Evening star., 1923-07-30
BRITAIN. T0'LAUNCH
GREATEST AIR LINE
"FIying Hotels" Will Mark
Revolution in Travel
Methods.
BY WARREN b. WELLS.
By Cable to The Star and New York Tribune
: Copyright, 1923.

BY Gable to The Star and New York Tribune
I Copyright. 1928.
LONDON, July 30.-A revolution
| in world travel. which within a COM
paratively short time may make
present-day liners and expresses OBJ
| solete. is foreshadowed In the de-
cision of the British government to
start Immediately it's imperial air
ship service.
The lead in world wide airship
travel will be taken in a scheme
which calls for regular sailings of
| air liners. toward Australia, via
Egypt anu India, bringing the entire
Pacific dominion within ten DAYS
from the heart of the empire and
making the journey to the two coun-
tries, en- route, a mere matter of
two and five days respectively.
The air service, SUCH as seemed
a fantastic dream when Rudyard
! kipling anticipated it a few years
ago in imaginative romance. is not
a project merely. Fully prepared
fnd practical schemes have been
ready for some time awaiting only
he governments approval. Then the
| Euiidihg of an imperial sky feet of
| oir: slbles. larger than any. yet seen
| titheF III th1S country or in Ger
many, can be begun right away.
while the development OF the moor
ing-mast system. will obviate the
necessity Of constructing big and
costly bases at halts along the route
Experts Are Satisfied.
| The plans are the work of Naval
| commander Burney, who has had
them under consideration for more
than a year. Government experts
9AtlGfpd ha
| OF a practical nature
| Though there will be government
| packing in the preliminary stage of
| development. it is planned to run the
! cial basis and there will be a long
| term contract along similar lines to
| that regarding continental airplane
services already adopted in principle
The first stop of the fleet of airships
| starting In England will be Egypt
the route later to be extended to In
dla and finally to Australia The
| dirigibles which are accommodating
| 120 to $50 people will be flying hotels
| They will take off from London's air
port at Croydon twice weekly and
forty-eight hours later passengers
| Will be crossing the pyramids
Experts are confident that 5000. 600
cubic feet of ships can be built sue
! Gessfully now with engines capa-
| bic OF developing eighty marin q
| horsepower. According to the plans,
! there Will be sufficient fuel aboard
| each dirigible for a continuous five
day run. and accommodation will be
made for sleeping cabins. as we'll as
: a lounge and dining saloon. designed
/ along the lines of Pullman car,
each capable OF holding half the total
number Of passengers
! Cook by Electricity.
! The cooking will be done electric
ally. and there will be electric lighters
in the lounge where matches will be
| barred a wireless news service
! similar to that of Atlantic liners will
/ keep these hotels in touch with the
worlds events
II plans work out according TO
schedule the journey TO Egypt will
to India a fortnight. and TO Australia
! nearly three weeks. The saving of
: time is expected to draw enough traf-
| fic to make the scheme a commercial
| of the sheme registers a remarkable
comeback to the lighter than air
! flying which since the armistice
! threatened to be thrown into the dis
card.
! Although nearly 5000, 900. 900 were
! spent during the war on the construc-
| tion of airship bases. the government
| concentrated its main attention on
the development of heavier-than-air
| flying.
Commander Burney's scheme was
submitted at the last moment after
number of others had been turned
down.
! Another round-the-world airpIane
| flight is now being planned with the
approval Of the air ministry, but this
! is experimental merely. and the gov
! ernment's decision may be taken as
| implying a settled policy to hold down
| a il planes to short services. such as
| those on the continent now in opera
ton. and concentrate on dirigibles for
development of long distance serv-