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Aviation History
1933
1933 - 0311.PDF
FLIGHT, AUGUST 10, 1933 fairly bad on the flight there. From there on to Malacca was also a rather bad trip, but the weather got fine for the stage on to Singapore. There is no certainty about mon soon weather. A stage may be good one day and bad on another. From Singapore on, the Astraea followed the K.L.M. route, and the crew were received everywhere with cordial hospitality by the officials of the Dutch line, many of whom were already well known to Major Brackley. Cross ing the Timor sea the Astraea met head winds of over 30 m.p.h., which were much stronger than had been foretold, and after flying for 5£ hours at 400 feet, Major Brackley asked for information about landing at the island of Bathurst. Learning that the aerodrome there was satis factory, he altered course, and landed at Bathurst after 61 hours' flying, and re-fuelled there. He then flew on to Darwin. The Astraea followed the Qantas route through Clon- curry and Longreach to Brisbane. Then it flew down the coast to Sydney, then to Canberra, the capital, and then to Melbourne. On this last flight the machine found heavy clouds over the hills, but she climbed above them and flew by instruments and wireless without difficulty. Australian companies have found these hills a very nasty proposition, probably because when pilots have not very adequate wireless equipment they naturally try to keep below the clouds and dodge through the hills. The well- equipped Astraea solved the difficulty by climbing above the clouds. Everywhere in Australia the Astraea met with great enthusiasm, for such a powerful machine had never before been seen in Australia. The visit must have done much good in popularising the idea of letting a company formed by a combination of Imperial Airways and Qantas operate the route from Singapore to South-Eastern Australia. The terminal city has not yet been finally decided. At one time the Australian authorities selected Cootamundra, probably because of the difficulty of the hills. Now it is uncertain whether the trunk line will end at Canberra or elsewhere. Major Brackley says that there must be a great develop ment of meteorology all the way along the route east of Karachi. He spoke with most approval of the weather- reporting in Burma. When crossing the Timor Sea he had no knowledge at all of conditions in the upper air. In India meteorological activities were cut down during the slump, and must be improved again. He considers that there is also room for improvement in the Indian superintendents of aerodromes. One said that he was too busy to give him a weather forecast! Another insisted on trying to send up a weather forecast when Major Brackley was using his directional wireless, and did not want a forecast. One object of this flight was to discover what needs to be improved. This flight of the Astraea promises to bring Australia into closer touch with us very soon. If we start by getting a letter to Melbourne in 16 days that will be no more than it took to get a letter to Calcutta 10 years ago. Once the line gets into working order, it should soon be possible to reduce the time of transport. Recent French Commercial Aircraft SEVERAL new types of aircraft have been, or are being, produced by the various French aircraft con structors for use on commercial air services. The Farman " 220," a four-engined (600 h.p. Hispano-Suiza) heavy- freight carrier, recently passed its tests at Villacoublay. It has a maximum speed of 230 k.p.h. (144 m.p.h.), and a ceiling of 6,000 m. (19,685 ft.). Another Farman, the "221," which is probably completed by now, also has four engines—Gnome-Rhone " K.14," geared and super charged. The huge Latecoere " 300," four-engined (650-h.p. Hispano-Suiza) monoplane flying boat (described in FLIGHT for January 1, 1932), which, it will be re membered, sank at its moorings shortly after being com pleted, is about to make its reappearance. Originally intended for operation by the late Aeropostale Co. on the Africa-South America service, the new—and, we be lieve, somewhat modified—" Lat. 300 " will shortly make its first crossing of the South Atlantic with a Service crew on board. A second Wibault-Penhoet " 282T-12 " machine (3 Gn6me-Rhone " K-7 ") was recently delivered to the late Air Orient Co. This was the seventh Wibault produced, and the eighth is due to be delivered to