HIGH SPEED FLYING

Hokitika Guardian, 2 July 1932, Page 6

HIGH SPEED FLYING

GROWTH OF AIR TRANSPORT. LONDN, June 28. Many secrets of the .Schneider Tro'phy contest of 1927 are revealed in an official volume of collected reports on the British high-speed aircraft which were built for the race. >one .of them, the iS5 monoplane, eventually wrested the Trophy from the Italians by covering the 217* miles of, the course over the Lido Venice, at the average speed of 218.6 miles an hour. i;z:' j:\

Not the least interesting statements in the volume, ” which has just been issued by the Air -Ministry; - are ‘those on the most efficient, to employ when flying.ilf M) hour Mf- the circuit, uuservbis 1 fit the Lido ,in 1927 remarked especially on the different manner in which the the British and Italian pilots steered their racers on the bends. The Italians made spectacular climbing turns, in which they rose about 600 ft, and then, dived down to regain speed. Their British rivals neither lost nor gained height, but went round on y a. steady bank, with wings at an angle of 50deg. from the horizontal. t The level, moderately banked turn was notably superior; once FlightLieutenant Webster, the ultimate winner, actually . overtook one on the pylon and gained a few seconds on the turn itself. , ; Careful study and experiment - lett to the adoption of the British method, which was again employed in the races of 1929 and 1931. Every possible manner of turning tested thoroughly and timed by stop watch, finally a choice was made and proved to be a turn which made it possible for every racing aeroplane to cover the Schneider circuit at' an average, epeed only 3 per cent, less than its maximum speed when flying straight.. Comparative tests of the Supermarine monoplanes and the Gloster bfr; planes constructed for the race ,mad| it appear • that the monoplane is; slightly the faster form, but the point; remains highly* controversial. Thefastest S 5 in-, trim for the race .:.was capable of rather more than 290 m.p.h. (timing difficulties made accurate readings impossible) and the Gloeter moved at more than 292 m.p. L In any event, the difference was small though a further point record-l-ed in favour of the monoplane was the distinctly better view it afforded the pilot’. ... ' . NETWORK OF AIRWAYS.

Regular daily, air .services from Lon-' don' to 130" European cities and'towns are provided by the 1932 r .summer timetable of Imperial Airways;'which ig now in operation. No fewer than" 69 of these places can be reached in' lees than twelve hours’ flying front; the" London air' station, though some are located in countries as far away* as Sweden, Spain, and Italy. , ' With a very few exceptions, every;; big .city on tihe., European air network) j 6 now less than two day’s travel on; the established routes from London, though the-English capital is right on; the north-west. corner of the contin-, ent. Routes Serving London directly radiate to France, Germany, Belguim, Holland and Switzerland connecting in .those lands with air lines serving other countries. ( The large four-engined HflndleyPage landplanes and ■ Short;; flying.; boats .in the Imperial Air Ways • fleet each carry nowadays two uniform stewards in the crew - who provide travellers with meals and refreshments from well-furnished buffets. Breakfast is served on the early morning runs a four-course lunch is Provided on the mid-day London-Pki is, -express and dinner is served: on the, evening liner. Acceleration of the time schedules made possible by the employment of these aeroplanes which are faster than older' members of the company’s epables a passenger to leave . London in the morning, spend nearly .- seven hours in Paris and retMp[\tb London the same evening. Switzerland and back is also a flight that can be done in the day. Seven years ago a pilot got the front page in every news-, paper when he accomplished this feat for the first time, ’

V ; Including the ’Africa* and Indiap services, British air liners are - now flying regularly over more than 14,000 miles of established air routes in three continents. Fifty main and intermediate ai/- .Stations seji-ve this great network of air highways.