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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 0748.PDF
JUNE 5, 1919 POSSIBILITIES OF AERIAL TRANSPORT IN PERU A HIGHLY interesting paper under this heading was read by Mr. G. M. Dyott, late Flight Commander, R.N.A.S., before the Royal Aeronautical Society on May 28. The lecture and the cinematograph films and lantern slides accompany ing it were of the greatest interest. We should have liked to published the lecture in full, but lack of space prevents this, and we must reluctantly confine ourselves to a brief risumi of the paper. Mr. Dyott opened his lecture with a few remarks on the topography of South America in genera), and Peru in particular. The chief interest of the country, the lecturer said, lies in the great variety obtaining, sandy desert vibrating with heat, mountain peaks glistening in the land of perpetual snow, deep rocky gorges and vast tropical forests lying within a few days' ride of one another. The distances are relatively short, but the difficulty encountered in traversing them is colossal. When travelling by river the whirlpools and rapids make progress slow and dangerous. Besides, the river, as it winds and wriggles over the low-lying ground, covers two or three times the distance representing the straight fine drawn from point to point. These difficulties introduce the question of aerial transport, especially as Peru is rich in mineral and other natural resources which are often situated in districts almost unaccessible in any other way. The question of landing grounds should not, in the lecturer's opinion, offer any great difficulties, as at any rate near the coast there are great num bers of suitable grounds which would require very little work to put them in order, and even among the high peaks of the Andes there are numerous table-lands of considerable size which would require very little draining and levelling to make them suitable. As to the introduction of aircraft, Mr. Dyott said that, as regards any saving in time, this is of small importance in any of the Latin American countries, time being there an article of very little value, and no help could be expected from the local inhabitants By way of an example he mentioned that quite recently the Columbian Government was approached by an American firm with a view to establishing aerial service between Bogota and the coast. After some discussion the authorities replied that should the venture prove a failure it probably meant fatal accidents in which Columbians would be killed. If, on the other hand, it was successful, then a lot of foreigners would be brought to the capital, both of which alternatives were un desirable. This is quite typical of the attitude of the in habitants of many sections of South America. Although under normal conditions the aeroplane cannot, the lecturer pointed out, compete with railways, &c, in the transportation of goods and merchandise, there are abnormal conditions when the aeroplane can come to the rescue and show atprofit. The following is a typical example of such instances:— On the east side of the Maranon river near Soledad, in the department of La Libertad, are some gold mines being de veloped by a Russian, Sr. Tarnivisky. About 60 tons of material and machinery has been brought up from Salaverry on the coast 90 miles away at a cost averaging £100 a ton. It has taken three full years to do this and another six months will have passed before the mine and mill are in operation. A suitable aeroplane would have moved the same freight with the greatest ease within six months and show a profit at the same rate of £100 per ton. The profit would not have been all on the side of the transportation company either, as the owners of the mine would have started production three years earlier and thus saved interest on capital for three barren years, to say nothing of profits that might have been made during that time had the mine been working. The prospects of developing the inland waterways of the country with hydro-aeroplanes are decidedly good. The many tributaries of the Amazon offer natural landing areas over thousands of miles of territory, which would cost nothing to prepare or maintain. Launch service on the rivers is slow, uncertain, and at some seasons difficult. A comprehensive system of hydro-aeroplanes would do wonders in bringing in wild and uninhabited regions within easy reach of civilisation. It took the writer nearly a month to go from Iquitos to the Pogo de Manseriche, a distance which a fast hydro-aeroplane could traverse inside five hours. There would be nothing very difficult about starting regular service of this kind—in fact, it would be extremely easy as compared with service in the Sierra, when once a definite plan of action had been decided on. A town like Moyobamba would benefit largely, for although situated on the river Mayo, which is of ample width, it is cut off from all communications with the main river on account of a quarter of a mile of rapids below the town