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Aviation History
1920
1920 - 0689.PDF
JULY I, 1920 is kept with all Overseas development in civil aviation. Australia, Canada, and South Africa are represented by liaison officers at the Air Ministry. A conference was held in September, 1919, with representa- tives of the Dominion Meteorological Departments. 7. Survey, etc., of Air Routes. Considerable assistance has been given in connection with the London-Paris and London-Brussels routes which have been in operation by private enterprise since August, 1919. The route from Cairo to Cape Town has been surveyed and prepared by the State, and comprises twenty-four landing grounds and nineteen emergency landing grounds. Negotiations are now in progress between the Governments of South Africa and of the Colonies through which the route passes, the Colonial Office and the Treasury as to the future maintenance of these aerodromes. The route from Cairo to Australia has also been surveyed. On the Cairo-Karachi route, the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Civil Aviation have been adopted and are being put into force ; wireless and landline facilities have been improved ; and the route is being prepared for a mail service. Route directions, maps, charts and navigational informa- tion have been, and are, prepared and distributed to aviators undertaking pioneer flights. A number of aerodromes are available for civil aviation in India, and others are being prepared for this purpose. The ban on Civil Aviation in India has been removed. The ban has also been removed in Egypt in specific cases. The site for an aerodrome at Malta has been selected and experiments are being made to ascertain its suitability. A special section of the Department of Civil Aviation has been formed for the purpose of mapping and marking routes. An aerodrome book is ready for publication. 8. Efficient ground organisation comprising:— • . • , • (i) Provision and organisation of aerodromes. (ii) Provision of wireless telegraphy and telephony facilities. (iii) Distribution of meteorological information. (iv) Distribution of general information. Private enterprise has been assisted by the provision of aerodromes, wireless, meteorological facilities and the issue of general information. (i) The London terminal customs aerodrome at Hounslow was the first of its kind in the world. It has now been trans- ferred to Croydon (Waddon) as Hounslow had to be returned to the War Office. Lympne aerodrome (near Folkestone) has been established as a customs aerodrome on the coast for the further con- venience of international traffic. A portion of the seaplane station at Felixstowe has been taken over as a civil station for sea aircraft and customs facilities provided for traffic across the North Sea. Negotiations are in progress with several Municipal Authorities for the establishment of municipal aerodromes near large centres of population in Great Britain. Where the volume of traffic warrants the establishment of customs facilities at private aerodromes, the Board of Customs have agreed to provide such facilities under certain conditions. Messrs. Handley Page's aerodrome at Crickle- wood is the first to have the advantage of this arrangement. A number of emergency landing grounds have also been surveyed throughout the British Isles along probable future routes and negotiations are in progress with the owners. Aerial lighthouses have been put in operation at certain points, and .with the development of night flying will be increased in number. Where civil aerodromes are established, such as at Croydon and Lympne, a Civil Aviation Transport Officer is placed in charge and with a small staff has the duty of maintaining the aerodromes and of assisting those using them. (ii) Improvements have been made in the Air Ministry- Wireless Station, and the terminal aerodrome at Croydon is being equipped with the most up-to-date W.T., radio-tele- phony, and directional finding apparatus. The system of communications to the Continent is already providing a useful service, and is being stdadily improved. Arrangements have been made for the transmission and receipt by wireless of meteorological reports to and from neighbouring countries, and the organisation in Great Britain of a network of wireless stations for meteorological work continues. Five stations in the United Kingdom have been fitted with radio-telephony apparatus. Proposals have been submitted for the institution of a uniform system of wave-lengths throughout the world. The Air Ministry is represented on the Imperial Communica- tions Committee. (iii) A system of contributive and distributive meteoro- logical stations has been devised to cover the United Kingdom, and a number of local centres have been established to con- tribute reports essential for aviation. In connection with the Air Services to the Continent a complete system of British whether reports for S.E. England has been inaugurated. (iv) General information has been distributed relating to progress abroad, aerial routes, commercial enterprises, etc. Close touch has been maintained with aircraft firms and the Department of Research, and Communiques and notices have been issued to the Press. 9. Licences. Licences have been issued and periodically renewed for pilots, engineers, navigators and aerodromes; and certificates of registration and airworthiness for machines. 10. Government Enquiry into Accidents. The investigation of accidents is being carried out by a special section, and powers to make this investigation compulsory are being sought under the Air Navigation Bill. 11. Establishment of Mail Services. Since November 10, 1919, an Air Mail Service has been in operation between London and Paris. Tenders for an air mail service between England and Holland have been invited by the Post Office, and negotiations are proceeding for placing a contract for a service between London and Brussels on the lines already reached with Holland. Discussions between the Air Ministry, the India Office, and the Treasury are still in progress with regard to the incidence of the cost and other details of the proposed Cairo- Karachi Mail Service. 12. Development of Airships. The Air Ministry has entered into negotiations with a syndicate for the commercial develop- ment of airships. 13. Disposal of Service Aircraft and Material. A number of machines have been presented to the Dominions and Colonies and will be available for the development of Civil Aviation in the countries concerned^ Discussing the report, Mr. Holt Thomas said he regarded it as extremely hopeful and significant that such an eminently practical committee had officially recognised that a commercial aeroplane service, even with the imperfect organisation 'at present existing, can be operated reliably on such a difficult rotite climatically as that between London and Paris. He added :— When the London-Paris daily express service was started last August, he ventured the prophecy that at the end of the first year there would be a percentage of reliability of about 80. Today, as a matter of fact, although this first year had not yet been completed, the figure was actually well in excess of 80 per cent. This being so, he was sorry the committee could not take a bolder and more definite course, and recommended in the interests of the public, as well as in those of the airways, that there should be a general transference of first-class mail matter from land and sea to air. Their recommendation should, for instance, in his opinion, and on the definite daily records of the " air express," have been that all first-class mail matter between London and Paris should now be put into the air. He added: It is perfectly clear that the country cannot afford, today, to spend large sums in subsidies. But suppose that all first-class mail matter between London and Paris were sent forthwith by air, with the immense saving of time to the business community which would accrue, and suppose that the air transport companies were paid at the rate of 3s. a pound for carrying it, then a surcharge of only a penny a letter over and above the ordinary rate of postage should enable such a service to be put on a perfectly practical basis. There might be an additional 6d. charge, paid at the option of the sender, for the express delivery of a letter by hand when it had reached its destination. Before I started the first London-Paris service I was told that the aeroplane could never be made reliable, and that it could not, therefore, be considered seriously as a carrier of His Majesty's mails. Well, we have already proved, when flying through probably the worst weather in the world, that this argument is un- sound, and that you can get a perfectly reasonable percentage of efficiency even while the air way is in its very infancy. This being so, the very broadest conception of the question is now essential. We must make use of the air in the interests of the community at large ; and the most immediate and useful way of making 100 miles an hour air transport of direct benefit to the public is by decreeing that mails in bulk shall now be air-borne. This would serve several ends. The 689
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