WEEK-END AIR TRIPS.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 June 1920, Page 5

WEEK-END AIR TRIPS.

SMALL MACHINES AT LOW COST-

CHEAP FLYING IN FUTURE.

A lecture on "Aviation and the Possibilities that await the Development of the Aeroplane," was delivered by Mr. F. Handley Page recently in connection with the London County Council's series of lectures on scientific sub-

iects for teachers. Mr. Hand ley Page pointed out that during tlie war economy in the cost of running played no part in the design. ''But since the war is over and peace has broken out," said Mr. Page, "we have had to contend with running a service at a cost commensurate with the number of passengers, and at a, price that they would pay to fly, 35 very one is satisfied that the stability is good; but everyone is not satisfied that tne price is enough for,their pocket, or to carry goods, and our attention lias been directed to finding a means whereby economy can be improved, and the cheapness of machines increased, ana I am pleased to say that we have had very successful results in that direction. "Our experiments have been directed

;o finding out whether it would not be

possible to fly with smaller 'planes, and one of onr interesting discoveries indicates that we shall be able to use 'planeg of at least half the size of the present area." Experiments showed that they would be able to land slower with these smaller machines, and that with 25-h.p. instead of 100-h.p. they would be able to fly with pilot and passenger, and with enough petrol and oil for five hours at a speed of 100 to 110 miles an hour. Such a machine would cost from £l5O to £2OO.

"Which means," said iMr. Page, ''that we shall be able to get a small machine

that you can put perhaps in the coal •■hed, and drag it out on a fine Saturday afternoon, so as to take your own, or somebody else's 'best girl'—l was going to say to Paris, but to any destination that you chooso—and you have a ra.nge of <>oo miles at a cost! no greater than that of running a small motor-car." The price of flying from London •to Paris will tie comparable in the future, said the lecturer, to travelling my omnibus from the Bank to Charing Cross, though it will be a long time rtncn.r yet, as at present we have only the old type of machines. Development, however, would be along the. cheaper lines he had indicated. With the coining of machines smaller in size and cheaper in cost and running, there can Jie no doubt, said Mr. Page, that an appeal will be made to a far wider publie than can be made to-day. With the possibility of having a cheap machine, by which one could be in Paris in the afternoon, and at a cost no greater than driving a small car, | though at a speed many times in excess, the prospects were very alluring. "With the enormous production of motor s ears here and in America and other „ places," said the lecturer, "the day is not far distant when it will he impossible to move along the roads; and there will be only one thing left to do if you - want to go anywhere, arid that is to travel by air. So that those who are far-seeing and wish to travel in the future will be now turning their thoughts very attentively, not to purchasing an aeroplane, but to getting accustomed to new means of travelling."