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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0215.PDF
FLIGHT, MARCH 8, 1934 A VISITOR FROM AUSTRALIA ON Thursday morning, at about 11.45 a.m., Horatiusflew in to Croydon from Paris, and among thepassengers was Mr. (he has been a captain, buthe prefers to be called Mister) F. W. Haig, A.F.R.Ae.S., the chief aviation officer of the Vacuum OilCo. of Australia. He has been despatched by his firm to study the systems of civil flying in other countries, andthe Minister of Defence, Sir George Pearce, has specially asked him to give him a report on his return about anypoints which might be of use to Australian civil flying. Mr. Haig was once an associate of "another Australian,the late H. G. Hawker. During the war he was an officer of No. 1 Australian Squadron, and was taken prisoner bythe Turks near Amman. Afterwards he was chief pilot of Cjuantas. He has spent six weeks getting here from Mel-bourne, having travelled by air lines of various countries as well as by boat and train. At the luncheon given byMr. Gordon England and the Vacuum Oil Co. to welcome him at Croydon, he said that he had worn the same suit forthe six weeks, and he was afraid of its disintegrating at any moment, but it was made of good Australian clothheld together by cotton spun in England, and the combina- tion was a good one. Up to the present he said that hedid not know how he would justify his trip to his firm, as the organisation of Australian air lines was so good that hehad not noticed any useful points on his tour which would go to improve them. But he would make further inquiries,as he was to go on a tour of Europe in the Vacuum Oil Co.'s " Dragon." Mr Haig gave a very good account of civil flying inAustralia. The Government, he said, was very sympa- thetic, and he described the adoption of the report of thespecial committee which sat last year as putting air trans- port on the same footing as rail transport, and so addingto its prestige. The population of Australia was about 6J millions,and the total defence vote was 3£ million pounds. Last year the airways carried 40, (KM) paying pas-sengers. He would like to know how this compared, as a proportion of population, with the passengers carried inthis country. The Australian airways flew 23,000 miles a week. The subsidised air routes totalled 5,000 miles, and1,600 miles were flowu under agreement with the Post Office, which paid 8s. per 1b. for mail carried. The sub-sidy vo the aero clubs had been renewed. They got £20 per pilot trained and £10 per licence renewed. If a clubflew 600 hours in the year it received £300, or pro rata for less time. £3,000 had been allotted for the help of un-subsidised flying concerns, and it was being distributed wisely. For instance, one firm which flies between Sydneyand the little town of Bega gets 6d. a mile, and as " Fox Moths " are used, that enables the town of Bega to retainits air link with the capital. He said that the associated aero clubs of Australia had asked him to convey their greet-ings to the flying clubs of this country. As regards the tenders for the Singapore-Darwin route,the date for closing which was January 31, he believed that in addition to the tender from the Imperial Airways-Quantas combine, there would be tenders from the Larkin firm, New England Airways, and a combine of West Aus-tralia Airways with Sir C. Kingsford Smith and Mr. Ulm. If the Quantas tender was accepted, he thought the ser-vice would be able to start right away, but if another tender were accepted, there would bo a delay while newaircraft were ordered. In any case, he thought that the service would start not later than next November. AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE ON February 27 H.M. the King held an Investitureat Buckingham Palace, when the following wereamongst those in attendance:—Air Marshal SirKobert Brooke-Popham (Principal Air Aide-de- Camp) and Group Capt. Roderic Hill (Aide-de-Camp inWaiting). Amongst those invested by His Majesty with the Insignia of the respective Divisions of the Orders into whichthey have been admitted, were the following: — ORDER OF THE BATH(Civil Division) Received the Honour of Knighthood, Knight GrandCross—The Lord Weir. (Military Division) Companions.—Air Commodore Charles Breese, R.A.F., and Group Capt. Reginald Bone, R.A.F. ROYAL VICTORIAN ORDER Knight Commander.—Sir Richard Glazebrook. S S5 S Death of Lord Sempill LORD SEMPILL, a distinguished soldier who commandedthe 8th Battalion of the Black Watch during the War, and a Representative Peer for Scotland for the past24 years, died at his Fintray House, Aberdeenshire, at the age of 70, on Wednesday, February 28. The funeral tookplace at St. Meddens Church, Aberdeenshire, where the service was taken by the Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney,on Saturday, March 3. The Master of Sempill, who succeed* to the Peerage, is well known in aviation circlesthroughout the world. He entered the Royal Flying Corps in 1914 and became a Colonel in the R.A.F. when he wasonly 25 years of age. He has been a private owner of aero- planes for a great number of years and has ever been tothe fore where hard work has been required to establish aviation concerns. It will be recalled that he has onlyrecently recovered from a serious accident in the U.S. when riding a new type of three-wheeled motor car after flyingto that country in the Graf Zeppelin. His work as Presi- dent of the Royal Aeronautical Society, although under-taken during a most difficult period, was an outstanding success, and in that capacity, as well as subsequently, hehas done a very great deal to foster the good relationships between those in aviation at home and abroad. DISTINGUISHED SERVICE ORDER Received a Bar to the Order.—Sqd. Ldr. Matthew Frew. R.A.F. His Majesty then conferred Decorations as follows: — MILITARY CROSS Fit. Lt. Claude Pelly, R.A.F. SECOND BAR TO THE DISTINGUISHED FLYINGCROSS Sqd. Ldr. Stafford Harris, R.A.F. DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS Fit. Lt. John Bradbury, R.A.F., and Fit. Lt. John Grayhill Thomas, R.A.F. AIR FORCE CROSS Fit. Lt. David Anderson, R.A.F. ; Fit. Lt. OliverCarter, R.A.F. ; Fit. Lt. Leonard Snaith, R.A.F., and F/'O. Singleton Richards, R.A.F. " Les douze heures d'Angers " THIS year the 12 hours' reliability trial organised bythe French Aero Club de l'Ouest has been made interna- tional in character as a result of the success whichattended last year's national contest. Machines must be at least two-seaters, and the weight of two occupants mustequal 160 kg., or ballast carried to bring the weight up to that figure. Engine capacity is limited to 8 litres (488.19cu. in.), and contest consists in covering the greatest distance in 12 hours over a closed circuit. Entries mustbe made to the Aero Club de France, 6, Rue Galilee, Paris, before April 1 at a fee of 500 francs, or up toMay 1 at an increased fee of 750 francs, or up till June 1 at the doumle fee of 1,000 francs. The contest isscheduled to take place on July 8. Japanese Civil aviation vote Six million yen have been voted by the CabinetCouncil of Japan for the development of civil aviation. Twenty-one aerodromes will be established, and the produc-tion of aircraft thoroughly studied. French air attache in Moscow CAPT. DONZEAU has been appointed Air Attache to the French Embassy in Moscow.215
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