Attention has been drawn to the production of a reliable amphibious aireraft—a machine which will be equally at home on water, on Jand and in the air, Lately extensive tests have been carried out with the Vickers' Viking, with most satisfactory results, as far as the land side is concerned. Now the machine has to be put through its water tests ab Southampton, after which, if everything ig satisfactory, a full announcement as to the performance will be issued.
The Vickers' Viking is an ai craft with a boat shaped fuselage, fitted with a collapsible undercarriage. For landing and rising front he ground this chassis can be locked into position, but when in.the air it can be withdrawn from the pilot's scat, thus making the machine ready to land on water and reducing the lead-resistance whilst in the air. A Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engine is used, which gives the Viking a speed of about 115 miles per hour, The machine is at present fitted to carry a pilot and four passengers. It may be mentioned that this is the second machine of the type produced by Messrs. Vickers, Ld., the first being that on which Sir John Alcock met his death, though it cannot be too strongly aged that the accident was in no way the fault of the machine, but was entirely duc to the bad weather conditions which reveiled when he tried to fly the king over to Paris for the Octo Show. The. machine resent, differs from minor modifications, i we: iginal only in The importance of this advance cannot well be over-estimated. Many flights now made by cither seaplanes or aeroplanes involve devious routes, so that the craft may keep over the element on which it may land in safety in vase of engine failure. 'The amphibian will be able to steer a much more direct course, as the necestaty alteration for landing on water ox dry ground can be made from the pilot's seat in a few moments. In addition, routes which are now' extremely difficult for any one type of airctaft—for example, the Cairo to Cape Town route—may he satisfactorily navigated in an amphibian, In the case of Africa, particularlx, the new machine should prove of particular value. The difficult aerodromes of the Upper Nile valley and in the region of the Great Lakes may be. discounted. The machine will be able to land on the river or the lakes, when the bad regions are reached. In Egypt and in South Africa the lending grounds may be used. It is the same elsewhere. On_ the London to Paris flights' machines will be able to leave the Thames, fly with safety over the land, and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.