FLYING THE ATLANTIC

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 272, 13 August 1919, Page 5

FLYING THE ATLANTIC

.» INTERVIEW WITH GENERAL BRANCKER PROBLEMS AND PERILS Major-Goneral Sir Scflon Brancker, in a comprehensive and most interesting statement, esphiined recently the present .position of aeroplane transport, a. position which is aptly summed up in his own wards: "an aeroplane is a stage- catch, licit a thirougit liner" (says the London "Observer"). "1 happen to know soineliiiitff about Atlantic ilight matters," ho mid, "because I was over in America iuysi/.f last year, and we were making plana for the flight. If the war hnd gone on, those plans would have l>ecn carried out. Our idea was to 'bring Porta (lying boats and big aeroplanes over by air. The route by the Azores would have been taken, and thei<e would probably have been a mixed English and American, prow in the first essay. Wo should not liavo aittentpted the direct crossing from Newfoundland to Ireland. Dangers of the Direct Route. "When you aire choosing a routo for an aeroplane service you must ctooose with respect to the weather. When you are maiing a selection from possible alterna-. ttves, you have to decide on which of them the best weather prevails, and on which of them it is the more possible to predict the changes of the weather. To travei direct from Newfoundland to Ireland, instead of by tho Azores, is simply asking for trouble, and I should say that the moral of Hawker's attempt is. that you should not .take juclt risks. . "Along the Azores route the weather generally is far better than it is in the North Atlantic, and it is far easier to sayin advance, what it will be. So far as .weather prediction goes, the North Atlantic is practicably unexplored, but it is certain that you are not ffoing to fly two thousand miles in a straight line in twenty hours •without running into trouble somewhere. You cannot expect to get R00( i weather all the way, and ii is just a question of how much bad weather you will get. And that cannot be foretold with certainty along that route.

"The trouble is, of course, that'the conditions governing the competition were made before so much was known of the possibilities of the aeroplane or of its limitations as we know to-day: The faot that the machines are forbidden to touch land betwoen America and the United Kingdom lias very greatly increased the perils aud difficulties of aeroplanes in what must, under any conditions, be a perilous and difficult business. There is, too, the question of the part the Government ought to have played in the' attempt. -The question is a difficult one. Legally tho effort could hardly ba forbiddon, whereas, on the other hand, . effective patrolling would havo involved a very expensive organisation.

"But beyond such questions as these thero is the for larger aud more important one of whether such a flight by-heavier-than-air machines is a practical commercial proposition. In war there may arise necessities which upset all ordinal}' calculations and mako it desirable to do things which it would bo foolish to' attempt in time of peace. But it is. peace that wo have to think about ill tkeso days, and that means that wo have-apart from all matters of riskto look at the economic and commercial side ,of aviation. If 'aeroplane transport is to be of any uso,at all, it must be a commercially sound proposition. Even if .if were possible at present to fly the Atlantic with ease and safety, thero would still be tho cost of the journey to be considered, and considered in relation to tho amount of freight tho machine could carry. The cost of such a trip, even for a small.aeroplane such as Hawker's, would not bo far short ol a thousand pounds. On account of tho quantity of petrol required, only a very little freight could be taken, and it would be an expensive business. Length of Trips, "Of course, you can make a transport aeroplano carry as much, or as" little as you like,"",<3cneral Braiicker continued, "but the more it carries the less petrol it can take, and tho shorter, therefore, its journey must be. Suppose you were planning an aeroplane transport route from the Capo to Cairo. You could make each stage so Short that the aeroplanes would require no more than a quarter of an hour's supply of petrol. But that would make necessary 60 many landing 'places and aerodromes, and the employment of so much labour in shifting the freight from one machine to another, that it would not be economical. On tho other hand, you might lighten the load and give the machines petrol <for eight hours' flying. But the chances are that if the weather was at all bad your pilots would jib at such a strain, and your son-ice would be held up. "Wo havo been working it out, and the conclusion we havo come to is that the best length for any single trip is from two'hundred and fifty to three hundred miles. Given machines capable of a hundred and twenty to thirty miles an hour—and that will bo' the normal flying speed very so'oir-it would mean trips lasting for from two and a half to three hours each, allowing for wind. A journey of that length can be made in practically any weather, and a pilot does not mind it if the route is properly organised.

"Suppose, then, you fix on that principle of the 250-300 mile trip, and set to work to organise a Caps to Cairo route. It will want a great deal of organisation, a point that is so often forgotten ,by light-hearted people, who imagine thdriselves flying the wholo way on the same aeroplane. If the service is to be 6wift and regular and Telinble—and unless it is nil. of these it cannot be a commercial success—the way ' must be very carefully prepared. You must, of course, have your aerodromes at the chosen points, but you must also havo arrangements for lighting "the course, for weather forecasting, and for wireless, for emergency landings in case.of really impossible, weather.

"With such arrangements tho air mail will be a success. The letters, or anything else that is to be carried, will l>e packed in containers of a uniform size. AVhen an aeroplane finishes its, stage of tho journey and lands, the next will be ready to start directly tho containers are shifted into it; and tho halts will floi need, to be longer than two or three minutes. In any but the most difficult weather such a service could run like clockwork, and I have no doubt that that is how aeroplane transport will be managed." England to Australia. I asked what he though!; of the plan for an aeroplane race from England to .Australia, his reply was prompt mid enthusiastic. "A most interesting race," he declared, "and it will be tho supreme test of a pilot. In the translaflantjc flight little is required beyond heroio courage and an engine that will keep turning over. But the man who goes in for this race must know all the tricks of his trade. Tie must be a thoroughly good all-round pilot, able to forecast the weather, and quick to lake advantage of every chance he gets. And he must have with him the best possible kind of mechanic to keep the machine in order. It will-also be a tine test for tho wear and tear Equalities of the aeroplane.

"I do not think it is possible at present for that; flight to be carried out in the thirty days laid down for it. In a journey like that yon have every port of weather to contend with, in addition to the changes of climate, and the troubles they may cause. I do not doubt that it will be done eventually, but the point that interests me is the fact that by such « system of stages as I have described, the journey could bo made in a far shorter time. The wholo secret of aeroplane transport is to avoid asking too much of any single machine or any single' pilot and to have adequate organisation on the ground. "But when you begin to think of an aeroplane route from Toadon to Australia you come up against a difficulty that did not arise in the matter of tho .Capo to Cairo route 1 was talking about just now, and that is the International question. I imagine that in tljie end, if not in the beginning, the Governments of t,he. various nations will liave to mako themselves responsive for the ground organisation for aerial transport, but there will be a need for an International authority as well. The' great mail routes wiul havo to pass over different countries and there will have to bo arrangements as between .those countries. . •"And here, it eevma to me, is where

the League of Nations way come in. Tf it is to bo ,-uiytliing but a theory, the control of International air matters must to a part of its business. H the headquarters of the League do not include nil Air Office, a great chance of iluiiift .work of practical value will have been missed, indeed, it is by its work in Internatiounl air questions that the League will havo one of its finest opportunities of demonstrating its usefulness. "For it seems certain that all the great aeroplane routes will be over the land rather than over tho sea in the enrlft' stages" of development. Even if someouo does fly from Newfoundland to Ireland, it will only be a freak psrformnnce, of no practical commercial value. The long oversea trips are not in the province of the aeroplane at, present. They are the business of the lightor-than-air machines, and'l believe our own RM is quite capable of making tho transatlantic trip. But'l am confident that the aeroplane i.s the overland mail carrier of the future, and the sooner the world gefe ready for it, the bettor."