which is an effective barrier to all latmch service. A hydro-aeroplane could fly past this trivial obstruction and thus afford a much needed outlet to the Huallaga river and thence to Iquitos. As it is, Moyobamba is completely isolated, but for a perilous trail, viz., Balzapuerto, which is enough to deter the most hardened traveller from passing that way. The journey to Chachapoyas to the westward is over a trail equally as bad, and the one south to Taropota is no better. Gold dredging has been attempted by many companies in the Santiago and Alto Maranon rivers. Each effort has met with failure after spending colossal sums on machinery and strenuous efforts in bringingthe equipment up river. Failure has always resulted because adequate means of rapid com munication with civilisation was never maintained. In one case a small but important part of the machinery broke ; a canoe was despatched to Iquitos with the part, but all was lost in the river. After two months waiting another party set out and after eight months returned only to find the dredge overgrown with vegetation and abandoned by the few re maining men who had not died of fever. Had the company spent £3,000 on a good hydro-aeroplane they would have been within four hours of Iquitos and able to meet a situation of this kind with great promptness. After all, an expenditure of 2 per cent, on the value of the machinery would not have been an extravagant price to pay. The lecturer then related some very interesting observations he had made with regard to meteorological conditions and the prevailing winds, with the effects on these of the mountain ranges. Contrary to general opinion, Mr. Dyott did not con sider the crossing of the high ridges of the Andes difficult, but flying over some of the valleys might, he thought, be so in a machine that was somewhat under-powered, and after 4 p.m. it might even be really dangerous on account of the downward trend of the winds. With regard to flying over the Amazon, the lecturer said:— In closing I would like to make a few remarks in regard to the river Amazon, as I suppose that there is no one who having had experience with seaplanes has not thought at some time or another about flying up this mammoth river and its many tributaries. Personally I would prefer to do the first 2,147 miles as far as Iquitos, the inland port of Peru, in one of the comfortable ocean-going steamers belonging to the Booth Line. This part of the journey can be divided into three sections—Salinas, where a pilot is taken on, to Para no miles ; Para to Manaos 865 miles, and thence to Iquitos 1,172 miles. Up to this point the river is so colossal that there is not much pleasure in traversing it even in a 3,000-ton steamer. Its overall width at Iquitos is roughly two miles, the main channel being 850 metres, then an island, and then a more shallow channel of 1,700 metres width. High water marks occur in the months of March, April and May and low water July, August, September. It so happens that the northern tributaries flowing down from Ecuador are in flood at a different time of the year from the southern tributaries, but as the seasons are not diametrically out of phase with each other there is a pronounced flood period in the river during the months mentioned. From Iquitos to the celebrated Pongo de Manseriche there are a few tiny settlements and a small military post of Baranca. The hydro-aeroplane could alight anywhere along this part without the slightest trouble, but as there are so few habitations, sometimes 100 miles apart, and these only inhabited by half-caste Indians, there would not be much opportunity of trading. From the Pongo to Bella Vista, a distance of approximately 150 miles, landings on the river could only be made at special points, as there are many gorges and rapids and the water runs with considerable velocity. During the discussion following the lecture, General Brooke-Popham said he thought it would be an excellent idea if more papers of this nature were read before the Royal Aeronautical Society, since their educational value was very great indeed, and it was important to know from men who, like Commander Dyott, had personally investigated conditions whether or not a given country was suitable for the intro duction of aircraft. Capt. Thurston said he could endorse all the lecturer had said about the inhabitants. He further pointed out that his experiences in South America had shown him that machines used there would have to be of, not only special design, but also of special construction, since the insects would make short work of any machine built in the ordinary way, and he knew of no glue that would withstand the climate. Lieut.-Col. Cave-Brown Cave expressed the opinion that, from the lecturer's description of the country, it appeared to him that the airship would, in the majority of cases, prove a more serviceable craft than either the aeroplane or seaplane. Personally, we are inclined to agree with him. 748
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