METAL AIRCRAFT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3938, 4 May 1929, Page 4

METAL AIRCRAFT.

Addressing the 21st annual meeting .of the Institute of Metals, Sir Samuel Hoare, Secretary of State for Air, said the development of aviation during the last 21 years would have been quite impossible without the work which the members of the ipstitute individually and collectively had done in research pnd in experiments with regard to light metals and their alloys. Perhaps the main problem of aviation during those years had been that of combining lightness with power. The work of the institute had been invaluable in making possible the production of light and powerful engines and flying •machines. The new metal machines which were being substituted for tilio old wotoden types were 15 per cent, lighter for land and 25 per •cent. lighter for flying-boats. In three years they had been able to turn British aviation from a wooden into a metal aviation. Three years ago the total number of mejtal machines ordered by the Air Ministry in 12 months was only 21, as compared with 392 wooden machines. In 1928, however, they ordered 423 metal as against 63 wooden machines. By the end of this year they would have substituted metal machines for wooden almopt entirely, with the exception of a few machines for training the Air Force. He did not think there had been a swifter or more silent revolution, and its success was due to three causes. First it was due to the wise policy that was adopted by the Air Ministry and the resolute way in which they had carried it out. Secondly it was due to the enterprise and adaptability of the British aircraft industry, which had shown a willingness to pool its knowledge and experience. Thirdly the success was due to the research and experimental woilk of metallurgists and the knowledge they had accumulated.