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Aviation History
1922
1922 - 0470.PDF
AUGUST 17, 1922 via Egypt would make use of the existing R.A.F. route from Cairo to Baghdad, and is therefore capable of more imme diate operation by a commercial undertaking. This route'is as follows :—Cairo, Ramleh, Amman, Ramadi, Baghdad—a total distance of 833 miles. The route via Constantinople gives the most rapid line, the report states, but it is pointed out that, apart from physical difficulties, in the present unsettled state of portions of Turkey in Asia it must be some time before such a route can be regarded as a practical proposition. An outline of such a route is given in the report, with the reservation that it should be understood that whether or not this route is practicable still has to be determined. The route outlined is as follows :—Constantinople, Eskisher, Konia, Adana, Aintab, Urfa, Mardin, Mosul, Tekrit, Samara, Baghdad, a total dis tance of 1,145 miles. The third route, via Alexandretta, will come into promi nence if the French proposed service from Paris via Italy and Greece to Alexandretta matures. The British route from there would link up with the route outlined above either at Adana or at Aintab. Whichever route is chosen, the Baghdad-Karachi section is a necessary link in the chain, but the report points out that the actual route to be followed and the types of aircraft to be employed involve special considerations. On the one hand, the Persian postal-authorities have obtained permission to use the R.A.F. service from Cairo to Baghdad, and the Persian Government has formally adhered to the Inter national Convention for Air Navigation, so that no difficulty will arise in connection with the operation of civil aircraft registered in Great Britain, India, or any of the Dominions. On the other hand, the R.A.F. are interested in the main tenance of a strategic route to India, which, it is thought, this route on the northern, or Persian, coast of the Gulf might not provide. It is understood that consideration is being given to a possible alternative route along the Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf, but it is stated that this route is unlikely to be opened for service purposes in the near future. The route down the Persian side of the Gulf would probably be : Baghdad, Basra, Bushire, Bundar Abbas, Chahbar, Karachi, a total distance of 1,650 miles. Karachi-Bombay.—The Board record their conviction that, although this first report deals only with the section of an Imperial Air Mail service to India, Karachi can never be the real main terminus for India, but that the main Imperial Air Route should extend from Karachi to Calcutta and beyond. They also state that they have been assured by the General Post Office that, unless the air route is extended beyond Karachi, one day of the gain would be lost on approxi mately 70 per cent, of the total mail to India. The Board have therefore assumed provisionally that a feeder line must be established from Karachi to Bombay. This route, which would be operated by flying boats or seaplanes, would pro bably be as follows: Karachi, Bajkote, Bombay—a total distance of 550 miles. London-Constantinople or London-Alexandria ?—The re port calls attention to the fact that an " all-red " air route cannot yet be mapped out from England to India ; but, it is stated, it is anticipated that soon this will be nearly, if not entirely, achieved by the production of a machine which can make the trip from London to Malta, via Paris and Marseilles, a distance of 1,330 miles, in one flight. In the meantime there are several routes through Europe that could be organised. For instance, it is pointed out that British machines could carry mails from London to Constantinople or Cairo, or mails could be carried by British machines to Paris, and thence by the Compagnie Franco-Roumaine on French machines to Constantinople, if the times of arrival and departure were satisfactorily arranged. Three possible routes have been considered :— (a) For operation by landplanes over the London-Constantinople route ; (b) landplanes from London to Brindisi and seaplanes from Brindisi to Alexandria by seaplanes or flying boats ; and (c) a seaplane route from Southampton via Cherbourg, Bordeaux, across the south-west of France, Sardinia, Malta and Crete to Alexandria. The last-mentioned route measures about 2,650 miles, and is considered too long for practical comparison with the other routes suggested. Route (a)—overland to