Notes

Abstract

MUCH has been said lately about the commercial possibilities of aircraft after the war, and the question of an aerial post has been discussed by a responsible committee; yet to the man in the street such a proposition seemed to be rather far-fetched. The splendid flight made on September 24 by Capt. Giulio Laureati from Turin to London was a most practical and striking demonstration of the possibilities of the use of aircraft, and could scarcely have come at a more appropriate time. Capt. Laureati flew the whole distance of 650 miles without descending in seven hours and twenty minutes, a speed of eighty-nine miles per hour. The wind was adverse, so that the actual flight speed was above this figure. Letters were carried, including one from the King of Italy to our own King; and the Italian morning papers were delivered in London in the afternoon. A more direct proof of the practicability of the rapid delivery of light articles over long distances by means of aircraft could scarcely be imagined. The machine flown was one built by the Societa Italiana Aeroplani, fitted with a Fiat engine, a similar machine to that on which the same pilot previously flew 920 miles without stopping-from Turin to Naples and back. The present flight is the longest “international “flight yet made, and the pilot met with a very warm reception at Hounslow, where he landed, and where he was met by representatives of the Air Board, the Admiralty, and the War Office. Capt. Laureati deserves the highest congratulations on his splendid feat, and it is to be hoped that this flight marks the commencement of a new epoch of rapid transit from country to country by means of aircraft, with a corresponding benefit to international trade.