AVIATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 4028, 26 May 1931, Page 26

AVIATION.

DUTCH AIR LINER. MELBOURNE, May 19. The Dutch air liner arrived this afternoon, thus completing the experimental mail flight from Batavia. AUSTRALIAN AIR MAIL. DARWIN, May 19. The Hercules plane has arrived from Perth to take the air mail on its second stage to Akyab. NAVAL PLANES COLLIDE. LONDON, May 19. Two naval aircraft collided at Moray Firth. The pilots, Lieutenants Nangle and Colquhoun, were killed. The Air Force deaths for 1931 are now 45. RETURN FLIGHT TO ENGLAND. SYDNEY, May 20. The aviator C. W. Scott began his return flight to England at 8.25 this morning via Brisbane and Wyndham. He expects to leave Wyndham next Monday. REMARKABLE NEW MACHINE. RUGBY, May 21. A remarkable experiment was demonstrated at the Royal aircraft establishment at Farnborough, when a huge nine-ton bombing machine was successfully catapulted into the air by a new mechanism designed and constructed by the Air Force experimental station. Squadron-leader Caster and Flightlieutenant Ryfe were in the bomber, a twin-engined Vickers Virginia type, with 1000 h.p. engines. The pilot gave the signal and the catapault was started, adding 4000 h.p. to the pull of the plane’s engines. .There was an earsplitting roar from the catapult, and the plane shot high into the air, having dispensed with all the take-off run. The catapult’s motive power is compressed air. Neither pilot received the slightest shock from this method of launching. The device may be shown at the annual Air Force pageant at Hendon this summer. LONDON, May 21. The aeroplane catapult shoots an aeroplane forward like a shell from a gun. The aeroplane is attached to a cable which winds round a fixture 100 yards away and back to the catapult drum. The aeroplane is thus shot forward on a wheeled carriage, the momentum enabling it to rise majestically into the sky. The object of the machine is to assist giant aeroplanes, which have difficulty in rising with heavy loads which they can, nevertheless, carry easily once they are in the air. The catapult is held down on a concrete bed, but is mobile, and can be taken and used anywhere. There is a runway of 100 yards. FLIGHT OVER RUSSIA. WASHINGTON, May 21. The Soviet information bureau has received advice from Moscow that the Soviet Government has reversed its previous decision and has given permission for Wiley Post and Harold Gatty to fly over Russia on their projected round the world flight. FUTURE OF FLYING. LONDON, May 22. “ I am certain that within the lifetime of our youngsters we will have an aeroplane to fly to Australia in 24 hours,” said the pioneer aircraft designer Sir A. V. Roe, commenting on reports that a machine was being built in America

to cross the Atlantic in seven hours, and that Junkers were working on a machine to fly at 700 miles an hour. He continued: “ Flying at enormous speeds miles above the earth is not a mere dream, since it involves only technical improvements and the development of special engines to operate at high altitudes. Britain should be well ahead in this direction. Our Schneider Cup and other activities are all advancing to a time when this high altitude and high speed flying will be achieved.” HESTON TO COPENHAGEN. LONDON, May 24. Stack Chaplin, using the plane with which he created a Constantinople record, flew from Heston to Copenhagen yesterday morning in 320 minutes, and returned in the afternoon. He covered the full journey of 1400 miles in 675 minutes, achieving a double record.