28 WAPITI AIRPLANES FOR COMMONWEALTH

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 595, 22 February 1929, Page 9

28 WAPITI AIRPLANES FOR COMMONWEALTH

INTERESTING CRAFT IS DEMONSTRATED AND CHRISTENED (United P.A. —By Telegraph —- Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Reed. 11.59 a.m. LONDOX, Thurs. The first of the 2S Westland-Wapitis, destined to provide Australia with a fine up-to-date air fleet, was christened by Lady Ryrie at the Westland Aircraft Works, Yeovil. An Australian Press representative was conducted round the works and shown the remaining 27 machines in various stages of completion, when the first particulars of these interesting general-purpose aircraft were made available. The flrst six will be tried out and shipped to Australia within a fortnight, and the remainder completing the fleet in May or June. The Westland Works are employing 1,000 skilled men solely on aircraft. The present output is four Wapitis weekly. The Australian machines are constructed of composite wood and wood and duralamin, which means a lower initial cost and lower maintenance as well as providing an intermediate step in the change over from wooden to all-metal planes in which the Australian workers are at present not schooled. It might be mentioned that composite machines of this type were used in the course of the same changeover in Britain, where all-metal planes are now paramount. The Wapitis are equipped with Bris-tol-Jupiter-Eight air-cooled engines, with a speed of 142 miles an hour and a height of 5,000 feet when loaded. Their total weight is 4,900 pounds. They will climb to 6,500 feet in 6.4 minutes, which was adequately nf-oved in the course of a long, arduous demonstration to-day. A notable feature is definite provision for the stowage of the adidtional fuel and equipment necessary for desert patrol work, which is an important point in Australia. The normal fuel supply is from a 40gallon gravity tank and a 68-gallon main tank. The Handley-Page automatic slots make it extremely difficult to force a spin, while a stall is easily countered. GREAT NEW AIRSHIPS BRITAIN’S RIOO AND RlOl STRONGEST YET BUILT British Official Wireless Reed. 10.37 a.m. RUGBY, Thursday. Details of the new airships RIOO and RlOl which now are nearing completion were given in a lecture last night by Group-Captain P. F. M. Fellowes.

Bach will be 730 ft long and of 5,000,000 cubic feet capacity, with a speed of 62 knots and a cruising speed of 53 knots over a range of 4,000 miles. He stated on the highest authority that they were much stronger than any other ship which had hitherto taken

the air. They had been deliberately

built too strong rather than too weak. Heavy oil engines, the first of their tjjpe ever produced, were installed to give additional safety even at the expense of efficiency. The RlOl would have five 600-horse-power engines.

BRITISH FLYING-BOATS FOR AMERICAN SERVICE ATLANTIC TO PACIFIC British Official Wireless HUG BY, Wednesday. Flying-boats of British design will be used on the new commercial air services to be established between the Atlantic seaboard of the United States and the Pacific coast of South America. Influential American financiers are promoting the scheme. The technical representatives of the capitalists, after a five months’ tour devoted to the examination of the fly-ing-boat types in many countries, have entered into an agreement with the Blackburn Airplane Company, of Leeds. This is one of the pioneer firms in British aviation, and is particularly noted for its all-metal design of large flying-boats. An American company will be formed, to be known as the Blackburn Aircraft Corporation. It will have the rights under the agreement to use the British Blackburn designs for flying boats and light airplanes and seaplanes. It was a Blackburn-Iris flying-boat that the Secretary of State for Air, Sir Samuel Hoare, last year made a cruise of the Baltic. The Parliamentary Secretary for Air, Sir Philip Sassoon, also flew to India in one. BRISTOL “BULLDOG” TO DEFEND LONDON (Australian and ~N.Z. Press Association) LONDON, Thursday. For the purpose of defending- London at night the Royal Air Force authorities have adopted the Bristol “Bulldog.” This is reputed to be the world’s most formidable fighting plane. The machine is capable of attaining an altitude of 20,000 ft in 12 minutes, and of maintaining a speed of 172 miles an hour at that height. The pilots of machines of this type oxygen masks. MOIR-OWEN FLIGHT STARTS EARLY IN MARCH Cabled advice of further plans of Flying-Officers Moir and Owen have

been received by the Shell Company N w It is now anticipated that the flight will start early in March, and all arrangements are being made for minimum “hops’* of 1.000 miles, in an endeavour to reach Darwin in record time. The Australian itinerary is DarwinCamooweal - L»ongreach-Brisbane-Syd-ney-Melbourne-Adelaide - Perth: and for tliis portion alone the Shell Company is putting down 2,500 gallons of spirit and 250 gallons of oil. FITZMAURICE’S PLANS OVER ATLANTIC AGAIN? f Australian and JY.Z. Press Association) BERLIN, Wednesday. Colonel Pitzmaurice, formerly chief of the Irish Free State Air Force, is said to be planning a second east-lo-west transatlantic flight. He is expected to leave Germany in June in an airplane to be refuelled half-way toward Kngland while in flight, and again when over Newfoundland.