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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 0430.PDF
APRIL 18, 1918. 3o CO <u s I asu O)O m•d as (0 B o •s •o o ou to Q.o U <6B O •oc so pronounced, that a move to remedy the position via theair is now taking definite shape. Summarised by the Chris- tiania correspondent of the Times, the latest developmentsembrace a scheme for an air mail service, backed by a large company, -which includes many of the most prominent menin various fields of Norwegian industrial activity. The com- pany the writer states, is the Norwegian Air Route Company,which is now being formed in Norway. Its share capital is already more than £150,000, and it is increasing every week.Its subscription list was to be issued on April 8th, in £55 shares. It has met with unqualified support on the part of the entireNorwegian press. It will be remembered that just before war broke out, Capt. Tryggve Gran, of the British Army,made the first air trip across the North Sea, covering the distance between Aberdeen and Stavanger in about 5 hours.He is now on leave in Norway, where he has been welcomed by his countrymen. The aim of the Air Route Companyis to open as soon as possible a regular mail traffic by air between Aberdeen and Stavanger, with the necessary arrange-ments for continuation from there—from Stavanger via Christianssand to Christiania ; from. Stavanger to Copenhagen,also via Christianssand ; aijd, north from Stavanger to Bergen and North Norway. It'is estimated that the passage of theNorth Sea coidd be made in about 4J hours, and that, as a general rule, the air mail would leave Aberdeen in the morningand would reach both Christiania and Copenhagen in the afternoon. In this connection I may mention that in May aregular air route will be opened between the Skaw and Copenhagen. I need, hardly insist that such an air route, even if it wereonly practicable twice a week, would be a very great improve- ment as compared with the conditions now obtaining. Nor-wegian experts appear to have no doubt about its possibility. But the promoters of the Air Route Company and all inter-ested in the scheme realise that sympathy ana practical support from Great Britain are essential for success. Accordingly,Capt. Gyth Dehli, Director of the seaplane works of the Royal Norwegian Navy and technical expert to the Air RouteCompany, is already in Great Britain, negotiating with the British authorities for a satisfactory solution of the problemsinvolved. L. F. D. writes, apropos the " What is it ? " badge recentlypublished in " FLIGHT " :—" I have been able to ascertainfrom a reliable source that the German silver badge mentioned in Airisms of your issue of March 28th is a decoration forflight 25 times over the enemy lines or country." A PILOT'S " life of luxury " out yonder may fit in with theconceptions of some who have seen and have in mind only the silver lining of the rest period of our Air Force at theFront, but by way of the other side of the picture the follow- ing extract irom the letter of one of our fighting boys, whohas been strafing in the British right wing, hardly fits into the frame of drawing-room pleasures suggested as the normalconditions of R.F.C. pilots when on active service. The pilot's letter runs as follows :— " It seems years since I had a good sleep, and I can'tremember when I washed last. My memory of the last few days is a nightmare vision of always flying and shooting andbombing German infantry and transport; changing machine- gun drums ; continuous flying; then back to a strangeaerodrome, with a machine riddled with bullets from the ground. Everywhere mechanics are working like demons,refilling the tanks, and fitting more bombs and ammunition. Then off I fly again, only a few hundred feet up, miles behindthe Hun lines, looking for his transport and troops. " I am writing at 6.30 a.m. We were to leave the ground atdawn, but a drifting mist has stopped that, and we are waiting for it to clear. This is the first spare few minutes I have hadfor several days. Up before dawn, and never to bed before midnight. " The work is dangerous—not because of the Germanmachines, but because we fly so low that the ground machine guns get a perfect target. I caught about 3,000 infantryyesterday, packed in fours along a road, emptied all my ammunition into them, and left them streaming across thefields, minus ominous black heaps. My engine was shot through, but just brought me home." m m m » The King at an Air Station.IT was announced in the Court Circular of April nth that the King and Queen visited an Air Station on the morningof that day, and were received on arrival by Brigadier-General H. D. Briggs and Captain the Priuce Albert, R.A.F. Onthe conclusion of the inspection Their Majesties left by special train for Windsor, reaching the Castle shortly after 6 o'clock. 428
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