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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0122.PDF
uni, rEBKUARY 8, 1934 -16,000 MILES IN 7 WEEKS Lord Londonderry's Tour IMMEDIATELY after his return toLondon on February 2, theSecretary of State for Air gavean interview to representatives of the Press at Gwydyr House, White-hall, and told them something of his tour of inspection of R.A.F. stationsin Egypt, the Sudan and India. He had only been absent for seven weeks,and in that time he had covered a dis- tance of approximately 16,000 miles.Only by travelling by air was this at all possible, and Lord Londonderry expressed the view thatnowadays it was the duty of every Secretary of State for Air to visit these overseas units and to see for himself theconditions and circumstances under which they live and work. Travelling partly by Imperial Airways' machines andpartly in R.A.F. military aeroplanes, the Secretary of State for Air was able to obtain first-hand information about theway our great Imperial airline is gradually linking up distant parts of the Empire, and to discuss with localauthorities along the route the developments and extensions which must take place in the future. On the outward journey, Lord Londonderry travelled byImperial Airways' route as far as Cairo, and it was on this part of the trip that the only delay during the touroccurred. This was due to the dislocation of railway ser- vices caused by the terrible French railway accident.Apart from this delay, the Secretary of State was able to complete his great tour according to the time-table laiddown before the start. From Cairo, Lord Londonderry visited R.A.F. units atHeliopolis, Aboukir, Helwan, Ismailia, Abu Sueir and Wadi Haifa, in service aircraft, and on January 31 he flew toAmman, via Heliopolis, in a R.A.F. machine, and con- tinued the journey to Baghdad. From there he flew toCalcutta and Delhi in an Imperial Airways' machine, con- tinuing the tour in R.A.F. machines to Lahore, Peshawar,Kohat, Risalpur and Miramshah. Razmak and Dera Ismael Khan were visited by motor, and the tour was thencontinued in service aircraft to Quetta and Karachi. The return journey was made by Imperial Airways. Asked whether he had had any exciting adventures on thetour, Lord Londonderry replied that the only incident that came to mind was when attempting to get over the moun-tains on the way to Quetta. The machine was flying at LORD LOHWHDEmS 16.000 HUES AIR TOUR about 9,000 ft., and when it neared the mountains it gotinto a down current and dropped about 2,000 ft. in some- thing like 10 seconds. A short time afterwards the twin-engined machine which carried the luggage of the party approached the same spot and was shot up 4,000 ft. in avery short time. In a general way Lord Londonderry was very satisfiedwith everything he saw. The R.A.F. units were keen and were doing their work well. Asked whether he considered the machines used byImperial Airways fast enough, Lord Londonderry said that on the return journey they met very strong headwinds between Sharjah and Baghdad, with the result that at times during the 950 miles flight they were only makinggood a ground speed of 20 m.p.h. He thought the demand for faster machines was bound to become more insistent.Greater and greater speed was the demand in all forms of modern transport. On the subject of his negotiations in Italy, which it ishoped will result in Great Britain obtaining permission to fly Imperial Airways' machines the whole way and avoidingthe tiresome train journey which now breaks into the pleasure of flying to Cairo, Lord Londonderry refused to be-' drawn." All he would say was that he did not expect any difficulties to arise in our negotiations with Italy. During the tour the Secretary of State visited the wholeof the North-West Frontier and he spoke very highly of the beneficial influence which Great Britain exercises overthis difficult and often disturbed area, and its enormous importance for the peace and safety of India as a whole.In the task we are carrying out there, Lord Londonderry said, the R.A.F. is working in the closest co-operation withthe Army, and is developing that co-ordination of effort which can have no other result than that of increased andever-increasing economy and efficiency. Aerial Photography in Canada THE photographic library of the Topographical andAir Survey Bureau of the Dominion Department of the Interior at Ottawa has now collected more than 500,000aerial photographs which are filed and indexed for con- sultation by business men seeking information for use inengineering and other development work. Visitors to the bureau include prospectors, mining engineers, hydro-electricpower engineers, railway and transmission line builders, foresters, geologists and others interested in developingCanada's resources. The forester discovers the kinds of trees and the density of the forest, so that he can forman estimate of the stand and locate his roads ; the water- power engineer sees the course which his canal must takeand the place where the dam must go ; the route of the railway or transmission line lies plain before the engineer,and the miner looks not only a t individual rocks and up- turned strata, but views the geological structure over greatareas, and can thus lay out his plan of campaign. Northern Canada alone is an enormous country, and thesummer season is short. To examine it all, even with the aid of aeroplanes, will take many years ; and if simplyvisually examined, or even sketched, the next prospector or prospecting company would have to do it all over again.It is for this reason that the Dominion Government, as a measure of the highest economy, is having aerial photo-graphs made of areas which seem most immediately promis- ing. Once this is done the results are not circumscribed orevanescent. The photographs are a permanent record, and they can be multiplied and sent to different parts ofthe country to be examined, not by one set of pioneers alone, but by all who seek any form of natural resource.The photographs are taken by the Royal Canadian Air Force and developed, indexed, and made available forpublic examination by the Topographical and Air Survey Bureau. This past season a portion of the appropriationavailable was devoted to aerial surveys in the vicinity of Great Slave and Great Bear Lakes, where major geologicalstructures occur, and where important prospecting activities are now going forward. The work was successfully carriedout and revealed an interesting " fault " or " dike " some 200 miles long, extending from Artillery Lake, east ofGreat Slave Lake, in a westerly direction to Slave River as straight, almost, as a parallel of latitude. The photographsof that " fault " tell an important story as to structure, and are of great value to the mining men of Canada whoare interested in this part of the North-West Territories. Breguef-Wibault AN amalgamation of the Breguet and Wibault firmsis now all but an accomplished fact, the agreement merely awaiting the signatures. The Penhoet firm will thus be-come independent, but will, it is thought, retain a certain interest in the new company. 122 .:::;•••;..-• . •••;••- r.:-. :„.-•.;
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