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Aviation History
1929
1929 - 1084.PDF
FLIGHT, MAY 23, 1929 crystal streams and forest trees, backed by the magnificent mass of Mt. Meru,may claim to be one of the most attractive spots in East Africa. South of Arusha, which will shortly be the terminus of the Tanga railway,now running only to Moshi, lies a purely native region (Masai), consisting of grass plains and bush plains interspersed with mbugas, and flanked on thewest by sundry escarpments and isolated peaks reaching 10,000 ft. and forming the eastern wall of the Rift Valley. The route itself does not normallyexceed a height of 4,500 ft., and drops to 3,700 ft. at Dodotna on the Central Railway, the last 40 miles of this section being fairly thick bush. South of Dodoma the route first passes over rather broken country, butlater emerges on to the great bush plain lying at an altitude of about 3,500 ft. to the west of the Iringa Plateau. Through this bush plain runs the GreatRuaha River, haying its origin in the Poroto Mountains at the head of Lake Nyassa and flowing in a northerly then north-easterly direction round thenorthern end of the Iringa Plateau. The whole of this plain is comprised within the arid region referred to as an extension from the Northern FrontierProvince of Kenya, and the dry region lying between Nairobi and the coast. It is, in consequence, very sparsely populated, and entirely devoid of whitesettlement. The hard, sandy nature of the plain and its dry thorn bush covering is such as to make it easy in most places to prepare landing groundsat low cost, except for the dearth of local labour. The route might reach Mbeya entirely over this plain without crossing theIringa Plateau, which has a general elevation of 5,000 to 6,000 ft., with isolated peaks of 8,000 ft. in its northern part. To do so, however, wouldmean constructing landing grounds in country entirely devoid of communi- cations, since the main road climbs on to the plateau north of Iringa andfollows it throughout its whole length ; the route would thereby also miss the whole of this developing region. The top of the plateau, whose charac-teristic natural vegetation is myombo forest, is considerably more difficult from the point of view of the construction of landing grounds than the plain.Where grass occurs in the south part of the plateau, a disconcerting feature in a forced landing is the universal presence of a small type of ant heap at closeintervals, not more than 9 in. high and entirely invisible when the grass, which is not long for African grass, is standing The white settlement area does not start until about 30 miles south ofIringa, and it is developing mainly in a southerly and south-easterly direction. It is still, however, in a very primitive state of development.Between the southern flank of the Iringa Plateau and the Poroto Mountains, which, with the Livingstone Mountains and the Bundali Hills, surround thenorthern end of Lake Nyassa, lie the notorious Buhora Plats, an extensive region which becomes an impassable swampy lake in the rains, for somefour to six months in the year, and thereby cuts off Tukuyu and the settlement areas in the south, with Rhodesia, from the rest of Tanganyika. A new roadis now being constructed round the flats. Mbeya itself lies in a wide grass covered valley between the Poroto Mountainson the south and the Mbeya Mountains on the north, both rising to 10,000 ft. 5,000 ft. above the valley. After crossing the Buhora Flats and climbing thepass to the valley 1,500 ft. above, the impression is that of a gateway to Rhodesia and the lands beyond—a rather striking natural feature. Thefloor of the valley is in many places a natural landing ground, requiring only the burning of the long, wheat-like grass as preparation. A very fine site fora landing ground was found near the Boma, and this, as the customs aero- drome in the south of Tanganyika and a possible night halt on the mainroute to the Cape, is likely to become of some importance. A further point of interest about Mbeya is that it is the jumping-off point of the mountaintrack to the Lupa goldfields to the north. These at present are limited to small scale placer mining, but, with the discovery of a reef, the area is attract -i ng the attention of the South African mining groups, and may become of considerable importance. With these three main air routes prepared, and a few additional landinggrounds at other centres of settlement in the Kenya Highlands, such, for example, as Eldoret, Kitale and Nyeri, it will be possible to travel by airbetween all the important centres in East Africa. Other Internal RoutesIt only remains to mention certain other possible routes of the future. With the exception of one, they all have the Belgian Congo as their objective.The exception is a seaplane route along the coast, connecting Mombasa, Tanga and Dar-es-Salaam, with probably an extension south to Lindi, Mozam-bique and even Beira and Durban. The coasts of Kenya and Tanganyika, with their numerous land-locked harbours and wide river estuaries, areadmirably adapted for this purpose. The commercial population of the coast is keenly alive to the possibility of this development, and steps havebeen taken to select sites, with a view to reservation, at the