FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1925
1925 - 0041.PDF
JANUARY 22, 1925 • - AIR ACTIVITY IN AFRICA France and Belgium Forging Ahead ALL interested in the progress of aerial transport will, during the present year, have a greater part of their attention centred upon Africa, where considerable aerial activity will be taking place from now on. There can be but little doubt that Africa offers immense possibilities as regards aerial transport, for the several big flights that were accomplished last year— D'Oisy's and Zanni's Paris-Tokio, the Dutch Amsterdam- Tokio, etc., to say nothing of the Round-the-World expedi- tions—have, to a certain extent, cleared up several hitherto unknown factors which have probably been the main cause of holding back big aerial transport schemes in such countries as Africa. Problems relating to tropical conditions in regard to aircraft, and the practicability of long-distance flights over more or less unknown country, arc today—thanks very largely to the flights above referred to—matters that should not present any serious difficulty in the way of aerial transport schemes such as those we are about to describe. • For some time past France, has successfully been operating certain air services in Northern Africa—viz., those run by the Latecoere firm between Toulouse-Alicante-Casablanca, Mar- seilles-Alicante-Oran, and Casablanca-Rabat-Fez-Oran ; and certain other services between the South of France and Algeria and Tunis. That the Latecoere lines have been successful and have considerably increased their popularity year by year may be gathered from the following figures showing the numbers of letters carried each year since 1919 :—(1919) 9,124, (1920) 182,061, (1921) 327,805, (1922) 1,407,352, (1923) 2,958,863, (I92*, nine months) 2,817,432. The number of passengers carried has also shown a remarkable increase— in 1921 the number of passengers was 831, the next vear it rose to 2,088, and in 1923 to 2,400. It is hoped that this year will see big developments in regard to these services. In the first place, the Toulouse- Casablanca line will be extended along the west coast to Dakar in French Senegal (opposite Cape Verde Islands), via Mogador, Agadir, Cape Juby, Villa Cisneros, Port Etienne and St. Louis. This will form the first stage of an ambitious scheme for the establishment of a regular air mail service between France and South America. At the moment a mission of French air experts, from the Societe Generate d'entreprises Aeronautiques and under Prince Charles Murat, is in South America for the purpose of arranging agreements with the South American Governments concerned for this air service, and also with the object of studying the conditions and requirements connected with such a service. While eventually it is hoped that the section from Dakar to South America will be operated entirely by aircraft, at present the scheme has not developed sufficiently for any definite plans to be laid down. In all probability, at the start mails will be air borne as far as Dakar, thence they will be conveyed across the Atlantic to Fernando Noronha Island or Pemam- buco by fast boats. From here the mails will be taken over once again by aircraft, which will journey along the coast of Brazil, via Rio de Janeiro, to Montevideo in Uruguay and then to Buenos Ayres in Argentina. - The crossing of the Atlantic on this section—a distance of about 1,860 miles—is naturally a problem requiring careful consideration and preparation. Large flying boats, it is almost certain, will be employed for this part of the journey, and it has been proposed that in order that the flying boats may alight en route in order to take in fuel, huge floating harbours—in the form of a horse-shoe—will be stationed at convenient points between Dakar and the South American coast. These harbours, which would be provided with waiting and refreshment rooms for the passengers, would not be anchored, but would maintain their position by means of power-driven water propellers. This certainly sounds a somewhat fantastic scheme, but we would not care to go so far as to say that it is impracticable, although it is un- doubtedly one possessing problems not easily solved. As regards the South American section, which totals a dis- tance of about 2,750 miles, the French mission previously referred to, has already demonstrated the possibilities of flying over this section by flying, in three machines which they took over with them, from Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Ayres, a distance of over 1,400 miles, in 14 hours. Aerial Activity in Africa : Sketch map showing the routes, etc., taken by some of the big aerial schemes planned for 1925 and referred to in the accom- panying article. «+r TO 60 *© 50 41 D 'I
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