Constantinople—would be as follows :—Brussels 200 miles, Frankfort 200 miles, Nurem berg no miles, Vienna 270 miles, Budapest 150 miles, Bucharest 390 miles, Constantinople 280 miles ; total, 1,600 miles. Route (fe) is divided into two sections, the first of which to be covered by aeroplanes, the second by seaplanes or flying boats. For the first section the stages are as follows : Paris 200 miles, Lyons 245 miles, Marseilles 170 miles, St. Raphael 70 miles, Pisa 185 miles, Naples 285 miles and Brindisi 200 miles—a total of 1,355 miles. The second sec tion, over the sea, would be : Brindisi to Patras Harbour, Greece, 270 miles, Suda Bay, Crete, 260, and Alexandria 480 miles—a total of 1,010 miles, and a total distance from London to Alexandria of 2,365 miles. Frequency of Service.—The Board, it is stated, started by enquiring into the cost of a bi-weekly service between Baghdad and Karachi, on the assumption that machines would be flown in pairs. Owing to the estimate of maximum load of mails made by the G.P.O., this was reduced to a weekly service in the initial stages, and finally the practicability of operating the route with machines flying singly, assuming certain improvements in the wireless organisation, was considered. The Board desire to call attention to the fact that the expense of the ground organisation is in some degree independent of the frequency of the service and of the number of machines actually flying, and that consequently the cost per trip decreases rapidly with an increase in the frequency of the service. It is therefore hoped that, although it may be necessary to start with a weekly service, it will be found possible at an early date to increase the frequency and thus reduce the cost per trip. Time Saved by Air Mail Although expressing the opinion that the saving in time by using the air mail is by no means the only, nor indeed the most significant, reason for establishing such a route, the Board make some estimates of the time which could be expected to be saved if the establishment of an air mail service from either Constantinople or Port Said to Baghdad, Karachi and Bombay were undertaken. At present the time taken by train and steamer from London to Port Said is given as 5 J days, and from London to Constantinople as 4! da)^s. If air services were established onward from either of these places, the time taken (assuming a weekly service flying by day only) would be : To Baghdad, 7 days instead of 27 to 30 days ; to Karachi, 9 days instead of i6£ days ; to Bombay, 10 days instead of 14A days. When regular night flying hate made a continuous service practicable, the time taken in air transit will, it is stated, be more than halved. If the mails were carried by air from London to Constanti nople or Egypt, the saving in time with a weekly service would, it is estimated, be further increased, and would be as follows :— — •* London to Constantinopl Port Said Baghdad Karachi Bombay (Calcutta Rail and Steamer. Days. e 4£ • 5* - 27-30 . i6£ • Mi . . l6£ Aircraft flying by Saving. day (100 m.p.h.). Days. Days. 2 2J 3 2| 5 22-25 7 9i 8 6£ 9 7i) Estimates of Cost.—In the estimates of costs published in the report the Board have used as a basis existing machines, and have consulted constructors and also companies operating on the London-Paris service. In the estimates relating to land routes, aeroplanes of the following characteristics have been assumed : Engine, 400/450 h.p. ; petrol capacity, 3J hrs. ; load, 2,000 lbs., exclusive of pilot. Cruising speed at 5,000 ft., 100 m.p.h. Estimates contained in appendices to the report deal with weekly and daily services, those for the Cairo-Karachi and Constantinople-Karachi sections, \being summarised in the following table, in which the-first column gives the stages, the second column the cost (sterling) per trip.and the third column the cost per machine mile (sterling):— Weekly Service. Cairo-Baghdad Baghdad-Karachi .. (1) Cairo-Karachi Constantinople-Baghdad . Baghdad-Karachi .. (2) Constantinople-Karachi Daily Service. Cairo-Baghdad Baghdad-Karachi 3) Cairo-Karachi ... Constantinople-Baghdad . Baghdad-Karachi 675 .. 981 .. . 1,656 .. 946 • • 981 . . • 1,927 •• I 230 .. • 395 •• 625 .. . 365 •• 395 • • s. •• 15 11 •• 13 ... 15 n • • 13 5, 5 • • 4 4 6 4 d. 0 0 9 11 6 d. 1 9 10 1 9 Constantinople-Karachi . . 760 .. .. 5 3 The Board have further considered that the section of the route from Baghdad, or rather from Basra, to Karachi might 470
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