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Aviation History
1933
1933 - 0516.PDF
-FLIGHT, SEPTEMBER 7, 1933 CLUkovb Hew* CROYDON AN air parcel, with a remarkable travel record, passed through the airport of London recent! y en route for Africa. It consisted of a book con signed by H.E. the Governor-General of British Columbia to H.E. the Governor-General of Kenya Colony. The parcel left Vancouver by train on August 23 for Seattle, and from there was sent by air to New York. On the following day, August 25, it sailed aboard the s.s. Enropa, and at midnight, August 28/29, was trans ferred to the Lufthansa catapult plane D. 2244 when 78S sea miles from Southampton. D. 2244 landed Southampton at 0805 and took off again at 0925 for Bremerhaven, where it arrived 1410. Incidentally, all mails were delivered to the Post Office the same afternoon, whereas the Europa only berthed at Southampton at 12 noon on August 30. The parcel for Kenya Colony was brought by road from Southampton and caught the Imperial Airways Empire Service at Croydon on August 30. It was delivered at Nairobi on September 5. The ordinary land and sea journey from Vancouver to Nairobi would take about a month. On Tuesday night of last week a number of experimental flights were made in a service " Atlas " in order to test • a new type of navigation light. The Air Ministry to rn otor " Fokker " was in attendance as an observation machine. Maj. Mealing and Maj. Richard (Chief Aero drome Officer) were present. Following my remark last week about a well-known airport dog, my attention has been drawn to the activities of " Kiltie," the Cairn terrier belonging to Capt. Pennv, of Surrey Flying Services, Ltd. " Kiltie " almost always accompanies her master on joy-rides, to the admiration of the passengers. Surrey Flying Services have found an ingenious method of advertising, having taken the space on the back of all tickets issued to the public by the official airport guide The advertisement takes the form of a rhyme, urging •one to fly by S.F.S. New autumn time-tables have been issued by all the companies, and a number of curtailments and alterations of services are noticed. In order to make the most of the shorter days, many services now start round about 9 a.m. At that time, or a little earlier or later, there are machines on the tarmac of " Imperial Airways, Ltd.," " K.L.M.," " Sabena," " Lufthansa," and " Air France." It is at such times that really well-organised ground traffic control is of vital importance. I recently met a passenger who had just returned from one of the " Imperial Airways " Sunday nights to Le Touquet and back. The return fare is only £3 15s., which includes an excellent dinner in the air on the way back, and also a ticket to the Casino and tea there. You leave the airport at 11 a.m. and arrive back at 8.50 p.m. The passenger was particularly enthusiastic about the dinner served on board. He was glad, he said, that Imperial Airways, Ltd., had broken away from the tradition of the British railway companies, and that, despite fewer facili ties than on a train, the air meal was not only chosen with skill but served in an appetising manner. He was full of praise for the service of the stewards, and men tioned, in passing, that the wine-list was worthy of attention. The menu served on Heracles on the occa sion in question, was iced tomato juice, Conteloupe melon, egg mayonnaise, cold roast chicken and ham, green salad, potato salad, cherries and cream, fresh fruit, cheese, coffee. As an illustration of the popularity of long-distance travel, the passenger list of the K.L.M. 7 a.m. departure from the airport on Thursday, August 31, is interesting. Besides passengers for Holland, there were travellers booked to Copenhagen, Prague, Vienna, Berlin, Gotheu- "berg, Cairo, and Karachi. Except the two last-named places^ all were single day flights. All previous cross- Channel passenger records were broken during August, 1633. No fewer than 12,035 passengers passed through the airport, nearly 1,000 more than in the previous record month, July, 1933. Sir Pierre and Lady van Ryneveld left Croydon for Johannesburg by Imperial Airways Empire Service during last week. "A. VIATOR." srt. FROM HESTON VISITOR to Heston on Thursday, August 31, was Mr. Walter Kaye, whose little car, almost unrecognisable beneath the painted record of its travels, tells a thrilling story of his 14,000- mile African journey with Mr. A. C. Gilg. Mr. Kaye is a pilot and the owner of a " Puss Moth," and the inves tigation of flying and aerodrome conditions was one of the objects of their trip through France, Spain, the Sahara, West Africa and Central Africa, which only started on February 1. Mr. Kaye expressed his pleasure at wit nessing once again the activities of a progressive airport, after the many little landing grounds he has visited which lead a plucky but obscure existence in the heart of Africa. Early in the week, Warner Brothers First National Pro ductions put in two days' hot work at Heston on then- new production, " The Blue Army." To give an account of what took place would be to steal the thrills from the thousands of film fans who will eventually see the picture. It is sufficient to say that the doings of the Italian Air Force are well and truly represented, for an Italian mem ber of their staff, already well versed in aviation, has put in a good deal of research on their uniforms and on their work. On Thursday, August 31, the directors of Spartan Air craft, Ltd., visited Heston in the new "Cruiser" which has been purchased by the Czechoslovakian " Aeroput" for airline operation, through Mr. Mapplebeck, the Spartan and Saunders-Roe agent in Belgrade. The machine is in general similar to those now in use on the Isle of Wight service from Heston, with the exception of slight modifica tions in the interior of the cabin, which is arranged for eight people, with a special compartment for luggage. The British Air Navigation Company made seven trips to Le Touquet and two to Deauville during the week-end of August 26. Mr. and Mrs. Philip Kindersley were among their passengers to Le Touquet. They also carried H. E. Nahet Pasha, a nephew of the King of Egypt, to Pen zance, and Prince Ali Khan, Lord Carnarvon, and Sir Hugo Cunliffe-Owen to the York races. On Wednesday, August 30, Wrightson & Pearce took a prominent mem ber of the L.C.C. with a party to Aberystwyth for the dual purpose of opening an agricultural show and con sidering the prospects for operating an airline to that town. Two hundred and seventeen machines cleared Customs at Heston during the month of August, of which 63 clear ances took place during the last week alone—an excep tionally high weekly figure. School flying hours show a 20 per cent, increase on the figures for last August. An Aerodrome for Redhill BRITISH AIR TRANSPORT, LTD., the operating nrn which runs an air taxi service at Croydon and a flying school at Addington, Surrey, is making an endeavour to establish an aerodrome at South Nuffield, approximately two miles south-east of Redhill. The situation is peculiarly good for these pilots who find, as they so often do when flying from the coast to Croydon, that tn clouds are down on the hills above Redhill and tnai they cannot get through without undue risk. The aero drome is at the present time about 40/60 acres in exten but five fields can easily be taken in, making tiie wno up to over one hundred acres. From the point of vi • of a flying club, the idea is good, and as an asset to t _ district its merits are undoubted to all those who c •• see ahead. Unfortunately the local authorities woui- seem to be against the scheme. This is a pity, becau.^ towns which do not make provision for an aer(^ronijvf; the very near future are certainly going to find thernse • cut off from a great deal of trade-bringing traffic in future. The position of this aerodrome makes it an i" place for long distance air traffic to stop, when croy becomes unusable. 902
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