FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1922
1922 - 0198.PDF
APRIL 6, 192s entire guarantees of £171,000 per annum, the price been established Southern Australia should be brought would be a small enough one to pay for the benefits, from an Imperial point of view, of such services. It should" not be forgotten that the starting of such an airship service would have an accumulative effect on commercial aviation in general, because once the airship service was started, branch or feeder lines operated with aeroplanes or seaplanes would be established almost at once. In this way a network of aerial routes would come into being, which would be of the most far-reaching importance as an item in Imperial defence. If we are to have " all-red " air routes to different parts of the Empire, it is difficult to see how one can leave out the airship, which is the long-distance aircraft par excellences On the other hand, once the greatest .distances between parts of the Empire are linked up by airships, the development of heavier-than-aircraft services within the Dominions and Colonies will follow as a matter of course. At the moment of writing the Air Council has not announced its views in this matter, but we really cannot see on what grounds it could refuse its co operation. The handing over of existing airships and material would certainly not mean a great loss to the nation, as the ships and equipment would not be likely to fetch very much as scrap. On the other hand, although existing ships would be useless for the service, they would form a very good fleet for training and similar purposes. A further point for the Government to consider is that the saving in dole money by reason of the building of new airships might easily exceed the amount of the interest they are asked to guarantee. The Shins With regard to the airships which it is to be Used proposed to build for the projected services, these appear to us somewhat ambitious. It is now generally admitted that before we can with certainty and safety build ships larger than 2,500,000 cubic ft. further research is necessary. It is a big jump from 2,500,000 cubic ft. to 3,800,000 cubic ft., and if the Government agrees to the suggested scheme, it might be advisable to use one or two of the existing airships for purposes of full-scale research, of which, we believe, not a very great amount is required in order to establish certain fundamental principles in design. Failing this, we are afraid that the construction of an airship of close on four million cubic feet will be somewhat of an experiment, and might easily prove a very expensive one. If the airship service is to be a success it is of the utmost importance that public confidence should not be shaken at the beginning by any untoward incident. The Projected Route It is expected that the new large airships will be capable of a speed of 70 knots, but as stops have to be made en route, and an allowance of six hours at each moor ing mast has been made, the average speed has been put at the conservative figure of 40 knots. This would mean that the journey to Bombay would occupy 5J days, as against the present 17 days. Rangoon, instead of being 22 days from London, would be brought within j\ days. Hong Kong should be peached in 8| days—it now takes about 4$ weeks ; and Perth, in Australia, should be within 11 or 12 days of London. This represents in the case of Perth a saving of between a fortnight and three weeks, and by the time overland air services by aeroplanes had correspondingly nearer to London. The gain in time over the whole route is such that both for mails and passengers there should be no lack of public support of the scheme, quite apart from any consideration of the advantages from the point of view of Imperial defence. <• Can It be Done ? We have already referred to the fact that we do not consider it possible to build airships of close upon four million cubic feet until further research has been made, and have suggested that one or two of the existing airships should be used for research on full scale. There is another item in the scheme which appears to us somewhat doubtful. It has been stated that the new airships can be built at a cost of £125,000 to £150,000. Where ? Certainly not in this country. We presume it is not intended to buy the ships from Germany, and the possibility of building a ship of 3,800,000 cubic ft. capacity for £150,000 in this country is, it seems to us, very much open to doubt. Germany during the War had exceptional production facilities—turning out, we believe, a complete rigid airship in something like two months. Even then the cost of a ship was generally admitted to be approximately £250,000, and the ships then built were certainly very much smaller than the type contemplated for the new airship service. However, even if the cost should exceed the suggested figure, improvements are in sight which will materially reduce the running costs. One of the chief among these is the use of hydrogen, in conjunc tion with petrol, as fuel. It has been estimated that this will increase the paying load by 40 per cent. In the estimates placed before the Dominion Premiers the production of hydrogen was taken as costing 205. per 1,000 cubic ft., whereas with modern methods it is thought that this can be reduced to about 4s. per 1,000 cubic ft. There are other improvements which may reasonably be counted upon within the next few years, and so probably the estimated figures of costs will prove somewhere near the mark, even if the relative amounts of the different items may have to be given a somewhat different allocation. Taking everything into consideration, we think the proposed scheme deserves every support, and we hope —even if it demands certain modifications in detail— the Air Council will decide to support the scheme somewhat in the manner suggested. • • • On another page of this issue of FLIGHT The will be found copies of the correspond- Resignation ence whjc^ passed between Maj.-Gen. General Sir Frederick Sykes and Capt. Guest, Sykes referring to the resignation of the former as Controller-General of Civil Aviation on the expiration of his term of office. It had been thought that Sir Frederick would accept the offer of the Secretary of State for Air to remain in office for another year, but this he has now declined to do, and his resignation has been accepted. It has been alleged in certain quarters that the present state of civil aviation was due to Sir Frederick's handling of the Government's side of it. With that view we have never agreed, and that civil aviation fell on evil days was due to the Treasury limitations imposed upon the department rather than to any fault on the part of the Department itself. They had to administer a policy, but were not to blame 198
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
