CANADIAN AIR TRAFFIC

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 December 1940, Page 6

CANADIAN AIR TRAFFIC

SIX NEW PLANES ORDERED. TO MEET INCREASED DEMAND. MONTREAL. To cope with the increasing traffic on the Trans-Canada air lines, six new aircraft have been ordered by the company. The new planes are “Lodestars” or “Eighteens,” and are larger than the present fifteen “Lockheeds” or “Fourteens” now in service. Delivery of the planes will, be made before the end of 1940 and they will be used in transcontinental service and on the route between Toronto, London and Windsor, and will have accommodation for 14 passengers and a crew of three. The “Lockheeds” carry ten passengers. The new planes, like the old ones, are all-metal mid-wing monoplanes and are equipped with all the latest instrument's for modern scientific flying. All modern comforts of flying also are provided for the passengers. Nearly 50 feet long, the “Lodestar” is about five and a half feet longer than the “Lockheed,” while the wing- 1 span is the same, 65J feet, and the height 11 feet 101 inches. It has a cargo capacity of 190 cubic feet and will carry 644 gallons of gasoline and 44 gallons of pil. The powerhouse of the new planes contains two Pratt and Whitney twin-Wasp engines each developing 1,200 horsepower at take-off, as compared with the 850 horsepower engines in the “Fourteens.”