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Aviation History
1920
1920 - 0280.PDF
Another factor which seems to have considerably hampered the pioneers ofvthe Cairo-Cape route is the want of lifting power in the air during the heat of the day and at high altitudes. This is a phenomenon which became very well known to our flying men during the African campaigns of the War. Practic- ally all the flying, especially in East Africa, had to be done before 10 o'clock in the morning, else the lifting power of the air was insufficient to give a good altitude. True, the machines in use were not too heavily powered—it was very much the practice to send out obsolescent types which would have been turned down as school machines in England—while " Silver Queen " and her consorts were able, full-powered machines. The peculiar conditions seem to call for rather less engine power and greater plane area in certain sections. It was not only this peculiar quality of the air which hampered the flights. Heavy rains, violent thunderstorms, whirlwinds and the smoke caused by bush fires all played their malign part in the failures. Col. van Ryneveld records that he was chased by a flying sandstorm at such headlong speed that he flew 366 miles in less than three hours ! Evidently flying over the African bush and desert is no pursuit for the halt or those weak in nerve. But conditions will improve rapidly now that it has been proved possible—in spite of temporary failure—to make the complete journey in the air. It must be remembered when assessing the comparative value of the lessons learned from these flights that what has been attempted is by far the most difficult aerial enterprise which has so far been undertaken. Condi- tions of country and of climate could hardly be worse than they are. Almost unsurveyed and with tem- porary landing grounds carved out of the dense bush, with practically no supplies of spares and wanting in facilities for repairs, the conditions of the route are at the moment such that the airmen who essaj' to cross it, either succeed or they do not. That is the only way it can be expressed. It must be so in all these pioneer long-distance flights, and failure, in this case, though it is disappointing, so far from proving that the thing is impossible, really demon- strates how easily possible it is when organisation is better and surveys have been completed. Bad as the climatic conditions are, they are not impossible by a very long way. All the rest is merely a matter of human prevision and organisation. The lessons which have been learnt are of the utmost value and will assist materially in the future of the African Adventure. . MARCH II, 192a from the North to Holland or the Baltic lose half their flying time by taking this route in comparison with what would be occupied if there were a departure station on the East Coast. As a matter of fact, the loss of time is even greater than the mere expression of " flying time " would convey, because of the fact that a landing at Lympne means the extra delay of a night. Added to this there is the question of extra cost of running the service, which may be taken to be roughly one-third of the whole. We are aware that the Air Ministry, when its regulations for civilian aviation were formulated, agreed that in the time to come it would be necessary to establish other stations, and the question now arises whether that time has not come already. It may be readily agreed that such stations mean expense to the nation ; but as an off-set it can equally be argued that such facilities may be regarded as a part of that policy of encouragement which the Govern- ment has many a time and oft promised to extend to aviation. Even if a new East Coast station were initially run at a loss, we submit that such loss would be more than compensated by the extra facilities it would afford to the development of new Continental services, and that it would be very temporary, since before very long we should see a great increase in the number of such services. On all counts there seems to be a strong case made out for more and better facilities for Customs examination of machines bound for the Continent from the northern counties. AerialServices in the ACustoms Handicap A North of England firm—to wit, the Blackburn Aeroplane Co.—in order to discount the delays due to transport congestion, is on the point of inaugurat- ing an aerial service from near Hull to the Continent via Amsterdam. There is nothing extraordinary in that, because the value of the speed and certainty of such services is becoming increasingly recognised by that" twenty years ago they would have regarded the business community, and we look to the institu- delivery by motor car in the same light, but now they tion of fresh aerial routes almost from day to day. would—and quite rightly—deem it a commonplace. But this enterprise draws attention to what is likely The sober fact of the matter is that the aeroplane of to develop into a serious handicap to enterprise 1920 is really a more reliable vehicle of transport The recent strike on the French railways gave the aeroplane an opportunity of showing its capacity as a means of trans- French "strike Port- The British services were dupli- cated, and in one case at least more than doubled. Newspapers were quick to take advan- tage of its powers by sending their editions by air. The Daily Mail, in particular, in order to ensure that English visitors to the Riviera should not be without their usual news, sent aeroplanes from Paris to Lyons, whence the papers were conveyed by motor-car to the principal points for distribution. Gradually but very surely the aeroplane is taking its place as an ordinary vehicle of transport. Every incident, such as this unfortunate railway strike, draws more and more attention to the outstanding fact that aerial transport is now! a factor to be seriously reckoned with and that it is no longer ham- pered by the uncertainty which is inherent to all new and untried methods of conveyance. It is doubtless regarded, even now, as something of a feat for an enterprising daily, published in Paris, to be able to distribute its papers at the accustomed time in the absence of railway services. People who do not trouble to think too deeply may be inclined to look at the performance as purely an emergency effort, only to be adopted in default of something better being at hand. We would remind such, however, unless it receives the favourable attention of the Air Ministry and the Customs authorities. At present, this route can only be operated by way of the Customs examination station at Lympne, near Folkestone, than was the car of 1900. There may be some who would be inclined to question this, but we submit that the contention is borne out by the facts. It is only a few weeks ago since we published and com-which is the sole recognised place of departure for the mented upon the Air Ministry's report on the working r<Wi"~"* What it means is that machines flying of such regular aerial services as are now in operation :, ~Z-.± • • 280 -S -"• Continent.
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