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Aviation History
1928
1928 - 0769.PDF
AudusT 16, 1928 AVIATION STRIDES IN CANADA CANADIAN CIVIL AVIATION REPORT FOR 1927 ACCORDING to a Report on Civil Aviation and Civil Govern-ment Air Operations, recently issued by the Department of National Defence at Ottawa, remarkable strides were madeby aviation in Canada during 1927. Though the Dominion and Provincial Governments increased their flying operationsby 50 per cent., the most gratifying feature of the period under review was the fact that commercial flying companiesmore than doubled their flying time. The Department points out that flying has now becomea recognized part of practically every conservation, develop- ment and engineering service in the country. A criterion of the growth of Canadian commercial flyingis the statement that in 1927 the hours flown were 12,070 as compared with 5,860 in 1926. which is an increase of 106 percent. Furthermore, the number of passengers carried by commercial planes advanced from 6,436 to 18,932, and thenumber of passenger miles from 631,715 in 1926 to 1,424,031 in 1927. Freight carried likewise shows a gratifying increasefrom 724,721 lbs. in 1926 to 1,098,346 lbs. last year. A striking indication of the magnitude of the operationscarried out for Federal Government Departments under the Directorate of Civil Government Air Operations is conveyedby the statement that in 1927 the flying totalled 2,028 hours Sixty-six per cent, of the time was devoted to patrol offorests against fire or other forestry operations, while 30 per cent, was taken up in photographic operations for topo-graphical surveys. Among the Provincial Government operations, those ofOntario were most important The Ontario Government maintains its own air service and its operations includedthe sketching of 18,000 square miles of territory, while 4,572 square miles were photographed and 526 forest firesdetected. In Quebec, companies operating under contract with the Provincial Government photographed an area of5,800 square miles and carried out forest sketching over an area of 7,000 square miles. In British Columbia, forest sketchingand aerial photography were also undertaken under contract. 12,400 square miles being photographed and 2,200 squaremiles being sketched. Fifty-nine forest fires were also detected from the air DUSTING FORESTS BY AIR AEROPLANES, scientific workers and commercial organisationshave combined their forces in an effort to find the best method to control the spruce bud worm in Canada. It is estimatedthat 200,000,000 cords of wood have been destroyed by this pest since 1909, which means a loss to the Dominion of12,000,000,000. The work being done is purely investigational, and consistsin the dusting from the air with different strengths of calcium arsenate of twelve 10-acre plots of different types of timber. The bud worm principally affects the balsam,, and the treesare dusted when the budworm is in the caterpillar stage. The caterpillar bores into the bud and feeds on the new foliage. The experiments are being conducted near Westree onthe Canadian National Railway west of Sudbury, Ontario. A " Keystone Puffer " aeroplane is used for the dusting.It is of the same type as those used for the cotton-dusting in the Southern States. The Dominion Air Service is supply-ing the 'plane ; the Entomological Branch of the Dominion Department of Agriculture the scientific investigators ;and the Ontario Forestry Branch and the Spanish River Pulp and Paper Company are lending their assistance and co-opera-tion. Last year some preliminary investigations were conducted,this year they are being continued in an effort to perfect this method of control. If the dusting method of controlcan be effectively employed it will mean a tremendous economic saving to Canada. VICTORIA AERO CLUB, BRITISH COLUMBIA AFTER a long enforced period of delay, caused by difficultyin raising the $4,000 guarantee bond required by the Dominion Government in respect of the first D.H. " Moth "loaned to the Victoria Aero Club, the Club has now actually commenced flying operations. This reflects great credit onthe indefatigable honorary secretary and instructor, Mr. Sydney Pickles, A.F.R.Ae.S. The "bond difficulty hasbeen a very big one, and Mr. Pickles is being heartily con- gratulated on his success in arranging the guarantees. Thefollowing members of the Club have guaranteed the bond :— Messrs. D. W. Hanbury, V. H. S. MacLeod, R. H. B. Ker,A. W. Carter, L. de S. Duke, Sydney Pickles, H. M. McGiverin and Norman A. Yarrow. On July 2, after the machine had been passed as air-worthy by the Club's Honorary Air Engineer, Mr. A. W. Carter, it was taken out for solo test flights by Mr. SydneyPickles, who obtained his British certificate for flying sixteen years ago in July. Three test flights were made, during whichvarious aerobatics were indulged in, such as looping, etc. The pilot reported the machine as handling beautifully.These were the first flights this machine made in Canada. Afterwards three members of the Club were taken up aspassengers. Unfortunately, the Club's President, Mr. A. W. Carter, had to leave the Aerodrome and thereby missedhaving the honour of being the first passenger, which went to Mr. E. Hanbury, one of the directors. The other pas-sengers were :—Mr. F. F. Cooper, and Mr. G. S. Burns. The next morning the Club's President, who is also an ex-perienced pilot, had two passenger flights and took some refresher dual. On July 4, the D.H. " Moth " was out again under thepilotage of Mr. Sydney Pickles, who took up Capt. Awde and Messrs. Ernest Eve, Cecil Eve, G. S. Burns, L. de S. Duke,all of whom enjoyed their flights immensely. After lunch, Flight-Lieut. Hull, from the Vancouver R.C.A.F. Air Station,arrived in Victoria on an Avro seaplane and then motored to the aerodrome and did forty-five minutes' flying on theD.H. " Moth," this being his first experience on this par- ticular machine. He was very favourably impressed by itsperformance. On July 5, Mr. Pickles was out again, giving passengerflights to the following members :—Messrs. H. M. McGiverin, C. Aitken, E. Hanbury, D. W. Hanbury and G. S. Burns.Mr. D. W. Hanbury, who is 65 years of age, enjoyed this, his first flight, greatly. On one of the flights, the D.H." Moth " reached an altitude of 5,000 ft., when the view of the Olympic Mountains, across the Straits of Juan de Fucaand the various islands, was most impressive. At a directors' meeting, on July 5, the directors passed a resolution that the following persons be made honorary life active members of the Club, in return for financial assistance and services rendered in the formation of the Club :—Major-General MacBrien, the Hon. Walter C. Nichol, Messrs. D. W. Hanbury, V. S. Stewart MacLeod and Sydney Pickles. The resolution will be placed before the members of the Club at the next general meeting for their considera- tion. The total membership of the Club is now 100, with 42 members wishing to undergo flying instruction, so the Club's next business will be to obtain further machines, which it hopes to manage before very long. Herding Reindeer by AeroplaneIN Alaska the herding of reindeer by air has been tried with success. Ralph Lomen, pioneer of the Alaskan reindeerindustry, s'tated that recently their head herdsman went out in an aeroplane and accomplished as much in two hoursas would otherwise have taken a week with six men. Avro " Avians "in America TWELVE Avro " Avian" light aeroplanes have beenshipped to America, the last pair going on August 4. It is possible that others will be ordered before long. Air Asso-ciates Inc. of New York City are agents for these machines in Eastern America, and the Northrup Airplane Co. of Min-neapolis have acquired two and are acting as agents in the Western States. One of the pair has the Handley Page '• Slots." Detecting Criminals by Air AN aeroplane equipped with a machine gun, and carrying armed detectives, covered a large area of Southern Manitoba in an endeavour to locate a motor car which was reported to have been seen with five armed bank bandits. The search was not successful. Aircraft CarriersON August 8 the aircraft carrier Argus, Capt. C. St. C. Cameron, C.B.E., was due to complete refitting after itsservice in China. It is now transferred to the Atlantic Fleet. 713
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