FLYING FORTRESS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20060, 5 October 1939, Page 15

FLYING FORTRESS

WONDER MACHINE CAN BEAT OFF BOMBERS Genius which once helped to make Germany strong is now furthering the might of Britain —the genius of Herr Oscar von Asboth, ace designer of high-speed helicopters. Herr Asboth has proved his theories .o the authorities in England, and a well-known British firm will produce soon a 2000 h.p. heavily armoured machine that will be able to hover in the air and, with batteries of quickfiring guns, pour death into any invading bombers. The Asboth flying fortress will rise swiftly to intercept raiders, and will be wo steady, that its gunners will have a far greater chance of aiming accurately than interceptor 'planes. The helicopter will be of great importance in the defence of highly populated areas, where there is little or no room for a fighting 'plane to take of! and land. Accurate Aiming It will descend end rise vertically, and, even with engines crippled, it will land gently as thistledown. It is likely that smaller editions of Herr Asboth’s invention, will be used as interceptors, .and larger ones, well armed and with accommodation for !1(J infantrymen, as troop carriers.

Capable of darting swiftly through the .sky at well over 200 miles an hour, ihe helicopter may be used as a bomber, its ability to hover, insectlike, and then to fly swiftly away, making accurate aiming easier than ever before.

Once director of Austria’s aeronautical research department, then employed by Germany, Herr Asboth believes that his helicopter will, in time, be capable of reaching speeds of more than 400 mile? an hour.

Yet. despite his faith in his invention, the debonair Hungarian has declined for 23 years to fly in them. “I do all my work at night with (lance band-music for a background,” he (told a representative of The People, London. "I find difficulty _in concentrating after one o'clock in the morning because almost all broadcasting has closed down by then.” Herr von Asboth refuses to enter any aircraft factory, no .matter in what country he is working.