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Aviation History
1923
1923 - 0236.PDF
• Saturday morning for the ordinary mails are delivered: in Berlin on the Monday afternoon or evening"m the I normal course of events. The same applies, of course, to letters to Amsterdam, Bremen and Hamburg. Thus the Monday's air mail offers no saving in time, unless the letter is written and posted outside ordinary business hours. To the ordinary business man it would seem that a better plan might be to dispatch the British machine from Croydon on Tuesday morning, returning to Croydon on Wednesday even- ing, while the German machine could be sent off from Berlin Thursday morning, returning to Berlin Friday evening. The week-end mails could then be taken care of by the ordinary service, without any loss of time. That, however, is a matter which will doubtless be arranged as soon as the line is in proper working order, and in the meantime it is satisfactory to know that at last we are to have something more than the rather insignificant -London-Paris route, which has served very well as a training ground and full-scale experimental establishment for the first faltering steps of civil aviation, but which cannot, unless linked up with other services farther afield, be of any great practical value. Time will show whether there is sufficient traffic on the London-Berlin route and its feeder lines to justify its continuation. Personally we have every confidence that the line will be a very successful one, and we congratulate the Director of Civil Aviation, General Brancker, and the Daimler Hire Company on Tiaving succeeded in making a start, in spite of very considerable , obstacles and handicaps. How the new j&ie, and any others,that may be contemplated, will lie affected by the Million Pound Monopolv Company, if and when that comes into being, is still a mystery outside official circles. We are frankly surprised that any firm has been found willing to do the spade-work on a new route, with such a threat as the Monopoly Company hanging over their heads. However, all the more honour to them. We trust this and other good work done by the pioneer companies will not be overlooked when it comes to consider their relations under new conditions. The experiment of picking up mails from from a liner ancl hurrying them to Liners London by air, which was carried out on April 27, was not very convincing, although it was certainly successful. To begin with, the mails were " dummy mails," and they were picked up from " an imaginary liner." Thus there is still some speculation as to how long the aircraft would have taken to find and pick up the mail bag if this had, in fact, been dropped overboard. Also the fact that a motor launch was used, which would have to go out to meet the steamer and then return to Plymouth, there to hand the mails to an aeroplane waiting in a meadow, would cause unnecessary delay. What would obviously be done, in actual practice, would be to use an amphibian, which would meet the liner just outside Plymouth if the weather was rather rough, but off Land's End if the weather was ^fine, pick up the mail bags, and fly straight to Croydon. In very rough weather only might it be necessary to employ a pinnace for " collecting " the mails. Nevertheless, the demonstration was useful in showing that from the time a liner drops the mails outside Plymouth until they are at Waddon, ready 236 ..„.-... •/-"••• •-, MAY 3, 1923 for transference to the continental air mail machines, no more than three hours need elapse, and that thus a very great saving in time can be effected. Some such system could be put into practice almost at once, and it is to be hoped that the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce, who organised the demonstra- tion, will be encouraged by the results to press for the establishment of a regular service. It is, perhaps, not too much to hope that- before long we should see the service extended to passengers in a hurry, but for a first start the difficulties of customs, etc., might be against this. When we get liners equipped with flush decks, as suggested recently in the paper by Sir Eustace d'Eyncourt, presented to the Institute of Naval Architects, more elaborate schemes will become possible, and instead of meeting liners at Plymouth, the liners themselves will carry aircraft, which will be dispatched while the liner is still from 100 to 200 miles out at sea. The saving in time will then, of course, be even greater. We are extremely glad that British Britain participation on an adequate scale in i.L.tr.G. the International Aero Exhibition and Flying Meeting (I.L.U.G.) to be held at Gothenburg from July 20 to August 12 is now ensured. After representations by the Society of British Aircraft Constructors, the Air Ministry has consented, or perhaps it would be more correct to say has succeeded in persuading the Treasury, to make a grant of £8,500 towards the expenses of sending a representative selection of British aircraft to I.L.LT.G. Apparently a promise of an additional £1,000 has been made, should this prove necessary. It may be argued that £9,500 will not go very far towards defraying the cost of sending machines to Gothenburg, but on the other hand, it is very much in the interests of manufacturers themselves—in other words, the S.B.A.C.—that British aviation should be well represented, and consequently it would not appear unreasonable if " the trade " had to contribute something itself. It should be remembered that it will be possible to send machines over by air, and that therefore the question of transport should not be a very serious one. Seaplanes and flying boats (we assume, of course, that this type of aircraft will be well represented, as the Scandinavian countries are particularly suited for seaplane work) could go direct, or at any rate reasonably so, by following more or less the various coastlines, while the land machines by flying over Holland, a corner of Germany, Slesvig, and Denmark, should not have to cover stages beyond their capacity. While thus the British aircraft industry will be (let us hope) well represented, what about the Royal Air Force ? We have repeatedly suggested that the time has come for the R.A.F. to take over on occasion the duty of " showing the flag." Gothenburg pro- vides one such excellent opportunity, being not far from " home waters," and as other nations will be sending squadrons to the demonstrations and meet- ings to be held in connection with the exhibition, . why should not we send a composite squadron of the R.A.F. ? It is fairly safe to assume that such a squadron would be a revelation to most foreign air services, what with our excellent formation flying, sham fights, etc. From what we have seen of the services of other nations, the R.A.F., would be con- spicuous by comparison, with considerable gain to British prestige.
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