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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 0236.PDF
FLIGHT, MARCH 11, 1932 CARRIAGE OF AIR MAILS Director of Civil Aviation on British Policy e OMMENTING at a meeting, held on March 1, of the Royal Empire Society, on the conviction expressed by The Master of Sempill that it was necessary to separate the carriage of mails from the carriage of passengers in order that mails might travel at the speed which the public had a right to expect, the Director of Civil Aviation, Col. Shelmerdine, said : " I agree entirely that that separation is bound to come. I think it is at least arguable, whether we might not have done better to have started our Empire services as mail services pure and simple instead of combined services for mails, passengers and goods. But I would ask you to remember the object which underlies the subsidisation by Government of a civil air transport, and that object is to get it on a self-supporting basis with as little delay as possible. In order to achieve that object, it seems quite obvious that the operating company must keep its expenses down and must obtain the greatest possible revenue: and I think that the methods adopted by Imperial Airways in the selection of aircraft and in the conduct of their operations, are the methods most likely to achieve that object which Government has in view. There is no difficulty at all, except possibly a financial difficulty, in getting in this country machines capable of any reasonable speed which may be thought desirable, but it is a question of money and of a great deal of money. " I would like you to remember that at the present time the United States are subsidising their air mails to the extent of about 3£ million pounds sterling, at the par rate of exchange, per annum. This is an enormous sum, and I would not for one moment say that they in the United States are getting one bit nearer to putting commercial aviation on a self-supporting basis than we are in this country." FLYING BOATS ON COMMERCIAL AIR ROUTES ^gr PAPER under this title was read on February 29 C~X|| by Mr. C. H. Jackson, at the City and Guilds ^y -UL (Engineering) College, South Kensington, before the Imperial College Gliding Club, the British Gliding Association, and any others who cared to turn up. The chair was taken by Capt. G. T. R. Hill, of the West- land Aircraft Works. Mr. Jackson pointed out that at the present time there are only some three or four companies in the world operating large flying boats, and that with the exception of one or two wide stretches of water (Mediterranean and Gulf of Mexico) the flying boat routes are coastwise, and compete with road, rail, shipping and aeroplane transport. The next part of the paper dealt with operational con siderations, such as landing speed, wing and power load ing, etc., and was followed by a brief outline of the stages flown by different companies on their various routes. British, French, German, Italian and American flying boats were described and illustrated, but as most of these will be familiar to readers of FLIGHT it is not thought necessary to give the descriptions here. Concerning the future of flying boat operation, the lecturer said that along such coasts as the African and American, and from India to Australia, the flying boat would score, because it would save the expense of estab lishing and maintaining costly aerodromes. As commercial aviation expanded, the amount of night flying would increase tremendously, and on aeroplane routes this would entail the laying out of properly lighted and equipped emergency landing grounds. The flying boat did not require these expensive items of ground organisation. Without even considering very large boats of the DoX class, the lecturer thought that probably the flying boat would replace aeroplanes on routes such as the coastal African and American, and the longer stages between India and Australia. The last part of Mr. Jackson's paper dealt with the structural requirements of flying boats, the relative merits of outboard wing tip floats, inboard wing floats, wing stumps, and similar subjects. The shape of planing bottom and its effect on take-off, and the cure for " porpoising " were subjects introduced in simple language. Finally the paper concluded with a description of the forms of flying boat construction in general use, and brief mention was made of the heat treatment of duralumin in the course of flying boat manufacture. Mr. Jackson took as a good example of modern practice the construction of the flying boats designed and built by Short Brothers at Rochester. The lecture was illustrated by photographs, graphs, etc., projected on the screen, and during the discussion which followed the paper Capt. Hill gave some amusing recollec tions of his early experience of flying boat work. A number of R.A.F. officers present took part in the discussion, as did also several members of the technical staff of Short Brothers. The discussion centred mainly around materials used in flying boat construction, the use of M.G.7 alloy (concerning which Mr. Jackson, of Short Brothers, had some interesting experiences to relate), and the cause of sea sickness in flying boats. Altogether the paper was much appreciated, and did much to give people not previously very familiar with the subject a very good idea of the advantages and problems of this specialised form of aircraft design and operation. A NEW ITALIAN TRANSPORT PLANE : The Breda 32 three-engined all-metal monoplane. Equipped with 320 h.p. Pratt 8c Whitney " Wasp Junior " engines, it carries a useful load of 5,940 lb. at a cruising speed of 131 m.p.h. Further details of this machine will be published later. 220
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