GIANT AIRCRAFT

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 956, 26 April 1930, Page 8

GIANT AIRCRAFT

BRITAIN WILL SOON LEAD WORLD AIR TAXIS IN ENGLAND Will Britain soon lead the world in J the construction of monster flying } machines? Present activities on the part of . British aircraft manufacturers indicate that England is rapidly coming to the conclusion that the secret of successful air transport lies in the use of multi-passenger long-range craft. Several monster flying-boats and airplanes are now nearing completion in this country, and it would seem that before long the lead obtained by the Germans in the construction of their colossal Dornier Bo X will be shortened. Big machines now being built in England are paving the way to an age of super aircraft. None will, however, be quite so big as the Do X, which carried 169 persons on its first test flight —a record for any flying machine. To Carry 40 A big airplane that will carry 40 passengers in almost drawing room comfort is being built by one of the pioneer aircraft companies in England, Messrs. Handley Page. Easy chairs, tables, a dining room and a kitchen will fom part of the equipment of this luxurious air liner, which will be ready to take the air in three or four months’ time Another aerial Goliath, a. flyingboat which will be known as the Nile, lies almost completed at the works of the Blackburn Airplane Company. This craft is more like a winged Pullman coach than a flying machine. It has a well-equipped cook’s galley, and the big passenger saloon, seating 15 persons, is claimed to be the most luxurious ever attempted in commercial airplane design. It is equipped with pneumatic upholstered leather chairs, tables and reading lamps. The cook’s galley is fitted with a small, but very effective, electric stove, and a first-class lunch or dinner can be prepared while the craft sails majestically along, thousands of feet above the ground. The Nile is driven by three Bristol Jupiter engines, each of 550 horsepower. It has a wing span of 98ft and will be able to cruise for five hours at an average speed of 100 miles an hour. Eighty-nine Feet Wing Span At the same works another huge craft is being built, but this is not for commercial work. It is a “multiseater reconnaissance flying-boat” which is being made for the Air Ministry. Built to practically the same constructional design as the Nile, it will be known as the Sydney, and will be ready for the air in six or eight fveeks’ time. It is the construction of the Sydney that has delayed the production of the Nile, which will not be ready to “take the air” for four or live months. Britain has thus very closely approached the carrying capacity of the Dornier Do X. Although this big* German flyingboat carried the record load of 169 persons on her first test flight last year, that was by no means a commercial load. Then the machine was carrying very little fuel and no freight, and had difficulty in rising from tile water. The actual commercial load of the Do X is 60 passengers and her speed and range with that load are no greater than those of the British craft, 100 miles an hour for five hours. Soon it will be almost as easy to hire an air-taxi as it is to hire an ordinary cab on land. Pilots at Sherburn Airdrome, near Scarborough, are ready to take a fare anywhere at 30 minutes’ notice —even to Australia. Tho air-ta'xis have a speed of well over 100 miles an hour. Two made the journey from Hauworth, Middlesex, to Sherburn in 1 hour 55 minutes, tlie distance being 240 miles. The pilots were Captain J. Stack and Captain E. S. Crossley and two passengers were carried, one in each machine. Mr. R. Gill, of the Providence Pottery, Castleford, was one of the first passengers to fly for business reasons on air-taxis from Sherburn. The journey to' Hull, some 47 miles, tbok 30 minutes each way.