Evening star., 1921-06-05

" ter Beware OF it. Its prom
ise is sinister. though it is
wonderful. The helicopter's s
chief use will be for war.
We are rapidly entering the epoch
Of the air. Yet people all over Europe
are full of agitation and worry.
First. the good facts; then the bad.
The Goliath -Farmap" commercial
airplane has just made sensational
trip, three times round the circuit
! Paris. Orleans, Rouen, Metz. Dijon.
Paris, in thirty-four hours. flying at
an average speed of "a miles per hour.
| The circuit measures $50 miles, and
three times round it makes 2,7so
miles.
This trip won a race on conditions
F.! instituted by the technical section OF
| the French governments aeronautlcs.
| The planes must be mutt motor
| (three motors minimum). Of a speed
at least SO miles per hour at 1000
yards altitude and 10 miles at 5000
yards, with the theoretical ceiling
at $500 yards And there must be an
attained safe relation between car
| rying space and useful transportaoie
weight.
The Goliath. a French commercial
machine of "a tons net freight and
passenger charge. easily attained the
speeds required and rose in one hour
and five minutes to 1850 yards alti-
tude. Which is the latest record. in
its way.
ERENcHMEN arc spinning an aerial
network of passenger. mail and
freight routes across Europe in every
direction. They compete on the Paris
! London route with the British COM
panies, but elsewhere, in southern and
central Europe, they practically hold
the field alone
| Tourists wishing to travel by air to
Spain, Portugal. Italy or even further
alield to Morocco can buy their tick
cts in the Paris boulevard and start
next day. The great air line to Casa
blanca has enlarged it's service from
last year and takes the flying post
Brussels is linking up Antwerp Be-
fore summer is over it will take in
Holland. then Denmark and the Scan
dinavian peninsula.
But 1t is in the new central Euro
pean states that the French airmen
are making their really great effort
Every morning an airplane leaves for
Strasburg. Thence the air line crosses
Nuremberg and south Germany
straight to Prague. the capital of
Gzechoslovakia. The relaying French
plane starts from Prague and flies
north to Warsaw. Dotted red lines on
tho great map Of Europe, in the va
rfoua flying companies Offices, show
how these air expresses are being
multiplied. They will reach Belgrade
and, Sofia, Bucharest and Constanti-
nople. Sturdy. optimism is the char
acteristic Of French flying companies,
and So they never refer to the diff
culties Of organising services across
the Carpathians and the Balkan
states, but merely say that the Bu-
and that summer will see them reach
Constantinople.
How is it done? BY the intelligent
cooperation of the French govern
ment. Money is scarce in the French
treasury, but there IS always some to
spare Tor any new and intelligent ef-
fort to promote French aerial pres
tige In Europe. Aerial transport COM
panfes are paid subsidies for the car
ryingsof passengers and mails. Other
wise, with the. huge initial costs, they
would be forced to abandon their
longer flights and cramp their serv-
ices. 2s'=< =" -
Senior Pescara, the Argentine in
ventof at Barcelona, has not only been
aided to his Full needs by the French
milltAfy -InlbSlONs Dull the French gov
ernment has actually bought the Pes
cara heffcopter for the French army,
deciaring itself to be entirely. satis-
fled with the preliminary try-out.
Henceforfh you need not expect to
hear detailed descriptions of its de-
vefopment, because the French have
bought It,! not for you and us. but for
its army. The particular "ace" at
tached to 1t is de Romanet. holder Of
the worlds speed record in an air
plane, - r. a..
A Philosopher. you know, is an aerial
machine different entirely from an
Fairpiane.s Instead Of mounting into
the air .obliquely by taking advantage
Of air pressure on rigid sliding
planes, II mounts vertically through
thes medium of a propeller revolving
horizontally at the top Of the machine
1T screws itself straight up into the
air. While all the problems are/dif-
ferent from those Of the. airplane tthe
Pescafa mast and horizontally revolv-
ing wings are not topheavy,, though
they look so). the difficulty has always
been to achieve horizontal flight after
the necessary height had been at
tained.
=. ***
1A7ITH an apparatus similar to an
w airplane joystick. Pescara con-
~ 90 ryhfAfHs "a mt,