196

FLIGHT.

MARCH 3,

1938.

Incredible

HIS week's prize for puerility must surely go to the Sunday newspaper air correspondent (or to his employers, who, presumably, demand this sort of thing) for his long front-page story about the possibility of the missing long-range Wellesley having been lured out to sea by wireless bearings transmitted by a foreign power posing as an Air Ministry station, and then '' brought down'' in order that its '' geodetic secrets'' could be discovered. Ordinarily, a penny-dreadful tale of this kind has no effect other than to provide a good many people with a good deal of amusement. In such circumstances as the present, however, its publication is nothing less than rank bad taste, especially in view of the feelings of the relatives and friends of the missing crew; they must be a sad prey to a thousand hopes and fears, and in no state of mind to perceive instantly the futility of such ideas. There is one reassuring aspect: casual conversations overheard afterwards suggested that the story had proved too much for the digestive powers even of the readers of the particular paper in which the story appeared.

THE

O U TL

Grid Dangers

WO more accidents in the last fortnight, involving aircraft and electric power cables, suggest that something should be done to combat what is becoming an undeniable menace. At least an official enquiry into the matter might be held. That there are arguments questioning the existence of any danger we well know. It is maintained that a pilot who flies low enough to get himself mixed up with

power cables is asking for trouble; that people who strike them when making forced landings are in extremis in any case, and are just as likely to hit trees, factory chimneys, telegraph wires or other obstacles which, while of less sinister reputation, have much the same effect on the fragile structure of an aeroplane; and that the aeroplane will be just as likely to ignite, whatever the cause of its downfall. This slightly cynical attitude, too often encountered in aviation, is all very well, but the fact remains that powercable fatalities, either to military or to civil aircraft, seem to be almost weekly occurrences. Cynicism will not save lives. If we are to accept the contention that the cost of putting grid cables underground would be prohibitive, let us explore ways and means of minimising the danger. The existence of grid lines might be made more obvious to the pilot flying in bad weather by basing each pylon on a chalk circle, or (in the face of protests from naturelovers) painting it some contrasting colour. Again, lines which cross hill-gaps likely to be used by weather-pressed pilots might be strung with small objects, as are telegraph wires near game preserves; or, better still, the cables taken underground at such spots. Thirdly, special distinctive markings might be made where grid lines cross or adjoin fields which would otherwise be inviting for forced landings. Certainly no cable should be permitted above ground in the vicinity of aerodromes. It would be interesting to hear the views of pilots who fly regularly in pylon-infested parts of the country.

UNSHACKLED: Opposing aerodynamical forces complete the first "public" severance of the Short-Mayo combination, a..describedand illustrated bv a cine filmon page 209. This picture, dramatic in its detail, records for posterity a memorable moment in the history of flying.