three ports mentioned. The possible extension from Entebbe or Tororo in a north-westerly directionthrough the Northern Province of Uganda to the Kilo-Moto mines area has already been mentioned. Secondly, there is a route along the TanganyikaCentral Railway to Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika with a view to connecting up with Albertville and the Katanga region of the Congo. The nucleus ofthis is being laid by a chain of emergency landing grounds along the railway, now in preparation for the operations of the Avro Avian purchased for surveywork by the Survey Department of Tanganyika. Thirdly, there is a possible route to the new Belgian provinces of Ruanda and Urundi, now beingdeveloped as a white settlement area with tourist hotels and aerodromes by a Belgian syndicate. This region may be reached in a north-westerly direction south-west of Uganda.In Uganda it may be noted there are many small lakes, as well as the better known lakes, which are suitable for the operation of seaplanes. Thisapplies particularly in the mountain region of Kigeri in the south-west and to a lesser extent in Ankole. A map of Uganda, however, gives an undulyfavourable impression of the possibilities, since one finds that the lakes and broad lake-like rivers are mainly choked by the ubiquitous papyrus. Aero Clubs and Internal FlyingAero Club of East Africa.—It is to be expected that East Africa, with its peculiar type of white settlement, would not lag behind in the matter ofprivate flying. In July, 1927, the Aero Club of Kenya was formed as an association of ex-members of the flying services and others interested inaviation. With the spread of interest in 1928 (the membership having reached 300), the name was changed to the Aero Club of East Africa, andbranch organisations were established in Entebbe and Dar-es-Salaam. The club is affiliated to the Royal Aero Club, and proposes to foster the developmentof flying clubs. Proposals to this end have been made to the Government of Kenya. Owing to the more scattered nature of the settlement in Tan-ganyika and the different line of development of Uganda, these club activities are likely for some time, to be restricted to Kenya. Pioneers.—To the growth of interest in aviation, the numerous aviatorswho have now flown along the Cape route have all contributed their share ; and here is an example of how the existence of facilities for flying in the shapeof a chain of landing grounds, kept open, more or less, since 1920, has pro- duced a certain commercial result, which is likely in the near future to bevery much larger, with the extension of facilities in the shape of suitably placed landing grounds. In this development, one must pay tribute to the work of Mr, John C.berry, who, with his two flights to Nairobi and various " taxi " flights- ;:i Kenya and Uganda, has done much to familiarise the Kenyans with aviation,and to dispel the idea that there is some peculiar and unexplained obstacle to flying in the East African atmosphere. The late Mrs. Carberry's unprepanciflight from Mombasa to Nairobi (300 miles) over desolate bush country, m 3J hours against 15 by train, also did much to show the possibilities. There are now in Kenya 2 Moths, 1 D.H.51 and 2 Klemm Daimlers (n«tnow flying), and an addition will shortly be made by the presentation light aeroplane from Sir Charles Wakefield to the Aero Club of East Africa : MT.Carberry's Fokker Universal is back in England after its second return flight to East Africa ; in Tanganyika there is one Avian belonging to the Sun • vDepartment. Taxi Work and Schools.—This number of aircraft, will, I believe, rapidlyincrease when facilities exist for training the considerable number of people who have contemplated owning their own machines and thus bringing theirisolated farms into closer touch with the business centres. While there is this nucleus of prospective owners, there is a far largernumber of people who would make occasional use of an aeroplane for business journeys. There appear to be good prospects, therefore, for a taxi organisa-tion. British East African Airways, Ltd., with Lord Delamere at its head, has been formed to develop these activities.The market for light aeroplanes and a " taxi" type of aircraft in Fast Africa appears worth the attention of British manufacturers. Air Survey, Crop Protection, etc. In such a vast territory as the British Empire, one is apt to forget theenormous areas of potential wealth, which are not only entirely undeveloped but virtually unknown. One of the greatest obstacles to development, andmore particularly right development, is lack of maps. Wrong development has cost the British Empire (and equally other countries with lands to develop)uncounted millions. MV>re and more the attention of surveyors is being concentrated on the possibilities opened up by air survey of obtaining quicklythe data necessary for the sure and certain development of these new lands, and of reversing the old established order of development first, survev" after. Economic Surveys.—It is not only survey in its strictly limited sense oftopographical or other measurement surveys which is involved. The develop- ment of new territory demands a complete economic survey on which to layout the plans. To obtain this by ground survey involves years of labour even for a limited area, and the result then contains a great deal of inter-polation. 