HANDLEY PAGE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 121, 15 February 1919, Page 9

HANDLEY PAGE

THE PIONEER OF THE SUI'EE- I PLANE. When the sto'ry of Flight comes to lie written, with its chapters of struggles against the elements, financial difficulties, and Government apathy, tliero will'godown to posterity such names as tho Wright brothers, Henry Farman, of "box-kite" memories, Louis Bleriot, _of cross-Channel fame, Cody wi(;h his flying "cathedral," Moorc-Brabazon, the holder of tlio first British Aero certificate,. and many others whoso famo was assured, before the war. There are others un-J known to tho greater public, but who,' nevertheless, were Just as much pioneers as tlioso upon whom fato had lavished publicity. Among these (writes Claronce Winchester in the "Daily Mail") was ono man who in his aeronautical experiments struck out in a distinctive lino quite apart from any other British experimenter in England at that time. Ho took for his foundation for flight the wings of a bird, and on this basis he built his machines, which were remarkable for .their stability and the ease with which i tliey could bo flown. In fact, so stablo wero they that they (lew themselves—a rare feat in those days, though common enough now. ' The name of this pioneer—Mr. F. Handley. Pago—has since tho war become world-famous in connection with tho most successful of giant aeroplanes, and had the signing of tho armistice terms been delayed a few days tho products of Mr. Handley Page would have been over Berlin. I inspected one of theso craft the other day, and when I saw tho supplementary "Berlin petrol tanks" I felt quite ebrry for Mr. Handley Page. This pioneer is a young man of 33 and hails from Cheltenham. Ho was educated at an engineering college, and started in life as an electrical engineer. His earliest aviation experiments wore begun in. 190(5, three years beforo Bleriot won tho "Daily Mail" prize for a crossChannel flight. ' Two years'later ho completed his first machine with an antiquated engine, and in 1909 opened works at Barking. His is the oldest limited aeroplano company in England.

A year before the war one of Mr. Hnndley Page's machines flew at Bur-ton-on-Tront, and complaints were made against Sunday flying because people stopped away from church .to further their jknowledgo of aeronautics. Similar experiences had been known at Hendon and Shoreham. , The giant "H.P.'s" were born at the end of 1915, and their wonderful achievements sinco then are too well known to need repetition. That the H.l\ will bo ono of the chief commercial aeroplanes of the future there can be no doubt. Out of tlio early monoplane, with a span of 35 feet, grew tho giant four-engined craft' which is 12G feet . across and has come to stay.