The next trial of Mercury, the upper component of the famous Mayo composite aircraft is being made not over the Atlantic, but from England to the Cape. She will start from Scotland, in order to gains the world's record for a non-stop flight, as the distance from Southampton^to the Cape is only 5,960 miles over 300 less them the Russian non-stop flight to California which at present holds the record; but the' principal aim is to test high wing-loading under practical conditions, Four new engines of the same type as were used in the Atlantic flight have been fitted. The petrol consumption on that flight was very low, only 54 gallons an hour for all four engines. With full petrol load of 2100 gallons, Mercury's cruising speed of 175 mph. still gives a range of 6825 miles, allowing ample margin for a non-stop flight from Southampton to the Cape.
Aviation seems likely to bring back to Shoreham" some of the importance it had in the days when Brighton, not yet discovered by the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV, was known as the little village near- Shore-ham. For many decades Shoreham's har-hour has been little used except by coast wise shipping. But its airport, one of the oldest in the kingdom is becoming more and more important as an alternative to Croydon when the weather is bad. Not only is the Sussex coast one of the sunniest parts of England but it is singularly free from fog, perhaps because of the chalk foundation of the Downs. At busy times, moreover, Croydon is crowded and aeroplanes have to wait to get in. With the new and frequent service of electric trains passengers may even save time by landing at Shoreham, whence the train journey to Victoria is 70 minutes, whereas the aeroplane takes half an hour from Shoreham to Croydon, and from there to Victoria is another 50. minutes. The úp-shot is that Shoreham is building new hangars and customs stations, and has a bus service to take people to the station, where a man is waiting with tickets for them. How travellers are spoiled nowadays!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.