1937-07-03 — Page 2

THE CHINA MAIL, JULY 3, 1937,

THE FUTURE OF FLIGHT

From the days of Joseph's un- gracious treatment by Pharaoh's chief butler, the way of the prophet has been notoriously hard, above all in his own country, and hot least when his arguries were happy.

For although the desire to know what the future holds in store is deeply ingrained in mankind, it îs nature equally a part of human complacently to accept good for- tune as due to our personal ability, but to regard calamity as an merited supernatural visitation.

un-

Since it is pleasanter to blame a malign influence than oneself, the prediction of disasters which do not: occur has commonly recoiled-on the› prognosticator less painfully than auspicious forecasts that come to nothing, and the more successful as-- trologers have always been astute enough to assign. good fortune only to infrequent conjunctions stars; for which reason, cynically remarked, their předic- tions rarely failed.

of the Pascal

Army's Flying Battleships Return Home

Three of the United States Army's four 15-ton Boeing 4-motored bombers are shown flying in formation over Washington when they returned from a ten-hour non-stop flight that took them over the metropolitan cen. ters of the east. The flying fortresses covered 1,855 miles, the first formation flight they have taken part in.

While, however, some such policy of pessimism appears to be a sound one for weather bureaux and other professional forecasters with re- putations to make or mar, your oc- casional prophet of to-day, рго- nouncing on an. aspect of human achievement, can look into the fu- ture, especially into the rather dis- tant future, far more light-heart-

air density decreases with altitude. edly, secure in the belief that, garding the possibilities of speed, type of result in graphical form

One of the best analyses along The simple conclusion follows, at - though he be proved wrong in the altitude, manoeuvre and range of event, his very statement of an ulti-flight inherent and capable of de- these lines was the subject of a first sight, that high speed is auto- mate has provided just that addi-velopment in the aeroplane as that Royal Institution lecture by Pro-matically associated with high-al- a second fessor Hele-Shaw in 1911, ir the titude flying. But tional stimulus needed for: man to term is understood to-day.

None the less, the paper was pro- course of which he showed graphi-thought shows that the engine in- surpassat

A Prophecy

phetic; for the upper limits in these cally the growth of speed for Atlan- troduces a complication since the Something of this spirit, along directions envisaged by Mr. Wim-tic liners over the latter half of provision of a supercharger can do no more than raise the speed of with a remarkably clear under peris are so considerably in excess the nineteenth century.

If this graph be continued, it in-flight to a maximum value at the standing of the scientific bases of of the records attained up to the aeronautics, were combined by Mr. present that at least a quarter of a dicates an Atlantic.crossing at about height for which the supercharger H. E. Wimperis in the fascinating century of unremitting effort will 39 m.p.h. in 1936, which is not far is designed to maintain the engine and instructive presidential ad- be necessary before they are reach-removed from the Normandie's lat-power at its sea level value. dress on The Natural Limits to ed.:

est performance, and which is quite This period can be estimated with reasonably higher than the speed Human Flight," which he delivered before the Royal Aeronautical So- a fair degree of confidence by ex-actually reached to-day, since the ciety.

trapolating the records of previous steamship, after more than a cen- Here were no flights of fancy, no years, and anyone with a statisti- tury of development, has reached real nor figurative sky-rockets, but cal turn of mind will find an in-the stage when speed advances must sober, closely reasoned opinions re-structive exercise in presenting this be expected at a decreasing rate.

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60,000 Feet

Admittedly the maximum speed attainable with a properly designed.. combination of airscrew, engine and supercharger is nowadays greater at, say, 20,000 ft. than can be ob- tained in the same machine at sea level; but the procedure cannot be extended indefinitely. Engineer-

The aeroplane, by contrast an im-ing. petuous youngster of 30, is still ad- vancing steadily as regards speed. and range of flight, though the graphs of altitude given by Mr. Wimperis and confirmed by Capt. J.

given by Mr. STRANGE S. Irving in his recent Presidential INSECT

Address on "speed" to the Institu- tion of Automobile Engineers, are already showing a tendency to ad- vance less rapidly, apparently to- wards a limit in the region of 60,000 ft, which should be reached within the next twenty years.

CARGO

Not on the passenger list, but on the freight manifest for the last It must not be supposed, however, westbound flight of Pan American that the scientific Mr. Wimperis, Airways Philippine Clipper were a even in his temporary capacity of host of warriors bound for battle in prophet, based his forecasts on so Honolulu. Travelling, uncomplain- insecure a foundation as the extra-ing, in two small boxes, they had polation of graphs.

already flown 9,000 miles when they Past records, indeed, show no were put abroad the Philippine evidence of any upper limit what-Clipper at San Francisco for the ever to the speed or range of air- 2,400 mile overnight step to Hono- craft, and if for that reason the lulu. existence of natural limits demands the more stringent proof, nobody is better aware of it than Mr. Wim peris and nobody could have pre sented a more satisfactory case nor analysed the elements of his sub- ject more convincingly in the pro-

cess.

Tiny Pseudococus, Brivipes from Rio de Janeiro, they think nothing of hopping on a Pan American Clipper at Rio, flying 5,817 miles to Miami, where they change to do mestic airlines, fly cross country. and are put aboard-a-transpacific

It is precisely this use of essen-clipper for the Hawaiian Islands -

tial facts, this grouping of well- established knowledge to reves! new picture, that makes the argu- ment so forceful.

This 11,000 – mile jaunt- only a week in the life of thest neficial- insects; therefore United States Department of Agri- books them regularly The inter-relation between speed culture and altitude is a striking case in through Fan American Airways In- point: Everybody knows that the ternational Air Express Service t resistance of an aeroplane is pro-ald in the world-wide fight för portional to air density, and that land pestilence control.