NON-STOP FLIGHT TO INDIA

Hokitika Guardian, 1 May 1929, Page 2

NON-STOP FLIGHT TO INDIA

1 M POR TA NT LESSONS. VALUABLE MILITARY AND CIVIL DATA. , RUGBY, April 27. Great satisfaction has been caused by the line accomplishment of Squad-ron-Leader Jones-Williams and FlightLieutenant Jenkins in flying without a stop to India in the remarkable time of just over two days. When the Fairey monoplane was sighted over Karachi it was hoped that Bangalore, 1000 miles away, which was the intended destination, might J>e reached, and that the world’s non-

stop long distance record of 4100 miles, held by the Italian airmen Ferrarin and Del Prate, might be beaten. Slight disappointment is lelt that this has not been achieved. Little doubt is expressed in aviation circles that the record would have been beaten but for tbe unexpected head wind against which the airmen struggled between Jask and Karachi. This caused an increased fuel consumption and a considerable reduction in speed. It appears that the aviation branch oif the Meteorological Office, which provides weather information for the guidance of pilots, and whose- forecasts have been remarkably accurate all through, judged from the reports that they received that there was a following wind of up to thirty-five miles an hour along the Persian Gulf tip to tiOOO feet. They then I •! ihaf llm airmen were over liaglnlad at li 1 '!*' ice! and presumably were going to main-: I

tain that height. When, later, the average speed of the airmen dropped severely, tbe chagrin of the Weather experts may he imagined, for the gift of thirty miles an hour had been unused. This has suggested that in future (lights a light weight portable wireless set should he carried, if only for receiving messages. The distance flown to Karachi, however, was -1130 miles, which was short of the Italian record by only 334 miles. The pilot’s feat, despite this disappointment, is a striking success. It has brought the East nearer to the West than any previous journey in history, and it has a vital hearing on the future development of Empire airways and defence. On the design of this first experimental machine will he based the construction of still more ellicient air mail and military machines, able to cover ■ vast distances without refuelling. It i

is regarded as certain that development work on the lines successfully proved in this non-stop ’plane will shortly produce mail-carrying era It which will he able to reach India Ironi London regularly in little more than two days, allowing for an intermediate halt in Egypt or Iraq. The extension of the routes further east will eventually take mails to Australia in (ivo or six days. The (light has provided the most important military dala. Those in charge of the defence of the Empire, know now that war machines can he built capable in an emergency. of being down to India at a high speed in two long hops without being torced to alight on foreign territory. The machine is a hcaut.il ally st tea inline, I monoplane, constructed by the Kairey Aviation Company at then \vorks at Haves, near London. U » propoHed by a 530 h.p. Nnp.er Lion $

water-cooled engine, akin to the Napier racing engines which are litted to the fastest aeroplane and 'fastest car in the world, namely the Supennarine So which was flown at over .300 miles an hour by Flieut-Lieutenant D’Arcy dreig. and Sir Henry Seagrave’s Golden Arrow. Inside the ’plane fuselage space is provided for a bed, where the pilot who is off duty may rest. The rations carried for the journey were three thermos flasks of coffee and tea, two one-gallon cans of weak tea, five gallons of drinking water, three weeks’ iron rations, fifty tongue and ham sandwiches, dates, chocolates, apples, and oranges.