make tho most of his leave and chose the air way as the only means of spending a reasonable time with-his relatives and friends in Queensland. British Aeroplanes in France. British . aviation scored another impressive success'in fierce competitive flying when British, light aeroplanes finished, first and second in the strenuous Zenith Cup circuit of Franco. For tho secoiid year in succession the winning' aeroplane Was a "Moth," piloted this year by a French private owner who is an officer in the Royal Air Force. M. Edouard Bret won- the Cup, which is presented for the fastest flight in a" light aircraft weighing when empty less than SSO pounds (400 -kilos.) by flying 1,036 miles at an average speed of no less' - including five-compulsory .ptops for refuelling and' checking in.

He carried a passenger- with, him. in accordance with the regulations. The .second, and only other competitor to finish, was M. le Comte de Villefranche, also in a Gipsy Moth. M. Bret's aeroplane is the machine in which Mr A. S. Butler made tho fastest- time- in the King's Cup Race round Britain .this year. .It is considerably - streamlined and '' cleaned..up'' externally in an effort to obtain greatest possible speed. .

Air Uners with Smoking Saloons. Indicative of the recognised safety in flight of modern British- aircraft is the application addressed to the Air Ministry by Imperial Airways that smoking should be permitted in the new Handley Page 40 seater biplanes ordered by Imperial Airways for the operation of their European and Empire routes. The design of these new 1 air giants, which are tho largest air liners yet built, provides for a . specially fireproofed smoking room to seat twenty people, separated by a fully-equipped refreshment buffet' and bar from a saloon of equal size for non-smoking travellers.

Smoking has never previously been allowed in British air liners, but., the size of the new craft and the efficient provisions made for the safe storage of fuel justify the application. 'fho ban has irked many a longdistance traveller, ivho might in. its absence have travelled by the air way, and the new order of things, should the application be granted, may bo expected to encourage air travel to an extent that the non-smoker will find surprising and quite incomprehensible. Civil Aviation: Canada and Australia. Canada and Australia were declared to bo the two countries in tho British Empire showing the most notable advance in civil aviation by Mr C. It. Fairey in his first lecture as President of the' Royal Aeronautical Society. Excluding .Russia in Asia and Eiirope, for which territory no trustworthy figures are available, the two Dominions, and the United States lead the world in civil flying. three countries show a rate of expansion greater than in any other part of the world. A little-known fact emphasised by Mr Fairey is that in the British Empire ■and the United States the amount-of unsubsidised civil flying is no less than nine times as : great as the subsidised -flying. Even when allowance is'made for the present extent of private flying and certain flying for hire coming in the category of "joy-riding," there is evidence hero -that the aeroplane is becoming very rapidly "an economic commercial vehicle. - Sir Sefton Brancker.

"Should I ever' be killed, when I have to die T want to die.in some form of aircraft flying," once said Sir Sefton Brancker, "and X want those who'are left behind to do all.they can to further something- in wliich I believe intensely, and the improvement of which, not only to civilisation, but to our country, ■-.especially,;' is" a very grave and serious issue—namely, - the speeding up - of communications, so tli'a't we; can hope tobring about" a state of .affairs- whereby the .British Empire can be bound together in-one complete unit." Sir -Sefton Brancker had spoken thus to - Col. tho Master of Sempill, who last night repeated the statement at thetwelfth annual dinner of- the Institution; of. Petroleum Technologists. The Master-'of Sempill, alluding in-his reply to the-RIOT disaster, said that.; sad though - the event was,' it did not shake his belief in the grea:fc "value that lighter -thai ail" aircraft would have in the British Empire, especially where long distances had' to be covered. - It would take a long time to recover from the terrible national calamity, and from the loss of so many men of. such £ne calibre, but they must not be morbid. Rather should they take the view his late friend Sir Sefton Brancker- always asked him to take.