FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0553.PDF
FLIGHT, JUNE 7, 1934 The Outlool A Running Commentary on Air Topics England AustraliaC RITICISMS and misunderstandings there were boundto be, but the International race to Australia is likely to be one of the biggest events in aviation history.From small beginnings the event has grown into one of staggering importance. There are well over sixty entries,and many of these are machines which have been specially designed for the race, with almost fabulously high cruisingspeeds and exceptional range. Freaks, perhaps, in some cases, but freaks that would be capable of transformationinto extremely useful mail or high-speed passenger types. At least one of the thirteen or so British entries will standas good a chance as anything—m the Speed Race—for, it is rumoured, this machine has a cruising speed in theregion of 230 m.p.h. Before every event of this nature, moans are inevitablyheard. The Chairman of the Publicity Committee in Mel- bourne, for instance, remarked that "... the race hasgiven us more trouble and anxiety than it is worth . . . it has aroused envy, jealousy, and dissension between thenations. . ." Whatever may be the truth, there can be no doubt that the trouble and anxiety will be more thanrepaid. The rule relating to airworthiness, too, has been misunderstood. After all, the regulations were drawn upin Melbourne, and Sir MacPherson Robertson himself insisted on some standard of safety. Incidentally, the regulations stipulated a mass start, butthis will obviously be impossible, and the present idea is that the machines should be sent off at half-minute in-tervals. With the fastest machines in the world on the line, " zero hour " at Hatfield on the twentieth of Octoberwill be a moment in a million. Straws T HE appearance of three new " feeder line " types isjust another indication of the way the wind is blow-ing. All of them have very much higher top speeds than we have been accustomed to expect in this country and one of them should almost touch the " mystic two hundred " at ground level. It is significant, also, that two are low-wing monoplanes with retractable undercarriages. This long-awaited and much-advertised " air age " appears to be almost here. Third Party T HE first step towards an international understandingon certain aspects of aviation insurance was takenon Monday when a conference was arranged. Tht problems are considerable. Not only have property owners to be adequately protected, but the insurance rates must not be allowed to become prohibitive, and yet some under- standing must be reached if air touring is to become as popular as it should be. Lord Wakeneld, at the dinner following, explained that the insurance companies did.not wish to see rules and regulations placed as obstacles in the way ©f international travel. Prospective Ownership T HERE are any number of keen amateur pilots andany number of people with enough money to buylight aeroplanes—yet, judging from statistics, _ the list of privately-owned aeroplanes has remained virtually unchanged during the past few years. The explana- tion is simple, and rests largely on "facilities." Given more aerodromes, or, alternatively, a machine that would be independent of aerodromes, and there would be little to prevent the figures from soaring skywards year by year in the future. Stalling J T is more than extraordinary that, when scientists candiscover the exact composition of distant stars, anaeroplane's stall should still remain so mysterious. After so able a worker as Prof. Melvill Jones had delivered his lecture before the R.Ae.S., the one outstanding im- pression was that we really know very little of the phenomena which have caused, directly or indirectly, the deaths of so many good pilots. There are machines that can be held up in a complete stall without evincing any curious tendencies, and there are machines that flick im- mediately into a spin—and no one appears to be able to make a reliable forecast one way or the other. Perhaps it is as well that, when the stick is held right back, one cannot actually see the flow of the air. If every machine's wings were covered with tufts of wool, like those used for Prof. Jones's experiments, and if the pilot could watch them " running " like mice leaving a sinking ship, then there would not be half as many climbing turns made on low-powered aeroplanes! Manners and Common Sense T HE flying meeting season is again with us, and pilotswill be visiting aerodromes, sometimes when thereis a large crowd to watch their arrival. Wo do hope that they will remember to observe local or " specialoccasion " rules. For example, at Brooklands last Saturday the red square ground signal was laid out,signifying that normal rules were suspended during the display and that pilots would have to observe special onesgiven from the control tower. But during the afternoon at least three visitors landed during a flying event, andyet another took off and gave a display on his own without first obtaining permission; when doing so he actually flewacross the main enclosure as if to make a right-handed circuit, so that he was flying towards other pilots whowere coming in to land. This sort of thing is not only bad manners, but is productive of dangerous circumstancesfor which there is no excuse. Pilots must learn to be considerate of other people, to realise that their aeroplaneis not the only one using the air, and that rules are not made for fun. So far we have been moderately free fromunnecessary restrictions in the air, but if this kind of thoughtlessness continues we shall certainly have more rulesand regulations imposed upon us—and then it will be too late to grouse about it. Anti-Aircraft A QUESTION in the House of Commons on May 31elicited the information that the War Office is quiteaware that the Territorial anti-aircraft batteries are grievously short of technical equipment and that what they have is extremely antiquated. Mr. Duff Cooper, Financial Secretary to the War Office, said that steps were being taken to improve the position as far as financial circum- stances permitted. This revelation merely emphasises the necessity, on which FLIGHT has frequently commented, of transferring vthese batteries, and the searchlight companies, from the War Office to the Air Ministry. They are a part of air defence, and they take their operational orders from the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Air Defence of Great Britain. On the trifling excuse that the guns and search- lights are situated on the ground, it has been decided that they must be provided by the War Office and manned by the Territorial Army instead of by the Auxiliary (or regular) Air Force. Hence arise the evils of dual control.' As General Ashmore wrote in his book Air Defence, " The ground troops have two masters pulling in opposite direc-; tions ; the R.A.F. only want them efficient, the War Office only want them cheap." 553 .,.- ,- •..-•••.:,. --• . •••:•. -.:•
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
