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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0192.PDF
FLIGHT, MARCH 1, 1934 A RAIL AND AIR COMBINE "HE following announcement concerning the railwaycompanies' plans was issued on February 21 by the Railway Companies' Association: — " The four main line railway companies andImperial Airways, Limited, have reached agreement for the formation of a new company with a nominal capitalof £50,000 to provide and operate air services in the British Isles and elsewhere and to form connecting linkswith the services of Imperial Airways. The general lines of the new organisation have also been agreed upon, butno announcement in regard to particular services can be made for some time, as a number of preliminary arrange-ments are first necessary." The following reference to air transport was made bySir Josiah Stamp, Chairman of the L.M.S. Railway Co., at the Annual General Meeting of that company in Londonon Friday: — We have under close consideration the question ofexercising our air transport powers, reviewing from time to time the various developments in this country. Although it cannot be said that any commercial air service in the world yet stands upon a secure profit-making basis, and this country is not specially suited for such services, the matter has assumed some urgency with us, owing to the more recent activities of certain established airway com- panies and their preparations for the inauguration of regular commercial services between important centres in competition with our rail services. It is desirable for the four main line companies to act in co-operation, especially in view of their overlapping interests, and we are agreed that it would be more to our advantage to act in con- junction with them rather than ourselves to attempt to perform the various technical services required. " We are accordingly in process of negotiation with Imperial Airways, Ltd., for a separate company, jointly owned with them, to provide such services as any of the railway companies may desire, but matters are not suffi- ciently advanced for me to give more specific details." DE HAVILLAND'S EXPRESS AIR LINER machine, of which we were able to publish the first full description last week, has naturally caused a great deal of interest. In this connection we welcome the following letter from Capt. H. S. Broad, the de Havilland Aircraft Company's well-known pilot. " On reading through your excellent description of the de Havilland four-engined express air liner this morning, I notice that you have quoted the landing speed as 72 miles per hour, which is considerably in excess of the actual stalling or alighting speed. " During the trials at Martlesham Heath, the stalling speed in a fully-loaded condition was established at 66 m.p.h. (106,2 km/h). As the performance figures you print will certainly be widely read all over the world, I would be grateful if you would insert a correc- tion in your next issue. In practice, of course, an air- craft is very rarely landed in with full load, as on the conclusion of a flight, weight has been reduced by reason of the fuel consumed in flight. " Having flown the D.H.86 during all its trials, under all conditions of load and with every combination of engines, I am very glad to report that I have found it delightfully light and positive on controls, straightforward in landing and, if anything, easier to fly than the " Dragon," which, as you know, is very highly regarded in that respect. '' It may interest you to know that during its trials I took off and flew the D.H.86 on the power of two engines only, with the propellers removed firstly from the two inboard engines and then from the two outboard engines. " During these flights the aircraft carried 80 gall. [363,7 I) of fuel and was loaded to 6,940 lb. (3 147,9 kg), which included one passenger, 260 lb. 117,9 kg) of ballast, and the weight of two dead engines and their installation gear, amounting to over 1,000 1b. (453,6 kg), equivalent to a pay load of nearly 1,500 lb. (680,4 kg), with a range of over four hours. " In this condition the top speed, even with the stan- dard propellers, which are naturally very inefficient and under-revving, averaged about 127 m.p.h. (204,4 km/h), and the take-off would have complied with I.C.A.N. re- quirements. The object of these tests was to determine the relative propeller efficiency of the inboard and the outboard engines." The Bombay—Calcutta air service WE learn, that the proposals put forward by Tata Sons, Ltd., to the Government of India for operating a daily service between Calcutta and Bombay, on condition that all first-class mail matter between the two cities be sent by air, have been refused by the Government on the grounds that the sending of all letter mail on the route by air would involve too great expense for the Govern- ment, and also that money is not available for the ground organisation suggested. We understand, however, that alternative proposals will be submitted. Calcutta—Madras air service ON February 10 the Madras Air Taxi Service started operating a bi-weekly passenger and mail air service be- tween Calcutta and Madras, stopping at Gannunaru, Viza- gapatam and Puri to connect the East- and West-bound services of the Indian Trans-Continental and Indian National Airways. _.. Mr. Plesman to make inspection trip ON March 22, Mr. A. Plesman, manager of K.L.M.,will leave Amsterdam in the regular K.L.M. machine for a journey of inspection along the Indian route of K.L.M. Avros for Imperial Airways WE understand that Imperial Airways, Ltd., have placed an order with A. V. Eoe, Ltd., for two eight- seater, twin-engined machines having a high performance and suitable for feeder services. The Compagnie Generale Transsaharienne FLYING in a Caudron " Phalene," the French pilot, Monteil, of the Cie. Generale Transsaharienne, flew from Paris to Colomb-Bechar in 46 hours. Plans are under consideration for the development of an air service between Reggan, Bidon V and Gao, and it seems probable that a service will shortly be started between these places to run every fifteen days in both directions. Sabena statistics THE following are the figures for the services ot SABENA for January, 1934. Figures for the same month last year are given for comparison. — January, 1934 January, 1933 MilesCovered. 24,500 29,100 Passenger Miles. 30,600 45,250 Ton milesof Freight. 1,950 3,520 Ton milesof Mail. 246 390 Holland—Scandinavia air traffic THE airline Amsterdam-Copenhagen-Malmd v.v. con- necting in Amsterdam with the K.L.M. lines to and from London and Paris is, perhaps, one of the busiest lines of Europe. The K.L.M. is operating the stretch Amsterdam- Malmo in co-operation with the Swedish society A. B. Aerotransport. The latter compiled a record of the nationalities of the passengers who, during 1932 and 1933, made use of the air connection. For both years the number of Swedish travellers is by far the greatest ; for 1932 29.68 per cent, of passengers were of this nationality ; for 1933 31.19 per cent. Next come British with 24.66 per cent, for 1932 and 19.28 per cent, for 1933, the Danish with respectively 15.94 and 16.13 per cent., the Dutch with 14.05 and 13.13 per cent. For 1932 1.47 per cent, of travellers were citizens of the United States, against 3.37 per cent, for 1933. The other passengers were French, German, Norwegian and Finnish. The total number of passengers transported on the stretch Amsterdam-Malmo was 6,466 during 1933, against 4,279 for the previous year. 192
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