ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 1916. BRAVO, BRANDON!

Marlborough Express, Volume L, Issue 82, 6 April 1916, Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 1916. BRAVO, BRANDON!

The splendid achievement of the younu; Wellingtonian, Flight Lieutenant. Brandon, in attacking .singlehanded one of the largest of the Zeppelins which raided the Eastern find Southern counties of England .last week, must rightly appeal to the patriotic pride and enthusiasm of his lellow-couiitrynren. There appears to be soiae 'loubt whether the bombs dropped by Lieutenant Brandon ■'actually- caused,the, descent 'and subsequent destruction of Zeppelin Lls, but si-iflioient is known' as ■to . the Sew Zeahmder's fine exploit to 'pro.vo ■'th"at( ho carried out an operation of xhe greatest difficulty and danger with, quite conspicuous ability as an nviator and a -personal daring )x>th l-etlecwn^' the' highest credit upon him. The exploit is > nil the moi-e creditable to Lieutenant Brandon inthat iiis esporionoe. of aviation was of only a few months' duration. From certain details published by a Wellington journal we gather that Mr Brandon went Homo last year •and; joined the Royal Flying Corps. He had recently been in, training at the; Military . Aviation , School ■. at Harrow, where he had been engaged in making, flying experiments with a new model aeropJfuie, known as the A vro machine.;"• The.' ordinary aeropfa.ne. whether biplan,e or monoplane, is» at a : disadvantaKe as compared with a Zeppelin. The Jatter can rise, or"-;fall verticHUy,, whereas the aeiroplaiie must rfc'P in spiral circles.; • Tke specially novel feature of the A.vro typo.iif aeroplane consists in its ability, to ascend in much shorter rircles the jordinary; aeroplane, its' ;«pc?;d '.being: therefore ifnuch •frreater than that of the ordinary ty ue of used by Britkh aviators. > N The Avro oaoi, it is said ? climb vertically- at the rate of be-\ twee.il 50-,«4id 60 miles an hour, and when flying' horizontally can' achieve iho .marvellous velocity of some 70 miles aii hour. In all 'probability,' although, as yet no information has bean received from England on this point, Lieutenant Bjra,ndon used for his her famous enterprise the partis riul.ar' type 'o\ ■ aeroplane .with which he had recently been experimenting;. If so^ tie success 'achieved in hi« attack upon the Zeppelin, must bo accepted as convincing testimony to the increased value, of the \.vvo niflishme; : In F*ngland^ so we have read in the cnblegra.ms,, the highest satisfaction lias been exprfts&eid at Lieutenant Brindon's fine achievement, which affords yet another' proof to tho people of the ■Motherland that the Britons of the Oversea Dominions can furnish examples of courage -and daring^fully in keeping with the finest traditions of tho 'race to which wo New Zeal.iadcrs ai-.e so. proud to belong. Here in thi; ■■Dominion there must be wide.spread gratification over tho fact that a young New Zealander has specially distingnished himself in aerial warfare and was, as we hope and !>elievp the facts when fully made public will prove to have been the e/n.se, personally and directly responsible for the damage sustained-'by the Zeppelin which * was sunk at the mouth «if the Thames.

An excellent suggestion hns, we notice, hopn made by the Minister for Munitions, the Hon. A. Myers, who proptiws that as ar mark of the, public appreciation of Lieut. Brandon's pluck and ability as an airman, a movement should be initiated for the presentation to the Mother Country of an aeroplane, to jbe manned, if this can be arranged rwith the Admiralty, by Lieutenant Brandon. Some time n,go a sub-' scriptiori was started in Auckland for such a purpose, some £700 being <'o!!eetcrl 5?o far, however, so Mr Myers informed a Wellington press reporter on Tuesday, no similar movement lias been started in any other New Zealand dtv. For our own part we should like to see an aeroplane jrivfin to the Imperial authorities- by each of the provinces, the larger provinces to give even two or oven three such machines. They might, be nar.iod, did the Admiralty regulations allow, after the districts in which their- cost was subscribed, Tiid in this way the Dominion would possess :j direct interest in the British. .Air Cjpj'vice just as it does, through "(he prift of the Dreadnought cruiser Now Zen^-ind. a special interest in tic British Navy. The enormous'

amount of additional wealth which has been specially created m the Dominion by the war profits made in certain industries might very well be drawn upon for such a- practically patriotic service. It is clear that every week the war in the air which is going on <n Europe is exercising a greater influence upon the general progress of the colossal conflict now raging in the Old World, and the presentation of even one aeroplane, although we see no reason why ten siiould not be given, would have a splendid effect in the Motherland. "We trust that Mr layers will endeavor to obtain a concrete and .satisfactory response vo the excellent suggestion which has fallen from him. If such a movement is once set on foot we feel sure that, small as is the province of Marlborough, our wealthier .settlers* will come forward and display a liberality which Avill do credit alike to themselves and to the .'jo-Hununity- generally: