1953-09-19 — Page 5

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DIVERSION

TEGIE OF BRITAIN

"The Motorists Strike Back

THER CHINA" MAIL, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1958.

NEW ACHIEVEMENTS in rocket warfare stir the imagination........ This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first flight.......... This month saw the great Farnborough Air Show....The China Mail chooses this moment to invite the head of B.O.A.C. to lay aside the business problem of running an airline-and to look ahead. His answer-to a generation increasingly fascinated by science-fiction-is the basis for lively argument on what the next 50 years will mean in the air: How far-fetched is it?

T

MY DREAM OF

THE FUTURE

-But IS it such

a dream

by SIR MILES THOMAS, D.F.C.

on

HE mono-rail car was

built so

that reaching the airport it abutted obliquely against the circular shell of the Transutiantle jetliner.

Then as the doors of the jetliner, shut, a transveyor on which it was standing shifted it quietly sideways to the launching site.

When you look at it, perhaps it is not a very exciting vehicle, this 1999 supersonic rocket jetliner.

The Comel had something speaker ̈ ̈ ̈ ̈"1fullo Speedbird like that way back in 1852, but Charlie Abel. You are clear to that of course was for the old- 50,000ft, on airways style radio signalling device, "Shannon,"

west of

"Roger, Of course, no crew is carried.

says the captain. With his captain's token key The klea of transporting non-

Lover, paying load for ather than very he unlocks a red safety short subsonic, journeys, say, hinges it back and presses the 1,000 miles or so, was dropped buttons beneath. by 1975,

Competitive economics made it essential to do so. Instead, there are two captains and two co-pilots and two stewards on cach service with Rocket Jet Liner-three crew in London and three in New York.

AT a British

They sit in quiet, sterilised The "body" is ຄ pure rooms on their respective air-

ports. streamline shape.

The chief difference

between

it and its 50-year-old predeces-

Take-off

sors, the jet planes and guided missiles of the fifties, is that its "Rings" are adjustable and all in the curved

one piece. There are no separate elevators or allerons.

*Airborne

Tance from outside there comes a muted whoosh as the BR.J.L. gathers speed along the grid, the hard blast of jet-stream muffled by the lat- ficed sound splitters.

Its

POLIO

mountaineer

For 20 years he fought. His weapons were will-power and imagination-his aim was to do as other men did

T

only better.

by HUGH CLELAND

but

HE five-letter word conversation, "Do what the

nurses say, easts a kind of evil doctors and

rover take no for an answer. spell over, mothers of loast of all from yourself.". young childron, whenever Those who heard him had it catches their eye, but been exharted

milar before but the words especially at this time of tering

camd differently from his; for year. The word is POLIO. he hat put them into practice,

house

In a big (128 roome)

Tutors schooled him, and he In Hampshire, that was used went into business with 1 for four years as a hunting brother. He became D con- lodge by George IV when he aiderable figure in the oil world was Prince of Wales, a' manof and a plonoor in the held of 82 takes time off from a vast industrial safely appliances range of activities, to dream o a young man about the future.

Is there a link between the two- the young mother Brodeties and the old man's dreams? There

·He went to live at the Grange with his wife 20 years ago,

In those days he entertained on some scale in the house, which was the first to be built with Icoms arranged insultes (1) has 16. He, Mr 11). There were 15 servants Lowie Charles Wellach, was then And that WES barely stricken with pollo when ho WeLs ก child of two, wa paralysed from the hip down, and was not expected to walk again.

enough

When war came, the Army took over the Grunge, and Mr Wallach and his wife moved west wing. King Mr Churchill

He had the boat attention Into the that the medical world of those George VI and daye could provide. But he both visited the house to study also fought the finess's effect a relief map of the fighting with his will-power and his zone that was constructed on frangiration; '

the ballroom floor,

It took 20 years of painful persevering, but he became, as well

big businessman, connoinacur and art collector. a plus-tuʊ goller, skoler and mountaineer.

Dream...and reality

THE dream he dreams is that

He was proud

WALLACH lied

MRS

1944, and now he lives

alone. with butler and his wife to look after him and their son to act as his chauffeur.

He took me round the house, and showed me some of his

From a steady 000 miles an hour the airspeed indicator hovers around the 675 mark; then moves rapidly forward until it steadies again at 1,0501 his home, which Inigo treasures old masters, raru Jones bulit in 1045, might one furniture, a library of 10,000 day become

centre where 18th + pollo victims could be

miles an hour. The captain brings the throttle back to the safety gate

"Cruise

thrust"

co-pilot.

says to the

He

sces

from

In all things.

there is

BOOTA'S

"FINEST

ORY GL

LONDON

only

ONE BEST

Choose

BOOTH'S

sole Distributoral

GILMAN & COMPANY LIMITED

KONG LONG.

TAILOR CHEUNG

The Tailor for Men of Distinction

to 19th century. books, taught

ancient · maps, how to help themselves become manuscripts, themselves

archaeological collections again. them learning

Egypt, Mexico, Britain. to walk and

Capability He was proud-of- oil these;" ared the but then he took me back to his parkland of the

the sitting-room, and ślïowed me 1,000-moro estate of Northing letter. It came from an address ton.

Alresford. But he also exes the swamp of dim- in Streatham, and was from a culties that lies' between the woman whom" pollo had left

Cary Grant, one of the ton paralysed. She had heard his-bost dressed stars-in Holly dream and the reality.

All three watch tiny blips of light as they appear at half-prins Mecina intervald on to a sweeping

the North Inap screens of.......! Atlantic in front of them.

The: B.R.J.L.' la' well on. Its way, flying faster than sound. its 40 passengers comfortably asleep.

It was not until atomic power

made great volumes of intense

heat available at economic costs In 1972 that it was possible to produce a fuel of sufficient con- centration to enable supersonic Alights of ronges of up to 4,000 - mues to be made.

Coming in

WHEN the B.R... was about level with Boston, the down procedure began.

Dear

be

of in iny

ព

words about getting better by "This marvellous place."

will-power. She was trying to said with a gesture, it's quite do that, and succeeding. One unsuitable now with the huge day I'm going to pluck up my public ronges and the high ceilings, courage and travel by for a hospitni or * nursing transport, Instend home. But I should consider chair,” she wrote, handing it over, if it could be turned into a kind of centre "Isn't that a wonderfut where people could come after lotter?" Mr Wallach said, the first stages of their illness, think it gave

much him and for rehabilitation."

pleasure as all the treasures in his house.

bow.

in

----We sat and talked in a smal} room in the west wing of the let-house, the only part lived

On the walls hung valuable paintings, five Goyas, Inaiettos und others. The TV set was lost switched on for people on the estate to see the Coronation Watching TV is too inactive an occupa diem for Mr Wallach.

The steward checited the ad- justment of the cabin pressure. as the nose of the aircraft was cused downwards, and, with the power reduced,,she began her fung slid down the invisible hill through the clouds.

At 82, he is brisk, créel. clear-eyed, and, though he uses right leg stick to aid his which paralysis affected, highly mobile."

·Suddenly, as is the habit with aircrew, the three men in the control cabin became intensely busy in contrast with their previous calm contemplation of the dials and gauges,

The co-pilot checked with alrport staff the lighting of Fido on the landing basin. Through his slow-motion tele-

Although it was

clear day- vision, which stroboscopically light and not a trace

of mist, after he came back reduces speeds either by 00 or the descendant of the old fog

landing

Never take 'No'

SHORT time ago, soon from

99 percent, the captain watches dispersal heat-generator was his fourth round-the-world trip his craft, nursing it gently off habitually used for the runway into his Initial these fast aircraft. wall facing climb, them u three- D cinema The trolley. undercarriage projects moving cloud shapes from

which the B.R.J.L

and changing aerial vistas to launched automatically brakes attune their mind psychological to a stand-cli at the end of ly to the work in hand.

three rador screens in the

Tha flying surfaces are called "fingers! because during the developing period one Ministry staked the right to sponsor any- thing with wings like an пото- plane, while another Ministry

then glow stondily to show that claimed Jurisdiction over all rocket devices that were steered the BR.J.L. is on the launching by fins.

ramp, the captain takes a visual check of the scene through his television panel,

Air currents

the grid runway.

THE technique was that with "Airbourne" laconically re-

tho

to the "Angs" outstretched

(he travelled as for, as he could by Comet), he entertained 150 pollo victims to a party at the Grange, us his home is named, "The most enjoyable day I've ever: hád," he said.

Use your will-power linked to your brain and your nervous

POCKET CARTOON

by OSDERT LANÇÁSTER

As the red lights above the ports the captain to control. He their maximum span the air-tem to try to get well London cockpit first flicker and continues gently moving a half- craft was guided down by auto- again," he begged his guests in SIZC joy-stick which projects radar to low altitude, and on files level,

forward-facing airport a from his console. The B.R.J.L. the threshold of the approach to

rapidly accelerating.

remote-reading rocket was discharged to bring Then, as the

in front of him the speed down to approxi- speedometer

300 mately 200 miles an hour, In the subsequent squabble a

registers a true airspeed of

At the beginning of the flight solution was found by merging ' He sees the aircraft with its miles an hour 'the captain cases the two Ministries it had been cone-shaped tail, wherein both the stick back, with a twisting path into the basin, strong up- Its ball ward currents of hot air induced done before and settling hap the rocket and the jet-turbine sideways motion on

automatically heated pily for "fings."

are housed, pointing downwards joint. On the television screen by the

is seen to shoot Fido system provided a cushion, Into 理 long, gridded under the BRJL.

a and right at the edge of the in ground channel

runs purposefully upwards that

basin were great wind tunnels climbing are, directly across the airport, ........

from which Issued powerful Under the grid are rows

streams of air simulating head- of

winds of 60 knols or so.

In them the B.R.J.L.. settled completely, movable_relä-” splitters they call them that tive to the body, and could be deaden the initial blast and

on the water with a #wept back..more and more as thunder of the Jot take-off. the speed increased.

Swept back

"PINGS," themselves werb strangely, shoped baffles-sound

There was thus no point in having “allerons or flaps or any

other

Whoosh

10tle-moving surfaces

and CPEAKING 'apparently to no

'Here we go'

"ON course," says the naviga-

tor.

Award speed of nat more than

75 miles un hour.

Ten minutes more, and the Final vestiges of thrust from navigator reports, "40,000 feel the throttled - down turbines in the clear, on course. Ready gave her steerage way on to o to pierce."

moving rubber, bolt conveyer up we gu anys the cap which she rode into the clear, "Here weakened the

the old fashionedono in particular although tain "Stand by to give full space on a Iranaveyor which actually to the control tower, sweep-back and first boost. Full immediately moved sideways to through his throat dcrophone boost for 20 seconds.... Ready, where the mono-rail car was In front of the fuselage there the captain says "Calling to go. Go"

which both complicated

wing structures

waiting

is a proboscis-like aeriel rod. London Control. This Is Speed Through his wow-motion John Smith, one of the pas What look like piacos where the bird Charlie Abel 509 Monarch teleradar eyepiece, he watches a sengers, looked at the airport windows should ·"-havo been ready for take-off. Can I have faint trail of dark amoka Lauing block; then he looked at his (there are none) are patches of clearance plaasof":

from the jet pipòsing he pushes wristwatch, ale t plastic surfaced aerials for the Promptly comes the reply the throttle lever on his console. He had got to New York two radar control system.

through the overhead loud- forward through a safety' gute. hours earlier than ho started,

** Despite what. Dri:Stopea says, Deirdre dear,1 mill think we shall have to wall a little time yes before Mr.

Right 'comes along ?***

This ingenious. Chinese Candle Clock probably belongs to the latter half of the Chou Dynasty. As the fame burnt through each string; a weight dropped on to a metalplate, thussounding the hours.

Twenty-five

centuries in Time

Mo

Look!

wood, placed numerous orders with us during his visit to Hong Kong.

For the conivenlence of tourists, orders can be com- pleted in 24 hours..

No. 1, Theatre Lane, Behind Queen's Theatre, Bong Kong. Tel: 31484.

FORE than two and a half thousand years - ago, the Chinese told the time by means of this magnificent Candle Clock. In principle, if is the essence of simplicity. A slow-burning taper lies on a group of evenly spaced wire supports, and burns, one by one, lengths of string weighted

+!

periods visibly and audibly, Behold the first alarm clock!

C

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at elther end and set at intervals above the flame... Date List, Cules of experience. In the Rolex Ditto

As these weights are burnt through, they fall into in beats tray placed below, the sound marking the

The Rolex Oyster

› rate to the fecit dekris, compact and elegana-h marks the grundigt graniu za modern webt- wwwcharge. Waterpriafed by the Tumand.

· Opaber annet self-mining), and automáticully - showbis the date li u thy winden, as she shat: De incórporates all the fontierà maat waved in,

It in the

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The calendar

in

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