AIRWAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 480, 9 October 1928, Page 14

AIRWAY

By

"THE ROC."

Since last week when “The Airway column first appeared in THE SUN, “Roc” has received a budget of correspondence relating to flying. All these inquiries have been very welcome and more are invited. In future correspondents will receive their answers through this column.

Although the Aero Club is not yet in possession of any planes, enthusiasm is red hot, and to date 51 pilots to-be have signed up for instruction.

Rumours have been plentiful throughout the week that various big firms in Auckland have clinched the agencies of different machines, and a batch, including various makes, have been ordered. On making inquiries “Roc” has found that most of these are rumours and nothing else, although it is well on tap that a Blackburn Bluebird has been ordered for Auckland.

“Wings” One enthusiastic Aucklander passed the remark to an ex-war pilot the other day that he hoped to secure his “wings” after about seven hours’ instruction in the A.A.C.’s machines. This individual may be interested to learn that “wings” is a military decoration, which means manys hours of flying, besides a knowledge of aerial warfare generally. When a pilot earns his wings, it is usually one of the proudest moments of his flying career. * * • Every light plane that is turned out is not necessarily a “Moth.” Most of the manufacturers at Home produce a light machine, but the “Moth” is the name given to the light plane made by the de Havilland Aircraft Co. An Auckland scribe once wrote that the neat uniform of the Air Force was surely sufficient inducement for young Auckianders to join the Auckland Aero Club. The A.A.C. will not have any particular uniform, it being not really necessary. There will, however, be a badge. * * * More than 500,000 people flew in British aircraft during 1927. Only five lives were lost in accidents to civil machines, including testing and racing. * * * Ulm Learns to Fly Lieutenant Ulm, strange to say, is not a holder of a pilot’s ticket but acw'udinS. 1° reports the South it will not be very long before he is At present he is undergoing the regular course m flying of the New Zealand Air Force. Last

Sunday he went up with Captain Buckley as instructor, and practised landing and taking off in a Bristol fighter. After further instruction in the afternoon, by Kingsford Smith, he flew the machine unaided

for most of the Lt. C. T. Ulm time, this being his first solo flight in a service machine. He handled it very

well, and made many perfect landings. A P.A. message received this morning stated that he had past the test entitling him to a certificate.

The “Daily Mail" has taken delivery of something new in aircraft. It is really a flying photo developing room—a DH6I with a Jupiter engine, fitted up with a dark room. The plane will enable developing to be carried out in flight, and will help the London paper with a quick news service.

Sky-writing Of the many commercial uses of aviation perhaps one of the most interesting is that of sky-writing, which is carried out in America to some extent, and many of the big advertising firms have planes especially employed for this purpose. This is how the job is done. The

plane is equipped with a chemical tank 1 holding 18 gallons of “ink.’* This is discharged through an extension of the exhaust pipe—which has its opening at the back of the rudder — at the rate of 750,000 cubic feet a second. A Bowden lever gives the pilot perfect control over the discharge or cutting off of the “ink.” The actual skywriting—a blue sky is necessary and there must not be too much wind. The pilot climbs to 12,000 feet and having picked up the sun to give him a straight line, commences his writing. He writes upside down and inside out as it were. The letters in the accompanying illustration are half a mile high and the message, which remains intact for 10 minutes, is visible over an area of 100 square miles. It is not very difficult, said Capt. Lingham at the London airdrome. Once you get the hang of the writing the main essential is perfect turns, no side-slips. Oh, yes, it’s quite easy to dot the “i's” and cross the “t’s.’* With the right conditions one can almost do copper-plate. * * • Doing It Properly To obtain a pilot’s licence from the American Department of Commerce, one has to face the following requirements:— (A) Transport pilots—Two hundred hours of solo flying, of which at least five hours must have been within the

last preceding sixty days prior to the filing of the application. Transport pilots may pilot any type of licensed aircraft carrying persons or property for hire. (B) Limited commercial pilots—The same solo flying required of industrial pilots. Limited commercial pilots cannot carry persons or property for hire outside of the areas designated in their licences. (C) Industrial pilots—Fifty hours of solo flying, of which at least five hours must have been within the last preceding sixty days prior to the filing of the application. Industrial pilots cannot carry persons or property for hire. In addition to these requirements it is necessary for a pilot to take a proper ground course which includes a large range of subjects.

Amateur Flying A remarkable advance in amateur flying is shown by the Air Ministry’s report for 1927. The membership of 13 light, plane clubs was 2,190 last year, of whom 233 were licensed civic pilots, and 136 licensed pilots. The number of club aircraft was double that of 1926, and private-owned aircraft totalled 110, compared with 58 in 1926. The growing overseas demand for British light planes has necessitated mass production. One firm is turning out a plane nearly every day. British and foreign cross-Channel planes carried 28,764 passengers, and goods valued at £2,691,000. Both are records for British planes, which have, for the third year in succession, flown without accident. * * * A Crack Mechanic We hear heaps about Kingsford Smith, Ulm and Co., but very little publicity indeed has been given to Mr. C. C. Maidment, of the service staff of the Wright Aeronautical Corporation, who has tuned the engines up in the Southern Cross for all her big flights. It was he who installed the Wright Whirlwinds in the Fokker, and then—a graceful act on the part of his firm—he was sent to Australia to see that everything was in order for the Tasman flight. Ulm introduced him to Sydney as the man who “put the whirl in the Whirlwinds.” * * * Japan Too? Japan’s Imperial navy has recently placed an order with the Supermarine Aviation Works, Ltd. for one of the twin engined Southampton flying boats, i This machine is similar to the R.A.F.

flying boats now in Australia, and those recently placed in commission by the R.A.A.F. If trials in Japan art satisfactory, further orders will b placed.

Auckland To Blenheim On Sunday afternoon at the Blenheim airdrome many watchers of the Tasman flyers’ activities were taken by surprise when an airplane came in sight from the north. This proved to be Mr. Douglas Mill, of Auckland, in his Moth. He made a splendid flight from Auckland, after leaving the Northern city at 8.5 a.m., and spending an hour and three-quarters at Hawera. The conditions were not good, a bead wind being encountered over the latter part of the journey, while clouds and haze made the visibility very poor.

Australian Aviators With the Tasman crossed by the air route, and with another laurel won in international flying circles, Australia has strengthened its position as a nation that turns out super-pilots. Not six million people, but five of the world’s greatest flyers since the war! And in the van of this splendid five —Lawrence Hargraves, the man who really made possible the plane—the heavier-than-air machine. First to write Australia’s name in the heavens was Harry Hawker. His attempt to fly the Atlantic in 1919 was one of the biggest things in aviation up to that time. Alcock and Brown. iS a Rolls-Vickers-Vimy, succeeded where Hawker’s Rolls-Sopwith failed in mid-ocean.

The same year Ross Smith and his brother, Keith, started another tremendous task, and won through. With their Vickers-Vimy they blazed an air trail from England to —11,294 miles in less than a month. Then Hinkler, his name already famous in light plane, long-distance, and racing circles- did the job that stamped him as the greatest light-plane P IIOt and all-round airman in the world. In. a plan© that could be folded UP and put in an ordinary garage he new from England to Australia, "With 1,000-mile hop over the sea as a laslap—all in 14 days. .... Wilkins again focussed the worm a limelight on Australia. The trans-Pacific flight of ford Smith and his colleagues w meritorious—a marvel of over-wa - flying. . A th 4 And th€> New Zealand flight . blazing of another hazardous air As the “New York Times” said m - leader, “It would not be a simple m 1 ter to match the six Australians group. , . . It is sufficient now to rec niso Australia as a land that proa great aviators.”