DIESEL ENGINES.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 380, 11 March 1937, Page 2

DIESEL ENGINES.

FOR AEROPLANES. Australia Showing Keen Interest. The Civil Aviation Board in Australia is showing keen interest in the Diesel-engined Junkers ’plane, Ju. 86, Vhich is to fly over Australia. The machine would be highly significant in a world assured of peace; it must be still more significant in a world which sees peace threatened. For the Ju. 86 is either a high rpeed passenger carrier—or a highipeed bomber. It can be adapted with ease to war purposes. Because It us;® heavy oil, not ipetrol, the danger of fire in it would |be cut to a minimum if the fuel tank .'Were hit in battle. Then, heavy -oil is ever so much cheaper than petrol (in Australia, ft costs a little over one-third as much). This makes a war ’.plane using it an ideal weapon for a hard-up country which is out to match armaments with richer neighbours. The Diesel, moreover, eats up less of the ch. ap fuel than the petrol engine does of <the dear fuel. That on ers on the Diesel-engined the long r range of flight for a given tank capacity We all know the story, though we may not all believe it, that rays have ben invented to disable 'planes b'y causing the lectromagnetic ignition to foil. Such rays would be useless against a Diesel engine; it *ias no magnetic ignition. Aeroplanes are like the cavalry Imro'-'S of ol’i These had to be fed, and the hardiest and least fussy feed ers conferred on their riders a. military advantage. Aeroplanes which work etfii.-i .n-tly on relatively coarse •fare, available with relative conveniEhe... will likewise secure an advan, ♦age to their masters. A .p itrol- . .red air armada would starve in’ midst of whatr—to a “Dieselled” iilt.flt —would be the right fare. This s pointed out in a recent dissertation by Colonel Emanuel .Moravec, Professor of the Military College. Prague: “Aeroplane engines driv n by naphtha (heavy oil),” he said, "can be fuelled in excellent -fashion and amply at the spots where naphtha is found and at all aerodromes located along the length of the naphtha lines. There is no need of any complicated refineries such as are necessary for the production of petrol.”

It may be that the Diesel-driven ’plane lacks some of the qualities required in the super-super-military machine of today. Even if it does, it’s “on its way.” To the nontechnical onlooker, it seems to threaten an eventual revolution.