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Aviation History
1927
1927 - 0302.PDF
it seems, is a decision likely to be reached for some considerable time. Unless the International Com- mission for Air Navigation gets down to brass tacks and ceases to flirt with subjects which do not amount to a row of pins, there is little hope of sensible develop- ment and progress being made in the matter of international aviation. • • • " It is not only for military and navalSeaplanes purpoges that we in t^e British Empire have to consider the large seacraft. For commercial work the seaplane or flying boat has qualities to offer to the travelling public greater than the corre- sponding land machine, once it is proved to the public that travel by air over the sea is not attended (except as a very remote possibility) by the chance of a forced alighting and shipwreck. The aeroplane, where a large volume of passenger traffic is available, has to compete with railway services with speeds of anything up to 60 m.p.h. The seaplane or flying boat rarely has to consider anything more than a 15 or 17 knots competitor. It is a fact to-day, that the aeroplane alone offers a real advantage as a com- petitive means of transport to land and sea facilities where narrow straits of water have to be crossed which greatly decrease the normal rate of travel . . . "For this country, development of the seaplane is of paramount importance. We do not possess aero- dromes or alighting harbours closer than Gibraltar or Malta. These provide much better facilities for flying boats than for land machines. All along our present trade routes, where coaling stations exist for the Navy, seaplane bases have been or could be formed. We have, therefore, with little expense, all the harbour organisation available for the develop- ment of seaplane or flying-boat routes, and these lie at points already familiar to the traveller by sea, and are available at little cost to this country. Wherever we look on Imperial air routes, the situa- tion is marked out for development by flying boats." This passage from the paper on " Seaplane Develop- ment," read by Major R. E. Penny, before the Royal MAY 5, 1927 Aeronautical Society, on April 28, might almost have been an extract from FLIGHT, word for word, so accurately does it represent the views we have been expressing for several years now, and which, we regret to say, appear to have borne little fruit. Indeed, the case for the seaplane would seem to be so obviously sound that no persuasion should be required. Yet, up to the present moment, the sum- total of our commercial seaplane activities is—a weekly service between Southampton and the Channel Islands ! Developments are promised, it is true, but they have been so long materialising that one almost begins to wonder. However, it is good to have such startling confirmation of our views from an authority on flying boats like Major Penny. Low-power Records 11 minutes, which mav The establishment of a new world's record for duration by an American aeroplane recently, when the existing record was increased to 51 hours has served to draw attention to a fact easily have been overlooked, namely, that not since just before the war, when a German pilot established a record of some 24 hours' duration with a machine fitted with an engine of 75 h.p. only, has a record been made with such low power. The Wright-Bellanca performance is a welcome proof and reminder that very high powers are not essential to the establishment of world's records of this nature We believe we are right in stating that all duration and distance records established since the war have been achieved by machines fitted with much more powerful engines. Incidentally, may we remind con- structors, light 'plane clubs, and private owners that the " light 'plane season is now open," and that as from May 1, world's records for light 'planes will be recognised by the F.A.I. There can be little doubt that even in this class of machine the possession of a world's record is an asset, and the excuse of pro- hibitive cost cannot well be advanced in this caM1. Who will be the first to establish a British world's record for light 'planes ? £$ bo-rd for the first test flight. The pig stuck " in 10 engines 270 1 Condors.'
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