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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0079.PDF
PJH*-' FLIGHT, JANUARY 23, 1931 Page, prepared an aerodrome at Salamoa about a year ago. Thes'1 companies all maintained their air services with excellent regularity, but a reorganisation of the mining indus trv resulted in some of them gradually withdrawing from Xew ' ''.'inea, and leaving the air to Guinea Airways. Th-k last-named company secured contracts with the Bulolo Gold iJredging Ltd., and with the Elh'ou Goldfields Develop- ment Corporation. The contract with the latter provided for the carriage of 800 tons per annum. The Bulolo company we a contract to convey 4,000 tons of hydro-electric power plant and dredging machinery, including single castings of three tons each. This is to be carried out in the current year. To carry out the work two special Junker freighters of the type G31 are being ordered. These machines are all-meta' low-wing monoplanes, each driven by three Pratt and Whitney " Wasp " engines. The area which it is proposed to dredge is shown on the map of the gold fields. The importance of the airways in New Guinea is bound to go on increasing so long as the gold mining continues. An air link between the island and Australia seems to be a natural development of the enterprise, and it is interesting to learn that the Queensland Air Navigation Co. Ltd., is considering the purchase of a flying-boat to connect the port of Cairns with New Guinea. CROYDON WEEKLY NOTES AFTER a week of fogbound weather, as reported in theprevious issue, Croydon was once more visible asan aerodrome, and a full week of flying was com- pleted, although on the Monday, fog crept up again for a few hours, but did not affect the services in any way, and all companies flew to schedule. After seeing a maximum distance of about 300 yards for a week, it was quite a welcome sight to see the surrounding country again. The improved weather conditions had the effect of bucking up our jarred tempers—that was exactly the weather we had been hoping for. Private owners are again becoming a source of great annoyance to the authorities, who always do their utmost to help them. Private pilots ignore many of the rules made for their safety, and cause endless trouble, particularly when flying on the recognised air routes. This particular week in question, a K.L.M. pilot, incoming from Amsterdam, was passing Ostend when a private machine missed him by only a few feet, in bad weather conditions. This sort of thing is not good enough, and although one does not wish to be a pessimist, it is easy to forecast what will happen one of these days. There is a recognised right and left rule on the air routes, and if a private pilot is so incompetent in bad weather, he should be debarred from flying, as he is a public danger, firstly to others, and lastly to himself (report him to Sandy McTavish—ED.). This is by no means the first time catastrophies have been averted by a very small margin. I understand that a pilot of Imperial Airways had a similar experience quite recently, near Abbeville. The K.L.M. people are daily bringing loads of flowers, every available space on their machines is used for this purpose. Tulips picked in Holland in the morning are on the tables of many leading1 London hotels the same evening. Lt.-Comm. Glen Kidston, R.N., has acquired his six- seater, " Lockheed Vega," which is now being assembled at Croydon. His marvellous escape from the Luft Hansa disaster of 1929 has not deterred him, which is, of course, the right spirit. Glen Kidston, as he is popularly known among his many friends, has long since been among our foremost private owners. It will be remembered that he purchased the late Capt. Lowenstein's three " Lynx " engined Fokker three years ago. The " Lockheed Vega," it is said, cruises at 150 m.p.h., and has a top speed of 180 m.p.h. I understand he is bound for Cape Town and proposes to leave in about a fortnight's time. On Wednesday, what might have been a very nasty accident luckily turned out to be a minor one. A D.H. Moth, owned by National Flying Services, and piloted by a very young lady, was having the preliminary " suckingln " process before departure, when the engine fired, and the airscrew caught the man who was swinging it. His thigh, hand and arm were severely bruised, and he will undoubtedly have to take a week or two's enforced rest. It was proved that the switches were off, but on inspection, were found to be faulty and shorting. Why were they faulty, and who was responsible ? That man may have lost hia life, as we all know, a " prop " very seldom gives anyone a second chance. Capt. A. F. Muir returned during the week from Marseilles. It is to be hoped he will wear his famous yellow beret about the L'.erodrome, as it will add a touch of colour and blend well with the soft green effect of the billiard room, and the dull Drown of the Croydon Aerodrome mud.J addy " Flynn has been to the aerodrome several times late] - in an invalid chair, and taking all things into considera- t'on, ne seems to be quite cheery, and making good progress towards recovery fram his recent crash. It is plain to see, though, that he has been through a very rough time. Every one wishes him a quick recovery and good luck, and hopes the loss of his limb will not prove such a big handicap to him. He is a plucky fellow, and deserves a good ground job with his company. On Saturday, the first Argosy left for Africa—G—EBLO., piloted by Capt. O. P. Jones. A large proportion of the staff assembled to cheer him off. He made Marseilles in just over 5 hr., an excellent performance. To watch Jones flying an Argosy, or any other aircraft, is a pretty sight ; it seems to be second nature with him. I consider him one of the finest commercial pilots of to-day—he is very little in the limelight—solely for the reason that he hates publicity, but he certainly is a great pilot. It will be remembered that Capt. Jones has twice brought H.R.H. The Prince of Wales from Paris. On the same day, G—AAEJ. broke the London-Cologne record on the Indian Mail service. Mr. Wheeler did the trip in 2 hr. 15 min., which includes taxying out, and taxying in at Cologne, as I understand that is the regulation for the timing of aircraft, so actually his flying time from the take- off to the landing would be about 2 hr. 5 min., a remarkable show. Mr. W. Lindsay Everard, M.P., the popular chairman of the Leicestershire Aero Club, visited Croydon on Saturday. He was en route for Paris in his new " Puss-Moth," piloted by Flt-Lt. Stewart David. Mr. Everard is the patron saint of aviation in the Leicester district and the Leicester- shire Aero Club is certainly one of the most go-ahead clubs in the country, and quite a few of our Croydon staff have returned and told us of the marvellous parties given by these good folk of the Midlands. The announcement of the rules governing the King's Cup Air Race was not very well received here. It certainly does not seem very fair to the professional pilot. It so happens that the race is usually run on a day when bad weather conditions prevail—surely such is the chance of the profes- sional pilot to score. Going back to the years 1922 and 1923, one seems to remember Frank Courtney and the late F. L. Barnard recording their successes on really bad weather days. In 1925, F. L. Barnard again won His Majesty's coveted award, when (I know some of you will remember) a certain high personage of today landed near Luton and telephoned to Commander Perrin of the Royal Aero Club to stop the race because he thought the conditions were far too bad for the remainder of the competitors! ! What, I am inclined to ask, is the position of Imperial Airways' pilots who are on the Reserve of Air Force Officers regarding this race ? And again, what is the position of the serving R.A.F. officer who possesses a " B " licence ? The Air Union company have been having a slice of bad luck recently. On Saturday a Breguet aircraft, piloted by M. Bart, arrived at Lympne, and in landing during a parti- cularly nasty gusty period crashed near the eastern boundary in the darkness. Fortunately, his six passengers escaped unhurt ; the flying mechanic was cut and bruised, and after receiving the attention of Sgt.-Maj. Dupe and his ever ready band of assistants, he was taken to Folkestone Hospital. On Monday, a Liore aircraft bound from Croydon to Paris forced landed at Smarden with engine trouble and lost the undercarriage and damaged both lower planes. The only passenger was M. Bart returning to Paris minus his Breguet, and he received minor cuts. Such is the fate of pilots ! The traffic figures for the week are; passengers 232, freight 25 tons. P. B. 81
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