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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0931.PDF
FLIGHT, AUGUST 28, 1931 THE MEANING OF AN IMPERIAL AIR ROUTE " A FIRST EXPERIENCE " of air-travel, as set forth inthe following letter in The Times, should carry weight with all who are inclined to question the future of anImperial Air Service.— Sir,—I have just returned by air from Central Africaand feel that I ought to help to bring to the notice of my fellow countrymen and countrywomen an extraordinarydevelopment in travel of which, I gather, most of them are ignorant. It was one of the most delightful trips Ihave taken, and the only part I did not like was when I had to get out of the 'plane at Croydon, and to realisethat the journey was over. I had been spending the winter with friends in Kenyaand Uganda. I had gone out by sea—a voyage of nearly a month, and then three days and nights by train fromMombassa. A long voyage like that, through the Bay of Biscay, the choppy Mediterranean, the heat of theCanal and the Red Sea, and a long uninteresting voyage down the East Coast of Africa, had not proved veryattractive, and when I heard that I could fly home in seven days, the idea appealed to me enormously. I hadnever flown at all before, and my friends thought it rather a risk, but the whole trip proved to be a sheerdelight and, although I had had to defer my flight three times on account of rather serious illness and was notperfectly recovered when I started, I arrived in England a well woman. My friends motored me from Entebbe to Port Bell (onLake Victoria Nyanza on the Equator) in the early morning, and a launch took me to the flying boat. Torise from the lake in a flying boat was the most agreeable sensation, and it was a unique and marvellous experience,too, to fly across Uganda and come down in Lake Albert, where we picked up passengers from the Belgian Congo,and then on to Juba. On our way the flying boat flew very low twice—once to see a herd of elephants, andanother time giraffes: the elephants, of course, were terri- fied, and stampeded with their ears sticking right out. Even at Juba we had most comfortable rooms, hotbaths, and good dinners. Most mornings we started early, so as to arrive at our destination in time to see thewonderful sights which the route offers, but, as we found we could sleep quite easily in the aeroplane, it wasnot too tiring. I was travelling at the hottest time of the year across the sudd and the Sudan, but this part of thejourney only lasted two days and the heat was far from overpowering while flying. One of the days it wasrather bumpy, so, to avoid discomfort, the pilot took us high up (9,000 ft.), and there, although it was smoothtravelling, we were glad to put on big coats. At Khartoum we changed over to a land aeroplane, andthere and at Wadi Haifa we had time to saunter along the banks of the Nile. At Alexandria we changed over againto a flying-boat and then crossed the Mediterranean. We spent a most delightful day, arriving in Crete in time forlunch, which was served on board a launch amid wonderful surroundings. We arrived at Athens at tea time, andthere, again, we had tea on a motor-yacht. Corfu was reached about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and we went fora lovely motor trip up the mountain, returning to the hotel about 10 o'clock, where we had an excellent dinnerin the garden. All this travelling might have been tiring if we hadhad to do anything for ourselves, but everything was arranged and with every comfort, too. We stayed at thebest hotels en route, and at delightful rest houses in the desert; we had excellent food everywhere, and, where neces-sary, luncheon baskets were provided on our departure by the hotels. To a woman travelling alone it was a real joynot to have to arrange about rooms or meals in the hotels, nor to have to tackle my own luggage and struggle with itthrough Customs. Wherever we landed cars were waiting to take us to the hotels with our baggage, and in Egyptparticularly, where travelling is not too easy nowadays, it was a delight to have everything done for one. I oweit to the pilots and every member of the staff of Imperial Airways to acknowledge their invariable courtesy and theconstant attention paid to our comfort, and to Imperial Airways itself for the provision of quite luxurious accom-modation in even the most remote stopping places. Finally, the whole trip cost me no more than going viathe Red Sea by boat. Of course, the boat keeps you for 28 days instead of seven, but, unless you are a lover ofthe sea, who wants to be kept all that time in a boat— especially in the Red Sea?—I am, etc., WINIFRED VEKGETTE.9, Carlyle Mansions, The Mall, Kensington, W.8. Aeropostale Services in S. AmericaTHE Compagnie Generate Aeropostale inform us that reports published in certain Continental papers to the effectthat the air mail service from Buenos Aires to Santiago du Chile was suspended are incorrect. This line is still inoperation, and will continue to be run as in the past, being the continuation of the weekly air mail service from Europeto South America by the Compagnie Generale Aeropostale. They also inform us that the air line, Buenos Aires—Patagonia, which had been temporarily suspended, has now been re-opened with the financial participation of theArgentine Government. MODELS Some Good Flying by T.M.A.C. ARIOUS Wings of The Model Aircraft Club(T.M.A.C.) put up some excellent flying during the last few days, as may be gathered from thefollowing reports: — T.M.A.C. Grand Rally.—The meeting at Hackney Marshon Saturday, August 22, was a most enjoyable occasion, good weather and good flying being the order of the day.Representatives from H.Q., and Wings 2, 3, 4 and 12, all put up an excellent show. A Duration and Reliability Contest was held, competitorsmaking three H.L. flights each, and the average of the three being taken. Mr. Andrews, of 10th Squadron, 4thWing, won 1st prize with his " Balsa Ditherer," his best flight being 81 sec, and his average 68. A prize forheavier types went to Mr. Wood, of 12th Squadron, 4th Wing. His low-wing Kingfisher averaged 51, its bestflight being 71. Miss Briggs, Capt. Whippey and Messrs. J. Beard, Bennett, Gates, D. Beard and A. E. Jones alsoput up good performances. Flights were also made by sundry Kittens and King-fishers, a Kinglet, a Snipe from 2nd Wing, Mr. Bennett's scale Wapiti, Mr. Linfoot's small High-wing, and Mr.Batchelor's biplane " Bellona." Mr. Young obtained several short flights with Mr. Knight's Pterodactyl. 1st Wing.—On Sunday, August 23, Mr. Trevithick putup some remarkable performances, which were timed by A. E. Jones and W. A. Brett, with his compressed-airmodel. From 12.45 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. he made 14 consecu- tive flights, as follow:—1st, 52.5 sec; 2nd, 53.5 sec; 3rd, 65 sec; 4th, 50 sec; 5th, 54 sec; 6th, 53 sec; 7th, 50.5sec; 8th, 58.5 sec; 9th, 40 sec; 10th, 40 sec; 11th, 60 sec; 12th, 57 sec; 13th, 60.5 sec; 14th, 49 sec. Thismakes an average of just over 53 sec. per flight. 10th Wing.—The best week-end of good flying weatherwas made the most of by members of the 10th Wing. Messrs. Gibson and White were making average flights of60-80 sec. A. Gordon and A. T. Willis were flying solely for altitude and some extremely high flights were seen, oneestimate being 600 ft. The best timed flight of the day was made by Master A. M. Willis, a duration of 8 min.7 2-5 sec. being recorded by the club's stop-watch. Messrs. Whippey and Cox were also making good flights. 17th Wing, Manchester.—The holiday season did notprevent members from giving a good display of model flying at Mauldeth Road on August 23. The chief featurewas the half-size model of Mr. Sheldrake's " Famosis," constructed by Master Hodson, under the guidance of thebuilder of the larger model. Both machines were present, and the performance of the smaller one was truly remark-able. This is the first occasion on which we have had the opportunity of witnessing the flight of a model of a model!Messrs. Pearce avec " Nimbus," Thompson " Crusading" and Robinson with a new and nameless model, all helpedto carry on the good work. If there are any readers in the Nelson district who areinterested in model aviation they would do well to get into touch with Mr. Sutton, whose address is 33, South FieldStreet, Nelson, Lanes.
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