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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 0484.PDF
FLIGHT, MAY 20, 1932 THE SURVEY OF RIO DE JANEIRO Aircraft Operating Company, Ltd., Completes Important Contract s [•]—HE Aircraft Operating Co., Ltd., have completed V^ I the survey of Rio de Janeiro and the Federal _UL District of Brazil. This work, which has taken some three and a-half years to carry out, would have been finished over a year ago but for the revolution which broke out towards the end of 1930. This survey, which has proved to be a very great success from a tech nical point of view, marks a big forward step in the application of aerial photography to ground survey work, especially when the maps required are to be on a large scale, as is the case in the Rio survey. In fact, work which experts agree would have taken at least fifteen years to complete by ground methods alone, has been finished within three and a-half years, owing to the speeding up of the survey through the use of the aerial photographs. These photographs give a mass of valuable data, much of whi«h is often missed by the ground sur veyor, especially when working in dense areas, such as some of those in parts of Rio de Janeiro. They also pro vide a valuable check on the ground work, as they reduce the errors due to the personal equation, which has always been a difficulty in carrying out surveys in the past, when ground methods alone are used. The scales, etc., on which the different parts of the area have been surveyed are as follows: — No. of VIap Sheets. 30 141 60 10 Area. 4 sq. miles .... 50 ,, „ ... 90 ,, ,, .... 446 ,, ,, Scale. 1/1,000"! 1/2,000 1 1/5,000 f 1/20,000 I No . of Bench Marks. 730 An enlargement is also being made of the 1/20,000 area to a scale of 1/10,000. Many distinguished people have inspected the work in the company's drawing offices in Brazil and when H.R.H. The Prince of Wales visited Rio he made a very thorough inspection of the work, taking special interest in the examination of the aerial photographs in the stereoscope, an instrument which makes the ground stand out in relief. As the City of Rio is spread out in the valleys between mountains, one peak of which rises to over 2,000 ft. in height and is situated nearly in the centre of the town, it is very difficult to survey, but the photographs afford a most interesting and beautiful study in the stereoscope. At the time the Prince of Wales visited Brazil the company were having great difficulty with the authorities, as the result of the revolution. On hearing this, the Prince personally interested himself in the work, and when he was satisfied that it was well carried out, he took up the company's case with the appropriate authorities and so helped to smooth over many of the company's difficulties. Unfortunately, the revolution broke out when the survey had reached a very important stage, and all communication with the Prefectura, for whom the contract was being carried out, ceased. At one time the revolutionaries had decided to shell the day palace of the President, near which the company's drawing offices were situated, and the police were clearing the residents out of the street. The staff, however, refused to leave the building, and fortunately the shelling did not take place. All through the revolution the work was carried out without inter ruption, although it was severely delayed through the co-operation of the officials of the Prefectura ceasing. At one time the staff consisted of some 130 persons and in addition to the key staff, who were British, the company employed Brazilians, Germans, Austrians and Russians, most of whom had become Brazilian citizens. The mem bers of the staff worked happily and efficiently together. The revolution, which was a success, proved to be a severe blow to the company, for as the result of the political turmoils and the complete change in the policy of the new Government, the company had to carry on without receiving any payments from the Prefectura for work finished. The work was also held up as the supplying of certain data, and the fiscalisation by the Prefectura officials entirely ceased. Rather than stop operations, how ever, Mr. Alan S. Butler, the chairman of the company, having faith in the honesty of the Brazilian Government, continued to finance the work, and so enabled it to be completed, though at a considerable increase in the original cost, and in the face of many difficulties. The whole of the work has not yet been handed in, and there are still some of the maps to be printed. These things cannot be done until the Brazilian authorities have recognised their debt to the company. Before the revolu tion the company had received payments totalling some £40,000 and work to that value had been delivered to the Prefectura. Owing to the delays, etc., arising out of the revolution and the complete cessation of the Prefecture's side of the work of the survey, the company are claim ing £180,000 from the Prefectura, in order to meet the increased expenditure that has resulted. Mr. H. Hemming, the managing director of the Aircraft Operating Co., has recently returned from Rio, where for nearly two years he has been superintending the company's work and negotiating for a settlement with the Inter vener at the Prefectura. As the result of these negotia tions a Commission of Arbitration is about to sit in order to decide on the amount of money to be paid to the company under the terms of its contract with the Prefec tura. It is expected that this Commission will start its deliberations any day now. At one time it was reported in the British Press that the new Government intended to cancel the contract. That was as the result of the general reorganisation carried out by the new Government, but they so recognised the value of the work, and there is now no intention of cancelling the contract, in fact, the Inter vener and his advisers have, personally assured Mr. Hem ming that they recognise the value of the work and wish to make use of it as soon as possible. The present delays in settlement are entirely due to the shortage of money, which is a common problem in so many countries in these days. Actually if their survey is made proper use of by thp authorities, they should recover the cost of the contract from new sources of revenue for municipal taxation, which the maps and photographs will disclose. Apart from this, the survey will be of the greatest value for town planning and general municipal administration, as Rio de Janeiro is a city which is growing very rapidly indeed, and its existing maps are quite inadequate for its present needs. Although the work has been a great success technically, the delays in payment have proved to be a severe blow to the company, for it has called for abnormal expenditure from Mr. Butler, who finances the company. In view of the financial position and of the present world crisis, Mr. Butler is reluctantly compelled to suspend for the present the company's operations. Meanwhile the company's sub sidiary company, the Aircraft Operating Co. of Africa (Pty.j, Ltd., will continue its work in South Africa under the management of Maj. Cochran-Patrick. The Aircraft Operating Co. have had a most interesting record, and it is sheer bad luck that the delays in Brazil should have coincided with the world crisis. Their first big contract was with the Rhodesian Congo Border Con cession Co. in that company's concession area of some' 50,000 square miles in Northern Rhodesia. This contract was followed by contracts with the Government of N. Rhodesia for a survey of some 400 miles of the Zambesi River and of certain of its tributaries, as well as the mapping of several townships, and also some boundary commission work. All this work was so successful that the Government gave the company a contract to survey a further 63,000 square miles in the Colony by oblique methods of photographic mapping, and that work has now been successfully completed. Lord Passfield, when Secre tary of State, gave the company a certificate, which reads as follows: — " The Aircraft Operating Co., Ltd., have recently under taken an aerial survey in Northern Rhodesia and have furnished the Government of Northern Rhodesia with maps of (1) the River Zambesi and certain tributaries ; (2) a number of townships ; (3) a considerable area of un developed country. The work has been performed com petently and satisfactorily, and the Protectorate Govern ment has reported well on the value of the maps produced. (Sgd.) Passfield, Downing Street, December 5, 1929." 452
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