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Aviation History
1933
1933 - 0018.PDF
FLIGHT, JULY 6, 1933 THE POWER : The mounting of the two Isotta-Fraschina " asso 750 " engines. Royal Air Force. The local authorities of Londonderry port and town also welcomed the Italians. A guard of honour of the Leicestershire Regiment was drawn up in the Guildhall Square, and a mayoral reception was then held in the Guildhall. The Marquess of Londonderry, Secretary of State for Air, sent the following wireless message to General Balbo: — " I much regret that my duties in London this week make it im possible for me to welcome your Excellency to Londonderry in person, as I had hoped. I send you and your brave comrades my heartiest good wishes for success in your great adventure and a safe return." General Balbo replied: — " Thanks for your very kind telegram. Am deeply grateful for the innumerable kind nesses received from the Air Ministry and citizens. I am sending you my best greetings in the hope that the suc cessful issue of the flight I am undertaking will allow of my visiting you in London on my return." Lord Londonderry's Dash by Air However, Lord Londonderry, as soon as he had left a luncheon on Monday, given at the Carlton Hotel by the Foreign Air Attaches in London to officials of the Air Ministry, motored to Hendon and entered a " Hart " be longing to No. 24 (Communications) Squadron and flew to Aldergrove aerodrome, on the banks of Lough Neagh, near Antrim, stopping once at Sealand to re-fuel. On Lough Neagh a " Southampton " of No. 201 (F.B.) Squadron was waiting to take him on to Lough Foyle, as there is no suitable land aerodrome near Londonderry, so that he might call personally on Gen. Balbo. The original intention had been for the Italian wing to leave Ireland on Monday for Reykjavik in Iceland, a flight of 1,500 miles, but the meteorological experts re ported bad weather in the North Atlantic, and the General wisely decided to postpone his departure. In any case this is a difficult section of the route. There the warm Gulf Stream meets the cold waters from the Arctic, and fogs are a frequent result. The sea, too, is often very rough. One of the American seaplanes was forced down in the sea on this section in 1924, and the crew would probably have been lost had not the U.S.A. Navy been ready to come to the rescue in such emergencies. Even the section to Iceland is not the worst. From Iceland on to Labrador is worse still, and is more subject to extensive and high fog banks. Flying through these fog banks the pilots have to rely on their instruments entirely. Modern instrument flying has been brought to a fine art, but the danger of collision is not slight when there are 24 machines flying in formation through the darkness. Slight variations in engine revolutions may cause a machine to lose its place in the formation, and no pilot may know where his nearest neighbours are. The neighbourhood of Cape Farewell in Greenland is especially subject to sudden storms ; in fact, it is one of the stormiest places in the world. From Greenland to Labrador the sea is full of ice floes, into which the pack-ice breaks up when meeting the warmer water, and there are also numerous drifting icebergs. The normal winds, too, blow from the west and reduce the ground speed of aircraft. Not only the crews, but all their friends, will be intensely relieved when the passage of the North Atlantic is a thing of the past. Fogs, however, are apt to continue along the Labrador coast and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Matters should be easier when United States territory is reached. The wing hope to carry a message of goodwill from the people of Italy to the people of the United States on the occasion of the Chicago World Exhibition, and will visit Chicago before flying on to New York. The itinerary drawn up for the flight after leaving Iceland is Cartwxight, Shediac, Montreal, Chicago, and New York. The distance flown from Rome will be 7,065 miles, or 11,300 kilometres. The return flight will be made by a more southerly and easier route. AFLOAT : The Italian Wing before the Start. 664
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