AIRISMS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 764, 10 September 1929, Page 7

AIRISMS

More Planes Wanted Canterbury, like Auckland, is now finding that another machine will be needed very shortly. As these clubs and the Marlborough Club are under

the Government patronage they receive a machine from the Government for every machine they purchase themselves. Canterbury is thinking of purchasing a machine and availing itself of this subsidy, and to that end is inviting subscriptions from its members. Air Mail Stamps An interesting development on the East to West transcontinental service in Australia is an air-mail stamp with a face value of 3d. the ordinary postal rate being l?.d and the surcharge 3d. The stamp is coloured green and has in the two top corners the value of the stamp in figures; in the foreground are depicted sheep grazing on a plain with trees here and there, and in the centre of the stamp is an airplane in flight. The stamp is of neat |

and pleasing effect, and should be of interest to philatelists in this country.

New Sydney ’Drome For its new quarters, the Sydney Aero Club recently purchased 214 acres, near the Warwick Farm racecourse, for £21,250. The -site is bounded on one side by the Main Southern Road and upon the other by the Main Southern Railway Line. Cost of the new clubhouse is estimated at £55,000, which includes the purchase of the land, erection of the building, and furniture, £17,000; hangars, workshops, offices, fences, etc., £7,250; golf course and tennis courts, £2,500; clearing and levelling, £2,000; and contingencies, £5,000. Seaplane v. Landplane The majority of New Zealand aviators maintain that the seaplane or the flying-boat is the aircraft of the future as far as the Dominion is concerned. and consequently there is food for though for this country's rapidly expanding band of flying enthusiasts, in the comparative records for seaplanes and landplanes for longer flights across water. While it is evident from the result of ten

■ years of such attempts that the landplane has the better chance of mak- ! ing its ultimate destination, the sea- ; plane has an infinitely better record in point of bringing its crew to safety in those cases where the goal was not attained. Too many by far of the users of landplanes for ocean flights 5 have flown off into the blue, never to be heard of again or have come to discovered disaster. The crews of seaplanes, on the other hand, have thus far enjoyed an So per cent, factor of safety, even if they fell short of their object. The wider ; use of the seaplane or amphibian is indicated not only by this impressive record in flights of extreme risk, but by the lacing of the land with waterways which provide emergency landing fields of greater frequency than can be expected from man- ; made construction.