AVIATION

Hokitika Guardian, 18 February 1930, Page 2

AVIATION

WING-COMMAND KB, S, GRANT DALTON’S ADDRESS.

(Christchurch Press.)

It is safe to state that AA ing-Com-munder S. Grant Dalton, Director of Air Forces, never, had a more attentive audience than'he had on Friday night on the occasion of an illustrated address given by him to the scholars of the Limvood school on aviation. Mr G. AV. Baker, chairman of the School Committee, said that the lecture was unique in that it was the first ever delivered on the subject to New Zealand school children. He stressed the; value of aviation to the Dominionj and drew attention to the services rendered by airmen to the people on the West Coast during the recent earthquake. The lecturer, after informing the children that he was in charge, not only of the Air Forces in the Dominion, but of civil aviation, said that there were various reasons for flying not progressing rapidly in the Dominion. One was the lack of funds, and another was "that the country was not particularly suited for flights. Canterbury was adapted for flying, hut this much could not be said of Wellington, for instance, owing to the prevalence of winds. When an aeroplane was 100 feet or so in the air it was just as safe as being on the land, but the difficulty in such a hilly country as New Zealand mostly, was, was first of all to reach such a .height. The distance between the various centres prevented profitable services from being established, especially when there were such good, land services available. At the .same time he thought that before the end of the present year an air service would be established between Auckland and Dunedin.

Speaking of Aero Clubs in the Dominion, the .lecturer said, that there was a great enthusiasm, among members, in consequence of which new aviators were constantly being made. As a rule .it cost about £3O to learn to fly, while to get an; • LA” ticket one had to fly solo, for five hours. A great strain was, put on club aeroplanes, for the reason that they were continuously making landings.

Atfl TRAVEL; BEST. ,

He considered that New Zealand shoijld inaugurate '"air services because, in lijs opinion, the best-way to cover the country' owing to its; hilly" nature, tvas by aeroplane. On his way to Clmstchurch for - instance, he left Blenheim at 9.45 a.m., while the service cars took departure at 7.30, yet he had passed them before they had travelled half-way. To travel from Wellington to Nelson by steamer occupied about eleven hours, but by aeroplane the '-distance could bo ; done ,in under an hour. P lying-boats should be used for the purpose as they were of a type built for travelling over water.

CHICHESTER’S FLIGHT,

Wing-Commander Grant Dalton paid a tribute to the effort of Chichester in flying from England to Australia, a distance of about 12,000 miles. Every time Chichester came down, he said, it was oil land that he had never seen before, while he had also put up a splendid showing so far as navigating his machine was concerned, by no means an easy matter in strange country. To fly an aeroplane was - a simple matter when one could see the coastline, such as was the case in New Zealand, hut Chichester had had to fly over deserts and the sea, having indeed flown over 500 miles of water before reaching Darwin.

•Before the lecturer had left the Old Country the, Director*of Air Services (Sir Seft-on Brancker) had suggested to him that the first thing for him to do was to join up New Zealand with Australia, hut the position was that there was as yet no machine huilt for the, purpose. The most suitable vessels for such a flight were either flying-boats or airships. The reason, why aeroplanes were used on very long flights was because they were able to take off the ground with overloads of petrol, which were necessary to take them to the end of their journey. To enable this to be done it was necessary for the* aeroplane to make a big run. For the first hour of such a flight an aeroplane was unable to rise to any considerable height, and for this reason the first stage was the most dangerous part of the journey. Reverting to Chichester’s flight, the lecturer said that it was accomplished in a Moth machine with a. capacity of about 400 miles, but he bad had to overload it 3o that it would carry him over stages of 800 to 900 miles; his performance was, therefore, a most meritorious one.

PARACHUTES AND SLOTTED WINGS. '

Touching on the use of parachutes, the lecturer said that they should not be necessary in commercial flying. The most dangerous mishap in the air was a collision, and on such occasions there was no time for an aviator to jump. When an accident occurred it was usually due not to the machine itself, but to a personal orro'' on the part- oi the pilot. Wing-Commander Grant Dalton, speaking on slotted wings, said that all Air Force machines in Britain were equipped with them. Usually when an aeroplane stalled, it made a nose-dive, but when it was fitted with slotted wings the action of falling caused tho Avirigs to open, thus preventing nose-diving. At the. dose of the address, the