SERIAL NAVIGATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 326, 13 June 1911, Page 5

SERIAL NAVIGATION.

TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC. ANOTHER ATTEMPT. By cable. —Press Association. —Copyright Received 12, 9.10 p.m. London, June 12. Melvin Vaniman, who was associated with Walter Wellman in the hitter's unsuccessful attempt in the 1 balloon flight across the Atlantic, has sailed for New York for the purpose of completing a dirigible, 20S feet in length, and costing £30,000, wherewith he proposes to cross the Atlantic in October and carry a crew of five.

Vaniman, in an interview, said that rubber-coated fabrics were so perfect that it was easy to stay in the air for thirty days. The real difficulty would be to prevent the balloon rising to an extreme height when the rays of the sun expanded the gas. He thought they had solved that difficulty.

INJURED JAP AVIATORS RECOVERING. Tokio, June 11. The injured aviators, Takusawa and Ito, are recovering from their injuries, which were not serious. A "MAORI CHIEF" GOES UP. London, .Tune 11. Woodward, while aeroplaning at the White City, carried Metapopoki, a Maori chief, ae passenger. ACROSS THE ATLANTIC IN THIRTYTHREE HOURS. THE LATEST ANTICIPATIONS OF AERONAUTS.

11l the Cosmopolitan for April Messrs. MacMechen and Dientbach give what is called an up-to-the-minute story of the progress achieved and expected of the world's bird-men. The writers describe Major von Parseval's huge aeroplane of steel:

"Its two pilots, one engineer and one navigator—dividing the duties that have caused the single aviator's blunders handle this craft safely, even in winds. A motor of 120 horse-power, the most powerful that has driven any aeroplane, sustains the two-ton machine on a single spread of wings fifty-five feet wide, larger than any that have lifted men on the air. The specified passenger capacity of Parseval's big monoplane is four men. but, for a short time, it has easily transported eight, and, packed like the smaller Farman and Sommer machines, it could carry ten." Two pilots were found by ficneral Brim to be safer than one man. who is too quickly confused and exhausted in wind. AERONAUT'S COMFORT PROVIDED.

The writers lament that the public has been grievously misled by "aerial racing toys." Thev rejoice that more attention is being paid to the comfort of the aeronaut, and now at Darmstadt Euler's military biplane has the first enclosed cabin with pointed ends: "Inside, a pilot and a scout, comfortably seated, one behind the other, are entirely protected from wind and cold; in front of the scout, is a small desk, for sketching and holding navigating maps. This is not all—a machine-gun, lircd by pressure of the foot on a level, projects past the pilot.' AKROPLANES 100 FEET BY' 120 FEET. The centralisation of weight will be avoided: passengers, machinery, and fuel tanks will he distributed all over the ample wings of the larger aeroplane. Aeroplanes 100 feet long, 120 feet wide, and 1-5 feet in depth of wings, will be common. It is reasonably asserted that within three years biplanes will carry nine passengers and crews of four:

"The same crew should handle a thirty-passenger craft. 'Jlic.se flying colossi will have ample margin for instruments, baggage, and supplies to make trips of two to three, hundred miles. With fewer passengers, hut more fuel, they should cross the Atlantic. Not to impede their flight, travellers must ride in five narrow, torpedo-shaped shells of artificial mica, fore and aft. These shell cabins will be placed midway between tui' upper and lower wings." Telephones working without receiver or transmitter will put the occupants of cabins on ensv speaking terms. A small dining shelf, a locker, and his baggage behind, will .complete the passenger's comfort. "THE XERYES OF THE AEROPLANE." The aeroplane has already its muscles; it will soon have nerves, almost equal with the birds. Small gauges all over the wings indicate the shifting air pressures on a dial right in front of the pilot's eves. Wind gauges on slender rods projecting from the aeroplane like long antennae feel the gust less than half a second before it strikes the wing. Before long the writers expect great aerial routes will lie laid out, as we understand the great currents of air in the higher region*. For the wind plays a vital part with the aeroplane as well as the airship.

SPEED OF OCEAX TRIPS. Anticipating the trip across the ocean with an aeroplane, the writers say: "From west to east, with the general drift of the air, in these latitudes the trip would be favorable for 'an aeroplane of tonnage.' With a. reserve of fuel, oil. and food for at least one-third more than the estimated time of the trip, the machine might fly with a speed of seventy to eighty miles an hour. This would mean netting over sea in forty hours. If travelling at one and a quarter miles, Where soundings showed that the stronger air currents had an average movement of forty miles nil hour, the crossing would take thirty-three hours. The aeroplane's own speed, in the thinner air at. high altitudes, is more than near the water. Tt would attempt to llv over established steamship or airship routes, to summon assistance, by wireless, if it had to alight on the water. Accurates bulletins of the weather would enable it to make the best of the wind situation. The adventure could lie accomplished with a minimum of five skilful operators."