THE BERLIN BOMBER.

Hokitika Guardian, 25 February 1919, Page 4

THE BERLIN BOMBER.

London, Nov 19

During the fateful days a week ago when the Germans were considering the terms ot armistice, and the Allied armies were threshing along from line to line and from town to town, there was one thought predominant in the minds of all civilians. The peace was by now taken for granted, but one and all, young men and maidens, old men and 'women, breathed aloud the truculent prayer, “ I only hope they’ll drop a few bombs on Berlin before they stop.” It was a popular conviction that they would, and so undoubtedly they would, but the super-raider, the Berlin bomber, was three days too late in compleion.

I had a Right in ner a lew days ago, with forty others, male and female, creating an easy world’s record in passenger carrying. She is a Handley-Page, with a spread cf 127 feet and four Rolls Royce engines aggregating 1,400 horsepower, and’l went up in her straight irom the hands of the mechanics. A tremendous creature she looked, as with wings folded back against her sides like a locust, she was dragged slowly across the ground by a solemn little tractor. The aeroplane herself weighs 7 A tons, and carries nearly 1,000 gallons of petrol, which would have been ample to take her to Berlin and back to the British lines. When fully loaded with bombs her total weight is 15 tons, and it is astonishing with what ease she rises from her forerunners and skims up into the air.

It was not until 'the journey was over that any of us were aware that the number of people on hoard, including the pilot, totalled fortyone. Where I was in a machinegunner’s post, all that could be seen were two passengers in a similar post in the tail and one or two heads m the pilot’s cockpit. Below me was a platform and a chamber capable of holding altogether about thirty people, most of whom could get a view either through the apparatus at the bottom or through the micre windows at the side of the chamber.

It only took a few minutes ol circling over the aerodrome to rise to a height of 6,500 ft, at which altitude the clouds far below look like a sea. For lialf-au- hour we cruised about over London, getting good views of the city and of a small stream which we knew was the Thames, although at that altitude it looked no larger than the Avon in Christchurch. We had enough petrol to go to Paris and back, but it was getting dark when we went up, and the pilot could only find his way back by means of a flare on the aerodrome. The journey was quite uneventful. The Handley-Page travels almost without wobbling at all, the great spread ot wings neutralising any small gusts of air. The trip was a demonstration ol the wonderful accuracy and reliability of modern industry. Beyond the sectional inspections which are very minute, the finished machine had 110 test at all, and yet it went up into the air with complete confidence. New Zealand’s special interest in these machines lies in the fact that Sir Joseph Ward has already made full enquiries as to the prospects of carryiug mails by them.

Mr Page tells me that one of the smaller machines, which until this one appeared were the biggest in the world, will’ carry comfortably three or four tons of mail matter. The real value of the aeroplane is over distances of 200 or 300 miles or more. For short distances it is hardly necessary. At the same time, if it goes to'drop mails at way stations, Mr Page considers that the trouble is so little that tlie machine might as well alight.

On alighting from our excursion into the clouds the passengers were counted and weighed, and it was found that the load was only 6,022 lbs, which is not half what tlie machine is capable of carrying. It is expected that within a few weeks a trip will be made to Paris with passengers. Our pilot was an Ametican, Mr Clifford Prodgcr, and amongst the passengers were several oversea Press correspondents. Lord Lisburn, some ladies, and a mechanic, who was taken for luck.