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Aviation History
1926
1926 - 0827.PDF
NOVEMBER 11, 1926 SURVEYING BY AEROPLANE AIR survey and its importance to the development of the Empire was the raismi d'etre of a small gathering at the Holborn Kestaurant on November 4, the hosts being the directors of Air Survey, Ltd. Col. C. H. D. Ryder, C.B., C.I.E., D.S.O., the chairman of the company and a former Surveyor-General of India, presided. Col. Ryder in his opening remarks said the whole world had suddenly roused itself—the man in the street, who was, after all, the average citizen, had been stirred by the wonderful flight to Australia and back by Sir Alan Cobham. It was now up to them, the Dominion and other Governments, to take advantage of this, and thereby bring the whole world nearer together and increase more rapidly the untold wealth of its unexplored regions. In the last few years, with the exception of the Canadian Government, the Air Survey Company, with their numerous successful surveys in the East, had done more, he said, than anyone to further and popularise air survey. But very much more remained to be done. If we wished the British Empire to maintain a supremacy in the air, we must educate the public to the undoubted uses of the aero- and sea-planes. He claimed to speak with some authority on the matter of surveying, having been a surveyor and explorer all his active life, including five years as head of the survey of India, and he was convinced that surveying from the air had come to stay. In this respect we could use a good slogan : " Half the cost in one-quarter of the time." There were vast tracts of lands, undoubtedly of enormous value, still unmapped, and most assuredly no country could be developed without maps, as they were the very first requirement. Only last week he received a letter from a friend in Canada, in which he said :— " A larger programme in aerial photography than ever before has been completed. Surveyors, foresters, water power engineers, geologists and, in fact almost every branch of engineering work interested in the development of this country are now backing aerial surveys as being the fastest and best method of obtaining information on which their work depends." Continuing, he said, he had spoken upon air survey alone, but there was another development which must come and that was air mail and transport, and he wanted to emphasize that air survey and air transport were as inseparable as Siamese twins. They were now centering their attention upon the air mail and transport side of the question, and felt that they might be up against big odds, but if only com- panies holding large concessions of lands, big merchant traders, and last—the most important—the various Govern- ments, would come to their aid and assistance, then within the next few years the expansion in trade and commerce by the means of the air would become an epoch in the era of our history. In conclusion, the charman congratulated and thanked the staff for the splendid work they had done, especially Mr. F. P. Raynham, who had just returned from Borneo after completing two large surveys and who was there today and had joined the board of directors, and Capt. J. Durward, who was now carrying on the good work in the East. Mr. R. C. Kemp, managing director of Air Survey Co., Ltd., in dealing with what he termed the more neglected branch of aviation, namely, survey by photography from the air, mentioned the survey of the Irrawaddy Delta (1,400 square miles) which saved the Government of Burma an expenditure of .£18,000 and three to four years in time, according to an estimate of a Government surveyor. Since 1924 the Air Survey Company had surveyed the South Tenasserim Forests in Burma. The country had previously been mapped by the survey of India on a scale of 1 in. to the mile, so that all that was required by the forest department was a very complete recon- naissance during which the various forest types were located and their position marked on the maps by trained forest officers, who flew as observers on the company's seaplanes. In order that the results of their reconnaissance might be confirmed, numerous strips of oblique and vertical photo- graphs were run over the area at convenient intervals, from which a more detailed and prolonged study could be made than was possible from the air. The area covered was approximately 15,000 square miles, and took only three months' flying from four different bases along the Tenasserim coast. For the first time it has been possible to locate where the Nomad cultivators, who " move on " to new ground each season, had burned and cleared fresh jungle as they go, as well as the deserted clearings now in a state of secondary jungle, so that the tremendous extent 735 estimated andof forest distraction from this cause could be steps taken to get it under control. In the same season the Burma oilfields at Yenangyaung were photographed and rectified prints on a scale of 24 in. to the mile were supplied to the Survey of India for the amplification of detail on the map which they were supplying to the Burma Oil Co. In 1925 a complete survey party was taken down to Borneo, when 1,400 square miles in the Baram district of Sarawak and Brunei were surveyed in seven months against heavy odds in the form of abominable photographic weather. In Burma, in the fine season, a similar area could have been completed in two or three months. That contract, with its heartbreaking delays and difficulties, taught them much, with the result that, on their next survey, some 2,300 square miles in the Rejang district of Sarawak, under Mr. Raynham's charge, he and his assistant, Mr. Andrews, were able to devise a system which simplified the work and, at the same time, largely overcame the cloud difficulties. They were now employed by the Federated Malay States on the Survey of the Mangrove forests on their West coast, in addition to one or two smaller contracts for engineers and others. Their next move would be to Bengal, where they would make their first start on air survey in India. Air. Kemp then detailed the several different purposes for which their surveys had been made, including for forest purposes, town planning, etc. In addition to these, they were convinced of the utility of air survey on river training, hydrographical surveys on rocky or shoal coasts and rivers, prospecting, railroad and engineering surveys, including hydro-electric and water power, and lastly, all kinds of revenue surveys. He would say that it should not be thought for one moment that air survey was going to supersede entirely the older method and put the surveyor out of business. They could not get on without the ground sur- veyor, who would, however, have to employ the air methods to increase the scope of his work and keep pace with the demand for developments in new countries, as well as revision of his work in countries already mapped. The farthermost of their surveys were separated by 3,000 miles or more, as the seaplane flies, and their seaplanes had now operated along the whole of the coast from Rangoon to Singapore, Singapore to Pontianok in Dutch Borneo, via the Dutch Islands of Muntok, and Tangong, Pandang, and from Pontianok to Jesselton in British North Borneo. From the experience gained they had come to the conclusion that air survey and air transport could be best conducted together, especially abroad, for although survey parties operating in the East were to some extent based on London, from where they must draw their supplies, they should also have some form of Eastern depot where overhauls could be continuously carried out, a heavy charge to be borne by the survey parties. There- fore, stores, workshops, personnel, and, in fact, all the facilities at a transport company's main base, could be shared by both survey and transport and the cost divided between them. Their company had decided to go ahead on these lines on a route which had been chosen, partly for its commercial attractions and partly on account of its favourable weather conditions. Designs for an eight-seater seaplane, with several of which it is proposed to make a start, were well in hand and showed excellent promise. After a period of say 18 months or two years ,when it was likely a larger machine would be required, it was estimated that local traffic and survey or reconnaissance would supply ample demand for the older type, so that there would be no necessity to scrap them. The postal authorities abroad were apparently anxious and eager for the development of mail-carrj-ing air services, as was evidenced by the interest they had taken of late in the flights by Mr. Raynham and Mr. Vintcent of this company, who carried respectively the first air mail in Sarawak, from Borneo to Singapore, also from Singapore to Port Swettenham and Kuala Lumpur. The Secretary of State for Air, in speaking to the Members of the Imperial Economic Conference on bettering our Jimpire communications by air services, said : " As to safety, what better record could there be than the five million miles flown by British Services for four fatal accidents, and the million miles flown in Australia for a single accident ? " Their company, in a small way, could add to that an inter- esting record as they had not had a single fatal accident during the operation over 90,000 miles of three seaplanes for three years over coast lines and rivers, without any ground organisation other than that which could be readily improvised
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