IN THE AIR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 18, 16 October 1918, Page 7

IN THE AIR

BRITAIN'S FLYING FORCE

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS

INTERESTING PREDICTIONS,

Some- interesting references to tho Hevelopmont of the tir service were Jnade by Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph "Ward' in' their speeches at the civic functions yesterday. Tho returned ■Ministers reported an enormous expansion of tho air forces, and predicted •the early, nso of aeroplanes for the cartinge of mails and passengers.

Mr. Massey said that it was impossible for people ft New Zealand to Ibow what- had been done by tlio ■United Kingdom in regard to tiio air eervice. Much of tho • development of the , air service was secret, .and tho .vhole story could not bo told until after the war. But he could say that the numbor of aeroplanes used by tho British forces was much larger than the number in the possession of the Germans. The British machines, moreover, wero faster, stronger, end more l'" w .erful than tho German machines. Ine British aeroplanes were the best in. the world to-day. Other rations had tried to copy them, but for rome reason they had not been successful in producing machines of tho same efficiency.. The British airmen were as superior to tho Gorman airmen as their machines were better than the. German machines. They were more experienced, more courageous, more lesourceaul. No other airmen in tHo world could equal them. It was impossiblo ,to say now what the future of the air service would be. but there was not the least doubt that Britain liad secured and was holding supremacy in the air. ■ . •

Sir' Joseph Ward said that it was .not possible to bo in England Lug without getting an impression of the extraordinary development of the aeroplanes. J\"o't long ago it had been considered a wonderful thing' for a flying man to "loop the loop." ]3ut to-day the airinen "looped the loop" as a matter of daily routine. They did it backwards end sideways.' Tho youths who we.ro being trained to fly wfere taught to'pe'rlorm these extraordinary evolutions in jtne air in order that they' might have confidence in themselves and their machines. He : ' bad 'been an Pans •■when some ' American xroops were marching down one of the main streets.- Following these troops, barely .higher than' tho roofs or tho houses, flew three French aeroplanes, lifting occasionally to clear -a telephone wire. Presently theso aeroplanes began to turn somersaults in the air, apparently only about fifty feet above the heads of the marching soldiers. The control was evidently complete and the'confidence, of the pilots perfect. ■ . '

_ He had. paid- a visit to -the Handley Page Works in .England, and had seeii there an aeroplane that was .capable of going up with a load .of-, fifteen tons. Ihat machine would lift 100 persons into the air and travel with them at the rate of 125 miles an hoar. It could carry fuel for a journey of ?.000 miles unth its load. Mr. Handley Page, who was a recognised authority, had assured him thnt this machine could carry peoplo across.the Atlantic; from -the French const to the American - coast, with, great safety and at very ' high speed. If a journey of that kind was possible, and he had no doubt it was, then there was nothing to prevent an ■aeroplane flying from England to A T ew 'Zealand by stages. It would smss-tho Pacific via Vancouver, Honolulu, and I'iji- ' ;

• When the war was ended, added Sir •Joseph Ward/ passengers ' arid ' moils would he carried across the oceans by neroplanc. Mails would be carried between Sydney and Wellington by steroplnno in v ten hours. That was'a development that was hound to come. It was within the range of practical effort already. The war had produced an enormous advance in science. It had pushed the world forward mere than a century in some respects, nnd in no field had the advance been more marked than in the' field of flight. Tlio aeroplane was pning to play, a great ■part in the worllj. He. did not believe, that it would altogether displace passenger steamers for ocean travel. 'Hut it was.going to carry passengers across the oceans in the near future. There was no possible doubt about that.