FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1936
1936 - 0568.PDF
AIRCRAFT ENGINEER AND AIRSHIPS FIRST AERONAUTICA/TWEEKLY IN THE^WORLD •• FOUNDED 1909 Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH Chief Photographer JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET Telegrams : Truditur. Sedjst, London. HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (50 lints). HERTFORD ST., COVENTRY. Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telephone: Coventry 5210. GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST., BIRMINGHAM, 2. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone : Midland 297IT 260, DEANSGATE, MANCHESTER, 3. Telegrams: Iliffe, Manchester. Telephone: Blackfriars 4412. 26B, RENFIELD ST., GLASGOW C.2. Telegrams: Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone: Central 4857. SUBSCRIPTION KATES: Home and Canada: Other Countries: Year. £1 Year, £1 13 0. 10 0. 6 months, 16s. 6d. 6 months, 17s. 6d. 3 months, 8s. 6d. 3 months, Ss. 9d. No. 1419. Vol. XXIX. MARCH 5, 1936. Tnursdays, Pries 66. Trans-•Atlantic FIVE methods of flying across the Atlantic on a com mercial basis have so far occurred to the minds of the world's inventors. These are (i) by flying- boat, using natural refuelling bases on the way, such as Iceland and Greenland, or the Azores and the Bermudas; (2) by flying-boat, using moored vessels, equipped with boarding aprons and catapults, as refuel ling bases; (3) by the upper component of a composite aircraft; (4) by airship; and (5) by landplanes using seadromes moored at intervals. Two of these methods, Nos. (1) and (4), are the subjects of articles in this issue of Flight, the Short flying-boat and its accommodation being described on pages 258-260, and the new airship L.Z.129 (which is to be named the Hindenburg) on pages 246-250. Three of these methods have so far been tried out in actual practice. Air France has for some time past been sending flying-boats across the South Atlantic, the Graf Zeppelin has been plying regularly for years past over the same route, and the Germans have also been using flying-boats in conjunction with refuelling ships on the route to South America. The composite aircraft method will, it is hoped, be tried out in the near future; but as yet no seadrome has been moored in the Atlantic, and no flying company has formed plans which include its use. Each method needs careful study from the point of view of the traffic which it is likely to attract, and the chance it has of paying its way, either on its own merits or at least with only a moderate Government subsidy. It should be noted that so far the German seaplanes, which are catapulted off the refuelling ships, carry only mails and that the Mayo composite craft is also intended to carry only mails. The Zeppelin service caters for passengers; and the French, the British and do fhmencan seaPJane services either do, or intend to ' ~"e same. If a seadrome service is ever put into PPrabon it will also hope to carry passengers. For a purely mail service the great desideratum is speed, modified by the desirability of landing to refuel and so to avoid having to sacrifice payload for fuel. In the case of passenger services, a compromise has to be struck between speed and comfort, which are to some extent conflicting qualities. The prospects of the Mayo composite system ought not to be judged entirely on the first experiments, as they must necessarify be concerned chiefly with establishing the soundness of the main prin ciple. Once that principle is established, as there is every hope that it will be, it is easy to imagine the upper component as a very fast landplane with retractable wheels, which would be quite able to land on shore when its fuel had mostly been consumed. The initial expenses of such a service would be increased if a launching boat had to be stationed at the Azores and another at the Bermudas, but without them the weight of fuel would seriously reduce the payload. Despite this, such a ser vice, once really high speed had been- attained, ought to attract any quantity of first-class mail matter and so prove profitable. Once the services per diem were duplicated and then further multiplied, the overhead cost of the launching boats en route would be reduced, and dividends should increase. The Craving for Comfort It is less easy to estimate the prospects of the German service, which depends on catapult ships moored out at sea. Figures of cost are not available. Theoretically the Mayo craft has greater chances of attaining high speed than a flying-boat can have. If the Germans de cide to carry passengers on such a service, the effect which the catapulting might have on the bookings would have to be calculated. If a long run and gentle accelera tion can be provided for the catapults, the disagreeable sensations should be slight; but it can be imagined that if one old lady was not careful to keep her head firmly back against the cushion and got a crick in her neck as a consequence, the result might be a serious falling off in bookings. Passengers who can pay for air transport (apart from those who look on it as an adventure
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
