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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0760.PDF
762 FLIGHT. JULY 26, 1934. Pam via Jersey :T :'':^%' HESTON 4 £ _^ • ' / Contract Maintenance : A Birkett Week and a B.A.N.C0. Day , v : ;; First Solo Cup Extensions •: •:. ; JERSEY AIRWAYS, LTD., are now running from Jerseyto Paris twice weekly, on Mondays and Thursdays. Thefares are £3 15s. od. single and £6 5s. return, and a con-nection may, of course, be made with the Heston-Jersey service by those who like to travel to Paris on the two more picturesque sides of a triangle rather than on the direct route from Croydon. Two-way radio is now being fitted to all Jersey Airways machines. The Heston " G. E." inspection, or twenty-five-houi schedule, is becoming increasingly popular with private aero- plane owners, many of whom contract for this work over a term of months. Nineteen private and commercial machines are at present maintained entirely by Airwork on contract terms, all work being carried out automatically as it becomes necessary. This figure excludes school aircraft owned by Airwork. During a recent week twenty^eight private charter flights were made by Birkett Air Service, Ltd. This company has been in operation for less than two years, but has already built Up a thriving business, mainly in charter work for the Press. Birkett's has four aeroplanes, a "Gull" for high-speed trans- port and three '' Puss Moths,'' one of which is stationed at Manchester in charge of Mr. Thorn. The pilots have a reputa- tion for getting through. Recently Major Digby was caught between two thunder- storms over Towcester, where a man on the ground was killed by lightning the same day, and Mr. Leonard Stace, flying back from the fire at Brownsea Island, came through another nasty area of storm, electrical and otherwise. Both flew blind for several minutes through heavy hailstorms. Major Digby, inci- dentally, carried films—a depressing cargo to have while dodging lightning. There are those who tread cautiously on Friday the thirteenth, and the fates played a harmless trick on B.A.N.Co. on that day. One of the Fords had just taken of for Le Touquet when an engine " blew a plug." With multi-engined safety it would have been possible to continue the flight on the other two engines, but the pilot wisely put back to Heston and had the offending plug replaced. But the result was a delay in the outward service to Le Touquet, and further, as this particular machine was scheduled that day to go out again on the second Deauville service, this was in turn held up. An annoying practical joke at the expense of the superstitious. Last Friday was an exceptionally heavy day, ten flights across the Channel being made by B.A.N.Co. machines, and there were charters both to Castle Bromwich and the Isle of Wight. A typical day in the life of an air taxi is described in the log of B.A.N.Co.'s "Gull": "08.15. Heston for Liverpool, one passenger; 11.50. Newmarket via Farnborough, picking up passenger at Farnborough; 14.15. Return from New- market via Farnborough; 1550. For Yeovil, press option on continuing journey to Plymouth and return." The Heston First Solo Cup—a hideous and potentially price- less agglomeration of scrap metal—has acquired an '' orna- mental base." This is to take the overflow of autographs from the surface of the original cup. The complete collection is tantalising to autograph hunters and may fetch something fabulous at Sothebys, if historical relics of the twentieth century will change hands there in the thirtieth. But what will happen when the new annex is full up? —< Indian National Airtvays It is anticipated that a weekly service between Karachi and Lahore will be operated by Indian National Airways this autumn. Intermediate stops will be made at Jacobabad, Multan and/or Bhawalpur. ~ A South African Aviation Journal * From Johannesburg appears an excellent air monthly called "African Travel." The second number has, in addition to numerous articles on air line operation and air port develop- ment, a special and well illustrated supplement dealing with the Kruger National Park in the Transvaal. Judging from the general tone one would imagine that African aviation is developing by leaps and bounds. Algiers'Congo Experiment' There have been a number of flights during the last five years between Northern Africa and the Congo, but no serious attempt has yet been made to find out whether conditions would allow a regular service. The French Air Ministry has now deputised Comdt. Dagnaux to run a mon'hly experi- mental service from Algiers to the Congo, running through Gao, Zinder, Fort Lamy, Banghi and Brazzaville. A three Algol-engined Bloch machine will be used, carrying a 2,204 lb. payload, and cruising at 124 m.p.h. Himalayan Air Line A regular air service between Haridwar r..d Badrinath has been started by the Himalayan Air Transport and Survey Co., and aerodromes at Haridwar and Gauchar have been inspected and approved by the Director of Civil Aviation. The Gauchar landing ground, at one time a mass of rock, is now a full-fledged aerodrome. Badrinath and Haridwar are both holy places of the Hindu, lying at the foot of the Himalayas, and pilgrims to Badrinath used to take three to four weeks in reaching their destination on foot. They will now reach it in less than 40 minutes ! A three-engined machine carrying ten passengers has been em- ployed, and experienced pilots and engineers from England have been engaged. To Bordeaux and Biarritz In conjunction with the Air France service between London and Paris, a new week-end trip to Bordeaux and Biarritz will be inaugurated on August 4. Passengers will leave Croydon at 10 a.m. on Saturday, arrive in Biarritz at 6 p.m., leave there at 8.15 a.m. on Monday, and arrive at Croydon at 2.40 p.m. This service will be run daily, Sundays excepted, from August 20 to September 14. A New; Air Line Within the next few weeks London, Scottish and Provincial Airways expect to start operating a skeleton daily service be- tween an airport in North London and Glasgow (Renfrew), making an intermediate stop at Nottingham (Tollerton). The company will use Airspeed " Couriers," and possibly a couple of " Envovs," but later the service will probably be run entirely with the twin-engined Airspeed type. P.S. and I.O.W. Aviation News The traffic figures between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight are still increasing. Last week 1,545 passengers were carried —an increase of 208 on the previous week's figures. 140 passengers were carried last week, too, between London and the Island, and special charter trips were made to Glastonbury, Rochester, Grimsby and Dorchester. On August 1 the first of the Airspeed "Envoys" will be put into service on the Island Air Express between Heston and Ryde. The high cruising speed of this machine will shorten the journey by some fifteen minutes. Hourly Across the Estuary Since the service was opened during June the little air line between Gravesend and Southend-on-Sea (Rochford) has been markedly successful. It is run " every hour on the hour " from each side—one o'clock in the afternoon being the only absentee in the timetab'e between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. At present there are two machines in service, a Short "Scion" loaned by Short Bros., and a D.H. "Fox Moth." Another "Scion" may be used later on. The name of the operating company is the Southend-on-Sea Flying Services Ltd., and the fares are 12s. return and 8s. single.
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