SPEEDY MAIL PLANES

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 948, 15 April 1930, Page 9

SPEEDY MAIL PLANES

EFFICIENT MACHINES FOR AIR ROUTES BUILDING IN ENGLAND British Official Wireless RUGBY, Monday. Among early developments in civil aviation is the construction programme of Imperial Airways, Ltd. Before the end of the present year this company will have in use 11 large new aircraft—namely, eight land airplanes and three flying-boats. The airplanes referred to are being built by Handley Page, Ltd. Four of them are 40-seaters. These are intended for the European air routes. They are biplanes, each fitted with four Bristol-Jupiter engines and each having slotted wings. Unlike previous British air liners these machines will have corrugated metal fuselages. The other four airplanes will be identical with the exception that they will carry over 20 passengers. The remainder of the space and the lift capacity will be needed for mails and other freight. These are intended for part of the India route east of Cairo. TO SEAT FORTY The three flying-boats are built by Short Brothers and these also are four-engined 40-seaters. They are needed for the Mediterranean section of the routes to India and Africa. The weekly air mail to India was speeded up yesterday by the saving of one day, due to the fact that the service does not now include the long railway section from Cologne to Athens. Instead Imperial Airways air liners take mails and passengers all the way to Uskub, via Cologne, Vienna and Budapest. The only rail"section is from Uskub to Salonika. From Salonika flyingboats cross to Alexandria, and land airplanes do the rest of the journey. Alexandria is reached in three daj r s from England and Karachi* in seven days.