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Aviation History
1926
1926 - 0562.PDF
AUGUST 12, 1926 CIVIL AVIATION Annual Report from April I, 1925, to March 31, 1926 THE Annual Report on the Progress of Civil Aviation for the period April 1, 1925-March 31, 1926, was issued last week (Cmd. 2707), price 2.5. net. As in previous years, the Report is divided into two parts, of which Part I deals with aviation in the British Empire, and Part II with aviation in foreign countries. A welcome innovation is a map giving the air services in Europe, Northern Africa and the Near East, in which the various air routes are shown in coloured lines. British routes are shown in red, and it cannot be said that this colour is exactly predominant on the map, although the dotted red lines which show proposed British routes' certainly do help to brighten things up somewhat. Space does not permit of reference here to but a small sec- tion of the Annual Report, and readers are therefore strongly advised to obtain for themselves a copy of the Report from His Majesty's Stationery Office, as it is very well worth studying. It is interesting to find in the Report the state- ment that the subject of civil air communications is included in the agenda of the Imperial Conference, which is to be held in London in the coming autumn, and it is to be hoped that an opportunity will then be found for the discussion of many important questions affecting the employment of aircraft as a factor in Empire development. An explanation is given of the reasons for the new " horse- power miles " basis, which came into force in December last, and which has for its object the encouragement of the use of larger machines, and the following table shows the mileage flown during the twelve months under consideration :— 1925— 1926- April May June July August . . September October .. November December 3— January . . February.. March Mileage 72,590 112,355123,100 84,985 82,815 81,445 58,350 34,355 29,720 34,435 40,260 55,635 Horse-power Mileage. 35.669,700 58,343,57567,218,775 45,882,650 44,476,550 41,635,825 31,239,450 20,001,625 16,986,750 16,329,300 21,353,900 31,022,775 810,045 430,160,875 The I.A.L. Air Fleet The Report states that the full fleet of machines in use by Imperial Airways within the present summer is as follows, the figures in brackets denoting the seating capacity of each machine :—3 Handley Page W.S.B's (14), 1 W.8.F. (12), 1 W.9.(14), 4 W.lO's (14), 2 Armstrong-Whitworth " Argosys " (20), 1 Vickers Vulcan (6), and 2 De Havilland 50's (4). It is pointed out that as compared with last year the seating capacity of the Company's fleet is increased from 119 to 178, the. horse-power from 6,825 to 10,999, and the pay load from 23,000 to 37,000 lbs. As evidence of the durability of British aircraft is quoted the fact that four of Imperial Airways De H.34 machines have each completed 300,000 miles in the air, while a Handley Page W.8.B. has completed 3,000 hours' flying. The Egypt-India Service The following particulars of the agreement entered into with Imperial Airways for a service between Egypt and India, and which is to commence not later than January 1, 1927, are of interest. Subsidy payments up to a maximum of £93,600 per annum for a period of five years will be paid to the company in respect of completed flights carried out under the agreement. In the first year of working £1,200 per flight will be paid for flights commenced at regular fort- nightly intervals, and completed within a maximum of five days from Cairo to Basrah, up to and including 52 such flights ; £900 for each flight similarly commenced and completed within a maximum of six days from Basrah to Karachi, up to and including 26 such flights ; and £300 for each such further flight from Basrah to Karachi, up to and including 52 in all. The normal times for the stages Cairo to Basrah and Basrah to Karachi are expected to be two to three days and two days respectively ; the maximum times quoted are only for subsidy purposes. In the second and subsequent years £900 per flight will be paid for regular fortnightly flights carried out, up to and including 52 flights on each section. Non- Subsidised Aviation The Report states that owing to financial difficulties the service operated between Belfast and Stranraer by Northern Air Lines, Ltd , was compelled to cease during the first three months of the period under review. From an operational standpoint, however, the service proved successful. The De Havilland Aeroplane Hire Service is stated to have carried out a number of successful flights, including that of Mr. Cobham to Cape Town and back. Many of these nights have been for the purpose of collecting photographs for the press from Madrid, Berlin and other towns in Europe, and a tour has been made of Spain and Northern Africa. The school flying and air taxi flying combined carried out by the De Havilland Company amounted to an aggregate of approxi- mately 3,000 hours during the year, while the number of pupils at this company's school has exceeded 140. The Savage Sky Writing Co. is stated to have continued operations in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Cuba. The company has eight machines in the United Kingdom, and twelve in the United States. Considerable space is devoted in the Report to air survey and photography work, and it is stated that the most interesting individual operation was that carried out at Eastbourne by the Aircraft Operating Co., Ltd., who obtained a contract for the photography of 50 square miles of country. Aerofilms, Ltd., a subsidiary of the Aircraft Operating Co., Ltd., carried out more than 150 hours of photographic flying, embracing practically every county in England. The whole of London, covering 100 square miles, has been photographed for the purpose of making a new map. The Thames Conservancy Board have used aerial photographs as a means of investigating currents in the river caused by the influx of tributaries. The Air Survey Co., Ltd., have continued aerial survey photography in the East, a contract for the photography of 1,350 square miles of oil-producing forest land in the Miri oilfields of Sarawak having been completed during the year. This involved the taking of more than 2,000 photographs. Following on this a further contract has been placed by the Government of Sarawak for an area of 1,760 square miles, work on which has been commenced and an experimental order for the photography of some 400 square miles of territory has been obtained from the Government of the Federated Malay States. The Report states that the Surrey Flying Services, Ltd., and the Central Aerophoto Co., Ltd., have continued to carry out their normal programme of industrial photography, each company having taken over 2,000 photographs. Particulars are given in the Report of the five light aeroplane clubs, but as these are already well known to readers of FLIGHT we do not propose to give details here. Training of Reserve Officers Under this heading it is stated that the following type of single-engined aeroplanes have been approved as advanced training types : D.H.9 (Jaguar), Bristol Advanced Training Biplane (Jupiter), and Armstrong-Whitworth " Wolf" (Jaguar). The number of full courses completed at each school is as follows : the De Havilland Aircraft Co., 91 ; the Bristol Aeroplane Co., 98 ; Wm. Beardmore and Co., 81 ; Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth, 83 ; and the North Sea Aerial and General Transport Co., 61, on twin-engined aeroplanes, and 27 on seaplanes, a total number of courses of 441. A scheme for the instruction of suitable candidates to be trained ab initio has been brought into practice during the year at two schools,and the following number of preliminary courses have been completed at each : the De Havilland Aircraft Co., 9, and the Bristol Aeroplane Co., 7. This course involved 30 hours' flying training (dual and solo), on Avro, " Moth " or Bristol Preliminary Training machines, and at least five hours' solo flying on an advanced training type (Bristol Advanced Training biplane) or D.H.9. Airships On the subject of airships reference is made in the Report to the breaking away from her mooring mast of R33. It is stated that in addition to the work on R33 progress^was 492
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