the Air Union segment of the " Combine " this month r Union already possessed two). Other machines ex pected to be seen on active service comprise: —three Breguet " 3-engined transports (Gnome " K-7 "), a similar type, with three 575-h.p. H ispano-Suiza air-cooled engines. The Dewoitine " Colonial D-43 "—which is reported to have a maximum speed range of 230 k.p.h. (143 m.p.h.) to 107 k.p.h. (66.5 m.p.h.), a climb of 6,000 m. (19,685 ft.) in 39 min., and a range of 1.100 km. (683 miles); it has three 300-h.p. Lorraine Algol engines. The Dewoitine "Commercial D-332 " [described elsewhere in this issue), a highly streamlined monoplane developed from the " D.33 " Trait d' Union, £Ped with three 575 h.p. Hispano-Suiza " 9-V " "s, and of all-metal construction ; it carries passengers and a crew of four, and is intended eight for the France-Indo China service. Subsequent ; of this type will be fitted with retractable under- 300KReS' The.Blocn "Colonial 120," fitted with three Lorraine Algol engines and having a maximum e!?£?:! f <?25 k-.p,h- (141 mP-h)- The Romano three- '• "o " Colonial," which recently went through its hogl wg t6StS at ViHacoublay. Finally the Wibault-Pen- >\orks are at work on a new 24-seater for the Paris- ">nuon and Paris-Berlin lines. ™ Traffic at Prague igoQ ASSENGERS arriving at Prague Aerodrome by air in disfa nUI^bered 2'367 and the departures 2,387. The total call !C wn on the services of which Prague is a port of call gers • S . 65>021 kilometres, and the number of pass •rned 11,065. Mails carried to and from Praf 065. Mail Prague totalled 5,457 kilograms, and transit mails 18,757 kilo grams. Goods conveyed amounted to 202,883 kilograms and those in transit 181,873 kilograms. The correspond ing figures for luggage were 64,366 and 73,868 kilograms respectively. No accidents occurred during the year, and only six emergency landings were made, four for engine defect and two for atmospheric causes. Sabena Optional Halts UNTIL September 3 next machines on the Sabena London-Brussels-Cologne line will stop on request at Liege and Ostend. Indian Air Service UP to date the Tata Air Service between Karachi and Madras has 100 per cent, record for punctual flying to its own schedule. The departure from Karachi has some times been delayed by the late arrival of air mail from Europe, but it has never exceeded the scheduled number of hours for its own journey from Karachi to Madras and vice versa. Its mail load is increasing steadily, and is expected to improve still more with the abolition of the two annas surcharge on the inauguration of the trans- Indian route. The Delhi Flying Club's operation of the Karachi-Delhi air mail service terminated with the inauguration of the trans-Indian service. The Delhi service was started in January, 1932, and during 18 months of operation the hours flown have totalled 1,310 hours, equivalent to a mileage of approximately 110,000, while the weight of mail carried in 78 Westbound and 77 Eastbound trips has amounted to 15,860 lb. On 78 Westbound trips the air mail connection was missed on only four occasions, while on 77 Eastbound trips the machine only once failed to accomplish the journey in the scheduled time. Through out the whole operation of the service the pilot of the air mail machine, with the exception of two trips only, has been Mr. P. D. Sharma, a " B " pilot trained ab initio by the Club. In handing over the operation of the air mail service to the long-awaited " big machine " service that was started to be operated jointly by Imperial Airways and Indian Transcontinental Airways, the Delhi Flying Club can look back with honourable pride on their achieve ment during the past year and a-half. Extension of Air Mail Money Order Service THE Postmaster-General announces that the Air Mail Money Order service has now been extended to Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika Territory, Palestine and Trans- jordan. In the case of an order for Transjordan, par ticulars are advised by air mail to Jerusalem and re- advised thence by ordinary mail. In addition to pound age at the ordinary rate for Imperial and foreign money orders, a special air mail money order fee of 6d. is payable on each order for Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika Terri tory, and 2d. on each order for Palestine and Trans jordan, irrespective of the amount. 803
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