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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0070.PDF
FLIGHT, JANUARY 25, 1934 streets of Clovelly His Majesty's mails are carried by asses. All these forms of transport are regarded as reli- able. Only the aeroplane is still held suspect by the P.M.G. He has in course of time and by force of circumstances been obliged to recognise and patronise the newest and fastest form of transport. It would, perhaps, be unkind to say that the patronage has been grudgingly given, or to aver that the fairly generous advertisements of the air mail which are now pasted on red P.O. delivery vans are due to the insistent badgerings of certain Members of Par- liament, but it never seems that the P.M.G. is eager to seize the latest chance to use what aerial facilities are offered. Of late a number of inland air services have been started in the United Kingdom, and during the fine summer last year they achieved a high degree of reliability, but we understand that none of them were actively pressed to carry mails. In fact, we fancy that only the Great Western Railway air service was commissioned to carry them, perhaps because already railways are allowed, by special arrangement, to carry letters direct. In some cases, perhaps, delivery of the letters might not have been expedited by use of the aeroplane, and in most cases there would have been risk of delay through weather or mechanical trouble. But it does appear to us that in a case like the air service to the Orkneys letters might have been sent by aeroplane at the sender's own risk. Can the answer be that the air company did not ask for the privilege? Such an excuse would not seem to us adequate. The saving of time to the correspondents would have been so considerable that it should have been the business of the Post Office to take the initiative in the matter. Such a service may stop flying in the winter. Then the people in the Orkneys are no worse off than before, but that is no reason why they should not benefit by the speed of the aeroplane in the summer. A little practical enthusiasm on the part of the P.M.G. in this matter could do no harm and would certainly do quite a lot of good. The granting of a monopoly of subsidies to Imperial Airways some years ago by Sir Samuel Hoare has been justified by results. The time is approaching when subsidies will no longer be a sine qua non for a remunerative air service, Services1 and' *n *aCt> wnenever Imperial Air-ervices wavs are accuse(j of leaving undone something which someone thinks that they ought to have done, their regular reply is that they are working to make themselves self-supporting. Nobody can find fault with that excuse. Once Imperial Airways are firmly on their feet (if a flying company will excuse such an expression) it may be wise to con- sider whether other companies should not receive a little initial support from the State. Probably for a long time to come no really ambitious air scheme will be able to make a start without some State assistance, but in the future it may not be necessary to give such help for more than a short time. Experience in running an air line has now been accumulated, and also the prospects of traffic can now be estimated with a fair degree of accuracy. The question arises of whether we ought to be satis- fied to see a number of foreign air lines flying into Great Britain, and only one British line flying out- wards. That British line flies to Paris and Brussels, taking the shortest crossing of the Channel, and from those two points carries on to certain others. All the air transport of Europe north of London is left to foreign lines, though those lines nearly all send their machines to England. Air traffic through Holland and Denmark up to Scandinavia ought to be very profitable some day, even if it is not so already, and the North Sea ought to be as free to British aircraft as it is to those of Holland and Germany. It is an impressive sight for those towns on the lower reaches of the Thames to see the three-engined Fokker monoplanes flying up the river after crossing some 200 miles of open sea with perfect confidence. They have this additional confidence, too, that very rarely does fog hamper them as they follow the Thames. The North Downs tower above the river fogs, and then if Croydon is signalled as fog-bound, the Fokkers can land at the aerodrome on the high ground above Gravesend and can send their pas- sengers on to London almost as quickly as they can be taken in from Croydon. Sometimes the low-wing Junkers monoplanes are also sighted on this route. The riverside dwellers would be immensely heartened if they sometimes could see a British passenger aero- plane over their heads. One wonders whether their patriotic desires are altogether unreasonable. The latest development is that K.L.M. will com- mence on June 1 a daily service between Amsterdam and Hull. It takes a glance at the map to make one realise that Amsterdam is almost equidistant from London and Hull. There is only a difference of about half-a-dozen miles in the two routes. The Amsterdam-Hull route means crossing more open sea, but the K.L.M. have great confidence in their three engines. We personally should feel happier in a flying boat, but, none the less, the K.L.M. record of safety is excellent. The North Sea com- pany have had the desire to open this route for a long time past, and it seems a great pity that now, when the dangers of flying across the open sea are so much less than they used to be, it is a foreign firm which is to carry out the project. We should like to think that it was possible to fly from England to Scandinavia in British aircraft. The K.L.M. pro- pose also to fly on to Manchester, right across northern England. Mr. Plesman states that the service will not be subsidised, and we must con- gratulate the company on its enterprise. Manchester commerce will benefit by rapid communications with Holland and Scandinavia, but it would be infinitely more gratifying if that could be brought about through a British air company 70
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