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Aviation History
1920
1920 - 0022.PDF
JANUARY I, 1920 THE CAIRO-CAPE ROUTE THE Air Ministry makes the following announcement:—" It is interesting to note what has been done in the matter oi preparing the all-British "air route between Cairo and theCape, now available for traffic. " In December, 1918, three survey parties, known respec-tively as Nos. 1, 2 and 3, African Survey Parties (No 1 under the command of Major Long, D.S.O., No. 2 under MajorEmmett, and No. 3 under Major Court-Treatt and Capt. Stortridge.—ED.) were despatched to explore and as far aspossible prepare the most suitable air route through Africa. These parties were instructed to get into personal touch andwork in conjunction with the administrative authorities in each zone, and the happy results of this policy, maintainedthroughout, have been very marked. " No. 1 party dealt with the section from Cairo to Nimule(Soudan). " No. 2 party dealt with the section Nimule to Abercorn(Rhodesia), and " No. 3 party dealt with the section Abercorn to CapeTown. " Each party, consisting of six officers and a certain numberof other ranks, has for the past year been collecting fill avail- able information as to its own particular section, and has,with the aid of parties of natives, cleared aerodromes and landing-grounds at distances of about 200 miles or less alongthe route selected. " The route follows the Nile from Cairo to Wady Haifa,thence the railway to Shereik, from which place it conforms to the course of the Nile to Khartoum." From Khartoum the course is to the west of the White Nile to Eleri, and then almost due south through the UgandaProtectorate to the northern shore of Lake Victoria. Partly owing to the extremely disturbed nature of the atmosphereabove the lake the route skirts it on the eastern side, passes over what was formerly German East Africa to the southernend of Lake Tanganyika, and thence crosses Northern Rhodesia to Livingstone, whence a south-easterly course is followedto Bulawayo. The next town of importance on the route is Pretoria, and so by Johannesburg and Bloemfonteinacross Cape Colony by Beaufort West to Cape Town. " The preparation of many of the landing-grounds hasinvolved a great deal of labour. In places it has been necessary to cut aerodromes out of dense jungle, to fell thousands oftrees and dig up their roots, while the soil of innumerable ant-hills has had to be removed by hand, being carried innative baskets, as practically no barrows or other equipment were available. Moreover, where tsetse fly prevailed nocattle could be utilised for cartage purposes. " To those unacquainted with this country it will come asa surprise to learn that ant-hills are often 25 ft. in height and between 35 and 45 ft. in diameter. As one cubic yard ofant-hill weighs about 2,670 lb., some idea may be gathered of the labour necessary to clear the ground at such a place as,for instance, that at N'dola, in Northern Rhodesia, where 700 natives were working from April to August of this yearand roughly 25,000 tons were removed from the ground cleared. Blasting was tried, but was found to be unsuitable." However, now that the initial work of clearing has been completed, it is not anticipated that the cost of maintenancewill be heavy. Native labour is generally abundant and cheap, and it is estimated locally that even in the worst cases, i.e.,those of landing-grounds situated in the fast-growing bush and forest country, only small annual charges will be incurred." In practically every case land was provided free of cost or at purely nominal rent by the local administrationswho have arranged to guard the stores deposited at the aerodromes and to assist in keeping the aerodromes andlanding-grounds cleared of bush. " In some cases landing-grounds were prepared entirelyby such local authorities. For instance, at Serowe, Chief Khama laid out such a ground at his own expense in orderthat his district should be linked up with the route. He also rendered considerable assistance in preparing that atPalapwe. " It has been arranged for the survey parties to returnshortly, and the intention is to organise the route into six areas, each under the general supervision of a British official. " Some Difficulties" The first portion of the journey along the Nile Valley should present no particular difficulties to air traffic. Com-munications by telegraph, river and railway are fairly good, and landings can be safely effected, if necessary, at manyplaces apart from the prepared grounds. " In the central zone, however, difficulties are more numerous. Most of this is covered with dense busbTandtropical forest, and landings at other than the prepared grounds will be exceedingly dangerous if not impossible.In some parts there is no land transport, with the resultant difficulty of providing the necessary stores at the aerodromes.Moreover, at some places tsetse fly prevents the use of cattle so that, failing the provision of light motor transport—for which special roads would have to be prepared over some Scale oes0 200 400 600 1= Proposed Route— Alternative Routes~ CAIRO-CAPE AIR-WAY : Skeleton map, by courtesy of The Times, of the route.—Various alternatives suggested for the air route between Cairo and Cape Town are here seen. The route finally adopted is that shown by the continuous black line as far as Broken Hill. Thence the route is continued by Livingstone, Bula- wayo, Pretoria, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, and Beaufort West 20
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