“THREADING THE NEEDLE”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 456, 11 September 1928, Page 6

“THREADING THE NEEDLE”

PLANES STAGE 150 M.P.H. AIR THRILL Declared by experts to be the most thrilling event in “aerobatics” ever staged, an entirely new air feat was rehearsed at the Hendon Airdrome. Known as “threading the aerial needle,” it was a feature of the Royal Air Force display. Twenty-seven steel-built Armstrong-Siddeley fighting planes rushed up one after another to a height of 1,000 feet. Then 18 took up positions one behind the other, and flew round in an aerial ring of steel. Meanwhile the remaining nine machines had climbed much higher. Taking up a formation one behind the other, they descended at 150 miles an hour, and dived, machine after machine, exactly through the centre of the aerial ring which was being maintained by the other 18 craft. It was one of the finest feats of airmanship ever accomplished. The new trick was repeated several times with perfect precision.

SOUTHERN CROSS RADIO During the recent flight of the Southern Cross from San Francisco to Brisbane, Mr. J. Warner, the radio operator, found that the main difficulty was that of providing sufficient battery current to operate the receiver over the long periods it was on the air. Although the ignition system on the motors of the plane was not screened, very little trouble was experienced from this source of interference. The chief obstacle in the way of the radio operator was the noise of the three powerful engines, which made all but the loudest signals unreadable even when the phones were held closely against the ears. The aerial for the transmitter consisted of a coil of copper wire which was unreeled when the plane took the air. The metal parts of the airplane are used as an earth.