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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0272.PDF
FLIGHT, MARCH 20, 1931 AIRWAY MAP OF THE UNITED STATES AS OF DECEMBER 1.193O LIGHTED wAVS IWDIE CONSTHuCTION fOB NN3MT CPFBjVTIOlS. Fig. 2. 19.0021.20 23.30 1.00 4.004.30 6.SO 8.40 11.55 12.30 dep.dep. arr. dep. arr.dep. arr. dep. arr. arr. OsloGothenburg . . Copenhagen . . Copenhagen . . HanoverHanover Amsterdam Amsterdam . . London Paris arr.arr. dep. arr. dep.arr. dep. . . arr... dep. dep. 9.207.00 4.45 4.15 1.3J1.00 22.40 22.00 19.00 15.0J 6.00 Berlin dep. 22.00 The payment for the conveyance of mail has been made insuch a manner that the Post Offices in the Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, togetherguaranteed payment according to the so-called Hague Convention for 1,200 1b. of mail for each trip as far asAmsterdam, where the night air mail 'planes handed over their mail for conveyance to its destination by the K.L.M.'sordinary morning machines to London, Brussels and Paris. I mentioned that the Scandinavian Post Offices contributesums according to the Hague Convention, whereby the pay- ment should be at the rate of 6 gold centimes per 100 grammesand 100 km. That the Post Offices were able to guarantee for such a large weight as 1,200 lb. per trip, is due to thefact that a start has been made to send all first-class mail, e.g., even such for which no air fee has been paid, by thenight air mail service. The actual weight was thus almost what was guaranteed. There can, therefore, in this respectnot be any suggestion of any mail subsidy, but merely of payment according to an internationally-fixed tariff for workdone. France Last year the Compagnie Internationale de NavigationAerienne (C.I.D.N.A.) maintained a night service from April 1 to December 1 on the routes Paris-Strassburg andBelgrade-Bukarest. The regularity between Paris and Strassburg was betwreen 97 and 100 per cent, during thesummer season and about 75 per cent, in the winter months. Between Belgrade and Bukarest the regularity was still better. The Company's night flights were carried outentirely with three-engined machines. The Air Union, for shorter periods during 1926 and 1927, carried out trial ni^htflights between Paris and London. When the beacon illumination along the route had been arranged more satis-factorily, the Company commenced a regular night service on April 9, 1929, and this was continued uninterruptedlyuntil September 7, last year. During 1929 and 1930, 397 flights in all have been carried out—425 flights were intended—so that the regularity has thus been on an average no less than 93 per cent. I shall now show (in Fig. 1) the present European nightair routes equipped with beacons and emergency landing places. We see from it that there exists already a longroute illuminated by beacons along the whole length, namely, London - Brussels - Cologne - Hanover - Berlin - Danzig - Koenigs-berg, and another line from London via Paris-Dijon-Lyons to Marseilles. Furthermore, we have the lines Paris-Brussels,Paris-Strassburg, Amsterdam-Hanover, Hanover-Hamburg- Danish Frontier, as well as Berlin-Leipzig. The line Strassburg-Nurembcrg-Prague-Vienna is at presentin course of establishment for the Companie Cidna ; further, beaconing is planned from Frankfort to Cologne, fromMunich to Halle-Leipzig and from the German frontier to Copenhagen and Stockholm, as well as from Copenhagento Gothenburg and Oslo. We are thus already able to discern in the completed nightairways the main oiitlines of how the future night air mail routes in Europe will look. After this account of its present state in Europe, I wish topass on and say a few words about the night air mail service in the United States. Night Air Mail Service, U.S.A. As you are probably aware, the air mail service in Americawas at the beginning operated entirely by the Post Office. A departure from this system was made subsequently, andnow the mail is carried by the various airways companies under contracts which have been entered into between thePostmaster-General and the respective companies. In order to supply an instructive illustration of the present Americanair mail service, the following figures may be quoted :— Total mail carried, lb Mail carried by contract, lb. Mail income to contractors, S .. Miles of airwavs, December 31 Average mail load in pounds perscheduled round trip Average income per pound of con- tract mail .. .. SAverage mail income per con- tract m.le flown . . SNumber of mail operators, De- cember 31Airplane miles flown with mail . . Miles lighted airways, Decem-ber 31 Electric and gas beacons, Decem- ber 31Lighted intermediate fields, De- cember 31 1926 810,855 377,2.16 765,549 8,039 112 2-03 0-39 154,240,407 2,041 612 92 1927 1,654,165 1,2711,299 2,643,454 7,832 273 2-08 0-625 165,543,578 4,468 760 134 1928 4,063,173 4,003,173 7,432,721 14,561 489 2-03 0-94 217,846,296 6,988 1,188 210 1929 7,772,014 7,772,014 17,042,521 26,597 617 2-01 — 2214,869,166 12,448 1,311 285 TOTAL MONTMIV AIR ftAJL POU^6A6E *OH THE LIMITED STATES tOOOOO •KX300 B z | J8OOOC MOQOOV\ / / / / / 1 / \ / \\ \ \ \ 1 / / A N ttt MAM *M. «WV jUNt JULV AU&. SEPT OCT NO/. DEC JAN. FEft. *«*«. APft M 929 I93O — 7*0000 0SOOCX1 taoooo o 580 OOO 5 Shoaoo SOOOOO Mi, jmir— Fig. 3. Fig. 2 shows a chart of all the lighted American air-ways in December, 1930. In December, 1929, 12,448 miles were illuminated, and since thenthe figure has risen to over 14,700 miles. I am unable for the moment to giveany typical contract between the United States Post Office and the airways com-panies, because no standard contract is in use, each arrangement being drawnup in a separate form with suitable terms for the needs of the particular routeNevertheless, it might be interesting to know one of the most recent. A con-tract awarded to the Pan-American Airways, Inc., of New York City, isan agreement for carrying mail by air from Dutch Guinea to Santos, in Brazil,a distance of approximately 3,275 miles each way. The concern is to receive$2 a mile each way for carrying the mail over this route for a specified loadnot exceeding 800 lb., plus a rate of $1 per lb. per 1,000 miles for any excessmail required to-be carried. The service 256
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