THE AIRWAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 656, 7 May 1929, Page 14

THE AIRWAY

By

"THE ROC”

A Week in the Sky rIE most significant of any achievement in aviation since Lindbergh spanned the Atlantic in his magnificent adventure, is the astounding performance of the threemotored monoplane the “Question Mark,” which early this year beat, by three and a-half days, the previous airplane record for sustained flight. This flight marks the beginning of a new era in commercial and military aviation, for it has proved conclusively that it is practicable and comparatively easy to refuel planes in mid-air, while it has brought a nonstop flight round the world well within the realm of possibility.

Tli© Question Mark made its recordbreaking: endurance test at Los Angeles. It remained in the air with its crew of five for 150 hours 40 minutes and 15 seconds, or more than six and a-quarter days. This was 85 hours longer than the longest previous flight bv a heavier-than-air machine, made by a German plane last year, and 32 hours longer than the record for lighter-than-air machines, made by the French dirigible "Dixmude.” Although the Question Mark's circling course did not take her very far from her starting point, the distance travelled during her long flight is estimated at more than 11,000 miles, or nearly half the circumference of the earth. If she had followed the route of the United States round-the-world flyers in 1924, she would have crossed the Pacific Ocean via Alaska. Kamchatka and Japan, and would have ended the non-stop journey at Calcutta, India; or if she had followed the easterly route would have reached Hong-Kong. China. This amazing endurance flight was made possible by the repeated refuelling of the plane while in the air, and apart from showing that such a feat is practicable, has proved the great reliability and controlability of the present-day machine. It has also brought a non-stop flight round the world well within the realm of possibility, and in this respect one notes with interest the proposed flight round the world by Captain Lyon. Captain Lancaster. Mrs. Keith Miller and Squadron-Leader Kingsford Smith. These flyers propose to leave Pasadena. California, fly to New York, and thence to London. Subsequently, with several intervening stops, they propose to fly to Yokohama, thence to Guam, Honolulu ancl back to California. According to the cables received so far this will by no means be a non-stop flight, although there i- certainly a possibility that arrangements may yet be changed in order to make it so. Such a significant performance of men and machines enables one to form new conceptions of the horizons which bound human flight. Since this flight man is a stronger and surer creature in the air. BIGGER NON STOP FLIGHTS It is known -from the flights of Lindbergh. Chamberlain and Byrd that an airplane can go 4.000 miles on a single filling of its tanks. To contemplate a non-stop circumnavigation of the globe as low a figure as 1.000 miles as the unit for each refuelling could bo assumed. Certainly it would be simple to arrange the replenishment of fuel every 1,000 miles over the land. Along the surface of the sea airplane carriers might be strung out 1,000 miles apart. Refuelling planes would take off from their decks, make contact with the non-stop plane, deliver their gasoline and oil and return to tjie

safe harbourage of the carriers’ decks. Radio direction-finders and all the modern aids to navigation, such as were used in the flight of the Southern Cross to Australia, would be necessary. These devices are rapidly becoming more perfect. Within two days of the ending of the Question Mark’s flight the Press carried two announcements of projected non-stop flights round the world in the near future. Mot a great deal more, however, has been heard of either of these two proposals. The flight of the Question Mark shows vividly the almost incredible progress of aviation. It was only 25 years ago that Orville Wright, in a heavier-than-air flying machine, remained in the air for 59 seconds, or long enough to cover a distance of about 120 feet; and at the time the world almost refused to believe this feat possible. But nothing is any longer incredible to the people of this incredible age. FEFUELLINO OPERATIONS

How the refuelling of the Question Mark was managed is told by a pilot of one of the refuelling planes, in an American paper. "Despite our heavy loads of gas and the weight of three men, our ship hops off like a pursuit plane. We climb to the altitude of the Question Mark, and then throttle down and fly along side of it on the left side, to get its course and speed. I pick a landmark ahead for a straight course, and maintain it. The Question Mark dips beneath us and is lost to sight from me. although it is within 20 feet of our plane. Sometimes it comes as close as 10 feet, and then I can see its tail. My three passengers lower the hose from the fuselage and one of them fits it into the funnel, and the refuelling proceeds at 75 gallons a minute. All I do is to fly a straight course. My only signals come from my passengers by a rope attached to my arm. One long pull means slow up. two pulls speed up. a constant jiggle means the refuelling is over. UNDER EVERY CONDITION Major Spatz. flight commander of the Question Mark, the morning after the flight had been brought to an end by the exhaustion of the motors, said: "We have refuelled under every conceivable condition under which an airplane can fly—at night, in rough air, shifting our base when weather drove us away, in fog, in sun—in fact, under any conditions which might be conceived, either in transcontinental flights or in transoceanic flights. Nightfuelling is not so bad. It was worse, a whole lot worse, in the r<s*gh bumps we had to-day. Our apparatus was proved. We have made many important discoveries. With a longer hose, say 100 feet, it would be far /better, yVe have definitely established

the practicability of refuelling for commercial planes.” Of the effects of this long flight in cramped quarters upon the crew of the plane, Major Spatz says: “The whole personnel was in better condition this morning than at any time during the flight. In fact, we have had seven days of rest. The longest period any man slept in this flight was four hours. That was duo to routine. We all slept Sunday. In daytime wo slept better, for it was warmer. We were not prepared for the colii. There were only six blankerts for our five men; we had discarded our heater to make room for a reserve gasoline tank. A remarkablo condition was the attitude of the crew. Not a single member of the crew had anything but smiles. No one got on another’s nerves. In cramped quarters, with parachutes on, we knocked each other about, but there always was a smile.

Flying conditions at the Aero Club’s airdrome at Mangere have been far from ideal during the last tw r o weeks. The instructing of the pupils, however, has been carried along quite favourably. and five members flew solo this week.