'Ihere is now ample accumulated proof from the work of the two British air survey companies in various parts of the Empire, and the workof the Royal Canadian Air Force and Topographic Survey Department of Canada, that an air photo survey properly interpreted will provide dataon practically every subject involved. Agriculture.—The Department of Agriculture, by a comparative study ofthe types of vegetation recognisable on the photographs, obtains information as to the suitability of the soil for various kinds of crops.Geology.—The geologist, by the same evidence, is informed as to the particular surface formation covering an area and the position of the boundarybetween two formations. He has also the additional evidence of outcrops use- ful in prospecting for certain types of minerals. In addition, he has thepeculiar superimposed effects in certain condition of particular mineral deposits such as copper and oil. All these are recognisable with muchgreater precision and ease on an air photograph than it is possible to achieve by ground observation in thick, or even moderately open, bush. The features,too, are much more precisely recognisable, whether from the air or the ground, in virgin territory such as Centra! Africa, than in more civilised countrieswhere the hand of man has wrought artificial changes. Forestry.—The Forestry Department obtains from the photographs, notonly the areas and boundaries of the forests, but the types of timber con- tained in them, from which an estimate of their marketable value may beformed. Road and Railway Location.—The road engineer and the railway engineerobtain preliminary information as to the best line for new roads and railways, in reference both to the economic factors already mentioned and the contoursof the land. The latter can be developed, as required, to give more precise contours for the final determination of the track. One might instance arailway in West Africa as an example, which, owing to an incomplete original survey, was ultimately rebuilt on a new route at a cost of nearly £1,000,000 ;and the main road to Rhodesia in the south of Tanganyika, which crosses the winding Little Ruaha River no less than four times and finally picks itsway over the often impassable Buhora Flats—a new route now having been found which, by a 100-mile by-pass, cuts out all these things. Topographic Survey.—Finally, from the photographs combined with thenecessary measure of ground control may be made up the topographical maps necessary to anyone finding his way about the country.All these can be done with greater or less accuracy, to meet the need? of the case, with corresponding variations in the cost, while the photographs remainavailable for the production of maps of greater accuracy as required at a later date. It is often not realised that, in the early stages of prospecting ordevelopment of a country, supreme accuracy is not required, and that good local accuracy is a more valuable feature than precise position. In otherwords, maps with good topographic detail may sometimes usefully precede the elaboration of more than the minimum of triangulation. This, roughly, is the scope of the type of survey which promises to bemost useful in East Africa. A detailed list of the various areas in which air survey might be used is unnecessary, but some of the more importantwill give an idea of the scope :— Opportunities for Air Survey in F.ast Africa..—Development surveys forEuropean settlement in the Masai district of Tanganyika and in the high- lands of the south ; road survey for a new north-south road connecting Kenyaand Uganda ; railway survey for the extension of the line to the Congo border ; geological reconnaissance in Kenya ; forest surveys of limited extentin all three territories ; Tana river prospective rice growing land ; and crop surveys in Kenya. Sudd Survey.—The most important prospective item of air survey in thispart of Africa lies outside the limits of British East Africa, in the Sudan. Here the Egyptian Government plans for a canal through the Sudd to conservethe waters of the Nile, linked with the scheme for a dam across the mcutn of Lake Albert, involve problems of survey which, owing to the nature oithe terrain, present great difficulties to the ground surveyor. 1 he introduction of an air survey organisation to deal with this area will go a long way towardsmaking it economically possible to deal with with the other areas in T'.ast Africa, which are not sufficiently important in themselves to warrM1. mehigh overhead costs of a special expedition. The difficulty of financing the more rapidly completed air survey is anobstacle here as elsewhere, but it is significant that the Hilton Young Com- mission, in drawing attention to the very large number of surveys requreafor development purposes, particularly in connection with railways ana settlement in Tanganyika, stresses the fact that the survey resources n: tneterritory are insufficient to deal with the problem sufficiently promptly, ana advises the authorisation of loan expenditurejto meet the cost._ Crop Spraying. —A siamount of work to do in for this • 430
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