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Aviation History
1933
1933 - 1270.PDF
FLIGHT, DECEMBER 21, 1933 passengers. A conditional order has been placed with the Caproni Company for a twin-engined low-wing monoplane (Gnome-Rhone K.14 880-h.p. engines) known as the 122 type. Of mixed construction, this machine is fitted with a retractable undercarriage, and, with 20 passengers, has an estimated top speed of 193 m.p.h. at sea level. SUSPENSION OF ITALIAN SERVICES THE following Italian services will be suspended during the winter:—S.A. Avio Linee Italtane—Rome-Milan from December 15 to January 16 ; S.A. Aero Espresso Italiana—Brindisi-Athens-Constantinople. and Brindisi- Athens-Rhodes from December 21 to February 22 ; Societd Italiana Servtzi Aerei—Fiume-Brioni-Venice and Portorose- Trieste-Zara from December 17 to January 14. LONDON-DERBY-MANCHESTER-GLASGOW AIR SERVICE INTERNAL air lines are slowly but surely spreading their net over Great Britain, and this week we have to record the formation of yet another new company. The name of the new company will be " The London Scottish & Provincial Airways," the Managing Director being Mr. S Bell. Four services will be operated daily between Croydon, Derby, Manchester and Glasgow, and the machines to be used are Airspeed " Couriers " with Lynx " engines. The starting capital of the company will be £50,000, very nearly all of which has been raised. The intention of the promoters is to start off at the begin ning of March with a service from Croydon to Derby and Manchester, and after this has been flown for a short time to continue it to Glasgow. After about two years' running it is hoped that the company will be firmly estab lished enough to be in a position to go to the public for additional capital to improve and extend their activities. Emergency landing grounds are to be laid out along the route. Five sites have already been inspected and nego tiations are going forward for the acquiring of the land. Arrangements have been made at the towns concerned for cars to collect passengers, at their doors if desired, and transport them to the local aerodrome. Mr. Bell tells us that he has interested the Manchester and Renfrew aerodrome managements in the project, and Rolls-Royce are giving every assistance in the establishment of an aero- drome at Derby. The names of his co-directors he is not at present in a position to divulge, but one of them is a very well-known Midland engineer. Three pilots have been appointed, one of whom has had considerable experience on Canadian airlines and returned to this country not so very long ago. The Postmaster-General has been approached, and, of course, the usual formalities have been gone through with the Air Ministry. The promoters have also been in touch with the K.L.M. with the idea of SS £5 S3 running a branch service to Hull from Derby, to link up with the K.L.M. projected service from Hull to Amster dam. The business of this new company is at present being conducted from the offices of Mansbridge, Lund & Co., Chartered Accountants, 52, Grosvenor Gardens, S.W.I. THE ANTWERP-BELGIAN CONGO CONNECTION A REPORT from Paris states that a Franco-Belgian air agreement is ready to be signed. This relates to a regular service between Antwerp and Elisabethville over the following route:—Brussels, Paris, Marseilles, Algiers, Aoulef, Gao, Zinder, Tchad, Fort Lamy, Fort Archam- bault, Bangui, Libingue, Coquilhatville, Port Franqui, Luluabourg and Bukama. Later an extension will be made towards Madagascar. Three French military squadrons stationed at Bamako (French West Africa), Ban gui (French Equatorial Africa) and Antananarivo (Mada gascar), will be used in the operation of the new service. Up to the present these squadrons have performed only military duties, and for their new work their establish ments will be increased. French West Africa at present possesses 30 landing grounds, 11 of which have hangars. In French Equatorial Africa there are 74 landing grounds, 30 having hangar accommodation. The expenses incurred by the operation of the new service, which include the cost of meteorological and wireless stations, will be borne by France, Belgium and the territories connected by the line. GERMAN TRANSATLANTIC PLANS AT a recent conference it was stated by the German Secretary of State for Air, Herr Erhard Milch, that the cost of the catapult ship Westfalen has been about £18,100. The provision of " seadromes " would entail an expendi ture of over £1,060,000. It was mentioned by Herr Milch that a Dornier flying-boat, capable of making non-stop the South Atlantic crossing, is under construction. CAIRO-ASSUAN AIR SERVICE A BI-WEEKLY air service connecting up Cairo, Luxor and Assuan has been started by the Misr Airwork Co., of Cairo. AIR MAIL CRASH IN SOUTH AFRICA THE first accident that has occurred on South African commercial airlines is reported from Durban. The mail machine from Durban to Johannesburg crashed on Thurs day, December 14, near Eshowe, the pilot and three pas sengers being killed, the fourth passenger and the wireless operator escaping unhurt. It appears that the pilot was following the Tugela Valley route on account of bad weather. PRIZE DISTRIBUTION AT THE NORTHAMPTON POLYTECHNIC ON Friday, December 15, the Northampton Poly technic Institute held its annual distribution of prizes and certificates to students, and an address was given by Mr. F. Handley Page, who also dis tributed the prizes. The list of prize winners, incidentally, assumed the dimensions of a book of 32 pages. In speaking at the Northampton, Mr. Handley Page was back on familiar ground, for he was one of the first lecturers on aeronautics at this institute, his weekly lectures ceasing about 1915, when work on military aircraft occupied all his time. Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Handley Page remarked that by the time he had distributed the prizes he would almost have reached canonisation! In his address he gave a general survey of the require ments of modern aviation, and methods of training would- be students of aeronautics, stressing the need for simul taneous practical and theoretical training in order that higher and higher efficiencies might be aimed at, because this was the most important factor in the present world of speed. " The trouble is," Mr. Page said, " that we are flying too slow." From London to Rangoon, thd average speed of the air service was 28 m.p.h., while American services across the U.S. reached an average of 100 m.p.h. The only thing which would pay for speed was the air mail. Four million sterling were spent by Europe (exclu sive of Russia and Great Britain) in 1932 in subsidising air routes. This represented £16 per passenger. Govern ment subsidies were linked up with national effort, and so we got the demand for international control: of civil avia tion. What was needed was contracts for the carriage of mails. The economic pressure which would be brought to bear would then result in greater speeds. All these points, he said, offered scope for the ingenuity of the aeronautical engineer, and afforded increasing oppor tunities in drawing-office, research, transport, navigation wireless and other work. Once a standard had been acquired, interest must not be allowed to diffuse along other channels ; hence there was a need for the aero engineer to specialise, and to be supreme in his own particular work. The proceedings opened with a speech by the Chair man, Mr. H. A. Game, and the Principal, Mr. S. C. Laws, gave a statistical report on the work done at the College during the Session 1932-33. A vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. J. Crovrlesmith who complimented Mr. Page on " Having kept his head in the air and his feet on the ground." After the meeting the laboratories and workshops of the Institute were opened to the public. The wide range of subjects exhibited gave a good idea of the thorough train ing which the students are afforded, and included:—Elec trical instrument workshop, photometric laboratory', demonstrations ; experiments and demonstrations of radio telephony and telegraphy ; mechanical engineering work shops ; aeronautics laboratory (spinning test in wind tunnel) ; forging and oxy-acetylene welding demonstrations and electro-deposition and fuels laboratories. 1284
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