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Aviation History
1925
1925 - 0082.PDF
FEBRUARY 12, 1925 A NEW AIR MAIL 1,000-Mile Coastal Route in South Africa By CAPT. J. L. CARLIN (Late R.A.F.) THOUGH South Africa has been a very long time making upits mind, now that the country has at last decided to get busy in the matter of air mails the thing is being done with com-mendable thoroughness, and on a scale that will compare with any of the major mail services of the world.On March 2 the service will commence operations, and the zeal with which the new Labour Minister of Posts andTelegraphs, Mr. T. Boydell, has attacked the subject is evident when it is stated that the whole active service squadron of theUnion Air Force has been seconded for the civil work. Only a training flight will remain at the Zwartkop aerodrome nearPretoria, which is the headquarters of the force, and this flight will continue the work of giving refresher courses tomembers of the reserve. The route—between Durban and Cape Town—is practically1,000 miles long, and is unique in the respect that it is a coastal route pure and simple, and is to be operated withordinary military D.H.9's. These machines were the gift of the Imperial Government to the Union after the War, andten of them will be used, two being spare machines. The Union Air Force has said on several occasions that it is readyto operate this route at six weeks' notice only. When it is remembered that there are five bases on the route, at each ofwhich only a comparatively unused aerodrome is available with no hangars or equipment, it is evident that the Forcehad the confidence born of good organisation in declaring itself so ready to get quickly on to the job. For the Air Forcehas been kept to its word. On Friday, January 16. word came of the Cabinet decision to operate the route, and onMarch 2 the first trip will be run. Two machines will carry the mails on the relav system.Only the ordinary observer's seat will be available, and will carry 400 lbs. or 20 cub. ft. of mail matter. Guns and bombgear have been removed, but no structural alteration has been made in the 'planes, for their character of military machinesis to be retained as far as possible. The service is to be a three months' trial to provide datawhich it is hoped will show that a civil company, employing commercial machines of more than twice the load capacity,will find the route payable without too heavy a subsidy or— if such a thing is yet" possible—with none at all. The greatstandby of the service will be the European mail 1o Durban. The mail boat arrives in Cape Town on Monday morningearly, and the air mails will be at Durban that evening. The outward mail boat leaves Cape Town on Friday at 4.30, andto catch this the 'planes will leave Durban with the outgoing mail at 5 a.m. This gives Durban ample time to get repliesaway by the return mail, whereas by the existing system it is impossible for the outward mail to catch Friday's boat.Durban has been accustomed to waiting a week longer for the answer to a letter than the other large towns of the Union. The other bases where stops will be made and the mail bags Sir Sefton Brancker Starts for Home ALAN COBHAM having flown from Calcutta to Rangoon—where he arrived on February 6—on the D.H. 50 (Siddeley " Puma "), to join Sir Sefton Brancker, a start for the longjourney home was made from Rangoon on February 8. They arrived at Akyab at 2.45 that afternoon, and resuming theflight the following day, arrived safely at Calcutta. The French Saharan Flight As reported last week, the De Goys mission, which isflying from Paris to Bangi and back on two iour-engined Blenot biplanes, piloted by Capt. Pelletier d'Oisy andCol. Vuillemin, left Adrar, Tuat, on February 3, and "flying in three daily stages, reached Gao, on the Niger, on February 5,a distance of 940 miles. They made halts at Wallen and Tes- saht. They resumed their journey on February 7, and flewanother 250 miles to Niamey. Up to this point they have covered about 2,750 miles in three weeks. The Paris-Dakar Flight ALTHOUGH they only just failed by a matter of 460 milesto carry out their object—a non-stop flight from Paris to Dakar, a distance of 2,700 miles or more—Capt. Lemaitreand Lieut. Arachard have, nevertheless, accomplished a truly magnificent flight. Particulars of this flight appeared in changed to fresh machines will be at East London, PortElizabeth and Mossel Bay. There are emergency landing grounds at Umtatain Natal and at George near Mossel Bay.It is hoped that a satisfactory inland mail traffic will spring up between these five important harbours, and, were it not forthe fact that the use of military machines makes it impossible, there is no doubt that a substantial passenger traffic could behandled. This traffic would be of much value to a civil company. It is recognised that with the machines availablethere is little hope of making the service a financial success, especially without th£" considerable revenue that passengerswould bring. Sensibly enough, no attempt has been made to make the surcharge fees unduly high in an effort to counteractthis situation. The organisation will concentrate on showing that the thing can be done and that the traffic is available,leaving the question of cost to those more qualified to consider it. The sum estimated for the three months' trial is ^9,000,which represents the extra cost of maintaining the active service squadron at the coast instead of at their base, thecost of transporting men and equipment, and the running cost of the service so far as it exceeds the cost of the normalflying done by the squadron. The service is fortunate in having for its directing genius Col. Sir Pierrie van Ryneveld,K.B.E., D.S.O., the hero of the Cairo-Cape Town flight. He is, of course, the Union Director of Air Services, and hasshown himself a most economical, yet efficient administrator of the small force and the minute amount of money he hashad at his command. This bold experiment by South Africa, conducted as it will be with unsuitable machines along asea coast that is very stormy in the winter and very rugged indeed in its configuration and over a very considerabledistance, will be watched with interest by all interested in the future of aviation. Africa is a continent where aviationma ' well see great development, and this earnest, though belated, effort is regarded as a real attempt to set that progressgoing at last. The time-table of the mail service is officially given as follows :— Cape Town to Durban Leave Cape Town, Mondav, 8 a.m.]Arrive Mossel Bay, 10.30 a.m. Arrive Port Elizabeth, 1 p.m.Arrive East London, 3 p.m. Arrive Durban, 6.35 p.m. Durban to Cape TownLeave Durban, Friday, 5 a.m. Arrive East London, 8.20 a.m.Arrive Port Elizabeth, 10.20 a.m. Arrive Mossel Bay, 12.50 p.m.Arrive Cape Town, 3.35 p.m. last week's issue, so we need only refer here to the actualattempt made last week. They left Etampe's aerodrome at 11.30 a.m. on February 3. The'Breguet XIX A.2, fitted witha 480 h.p. Renault, was naturally slow in taking off with its 550 galls, load of fuel on board, but once in the air it climbedsteadily to an altitude of 3,000 to 4,000 ft., as it made direct for Spain. At 1.30 a.m., on February 4, they passed overCasablanca, and then about 28 hours after their departure, they landed in Mauretania, near the River Ouro, only some560 miles from Dakar. They had actually covered 2,485 miles, and thus failed to beat the world's distance record(held by Lieuts. Oakley Kelly and Macready) by 35 miles ! Hard luck ! However, for their splendid effort they have beengiven permanent rank of Captain. On February 5 they con- tinued their flight to Dakar, and on February 7 proceeded tofly on to Timbuctoo, but were forced by engine trouble to land at Kayes on the Senegal river, 460 miles from Dakar. London-St. Moritz Flight LIEUT. LESLIE HAMILTON, flying the Martinsyde F6,originally owned by F. P. Raynham, made a fine flight from Croydon to St. Moritz—a distance of 450 miles—on January 29.He made stops at Paris, Zurich, and Chur, and his actual iying time was about 8 hours. 82
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