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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0857.PDF
J3, /Sit. AIRCRAFT ENGINEERAND AIRSHIPS ^^^ csounded in 1909 by Stanley Spooned FIR,ST_ AERONAUTICAL DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS, IN THE PRACTICE AND PROGRESS OF AVIATION OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB ' No. 1339. Vol. XXVI. 26th Year AUGUST 23, 1934 Thursdays, Price 6d.By Post, 7td. Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices : DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I. Telegrams: Trudltur, Watloo, London. Telephone: Hop 3333 (50 lines). HERTFORD ST., COVENTRY. GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, 260, DEANSGATE, MANCHESTER, 3. 2GB, RENFIELD ST.,NAVIGATION ST., BIRMINGHAM, 2. ; GLASGOW, C.2. Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telegrams: Uifle, Manchester. Telegrams: Ilifle, Glasgow.Telephone: Coventry 5210. Telephone; Midland 2970. Telephone: Blackfriars J412. Telephone: Central 4857. SUBSCRIPTION Home and Canada: Year, £1 13 0; 6 months, 16s. 6d.; 3 months, 8s. 3d. ..:. .-• . . RATES: Other Countries: Year, £1 15.0; 6 months, 17s. fid.; 3 mouths, 8s. 9d. ;: The Air Mail Begins A GALE of unusual strength for a British Augustcaused something like a fiasco when the newinland mail service was started on Monday last. We have come to regard fog as the only form of weather which will defeat the modern aeroplane, and it came as something of a shock to learn that the D.H.86, from Glasgow and Belfast, found it prudent to land at Manchester, while the north-bound " Wessex," from Croydon, got no farther than Birmingham. Both lots of mails were then sent on by train to their destina- tions. It was rather humiliating, but we may take com- fort in the thought that occasionally heavy weather holds up steamboat services across the English Channel and the Irish Sea, and that when the new air services are in full running order it is not likely that mere strength of wind will very often prevent them from getting through to their destinations. We would rather think with satisfaction of the new forward step which was inaugurated on Monday than on the exceptional circumstances which interfered with the first flights. It is undoubtedly a great advance in prin- ciple that the Postmaster-General should send letters oi 2 oz. and postcards by air without extra charge. That is the point to emphasise. On the services (i) Croydon- Birmingham-Manchester-Isle of Man-Belfast-Glasgow, (2) Liverpool-Birmingham-Cardiff-Plymouth, (3) Bir- mingham-Bristol-Southampton-Cowes, and (4) Inver- ness-Orkneys, ordinary letters and postcards are carried without surcharge. The surcharge for letters weighing more than 2 oz. is id. per oz. instead of |d. per oz. by train. Probably in time this distinction will be wiped out, and all letters will be carried by air at the same rates as for rail transport. This occasion is only a beginning and an experiment, and, though we may criticise details, our main feeling is satisfaction that the beginning has been made. The Postmaster-General has been quite frank about the experimental nature of the service, and he gave that as- his excuse for not including Edinburgh in the initial service. The rivalry of the two largest cities in Scotland is always rather amusing, and the good fathers of Edinburgh seem to have been indignant that Glasgow has been favoured while their city was ignored. The Postmaster was able to reply that other important places had also been omitted, and expressed pious hopes for the future. We may smile, but it is encouraging to see the cities clamouring in rivalry for air mail services. The point which invites most criticism is the arrange- ment of the schedule on the main London-Belfast-Glas- gow airway. For this, we take it, the Post Office was not responsible. It must have been drawn up by Rail- way Air Services. This company has certainly plenty of experience available for the drawing up of useful time- tables, and it may have very good reasons for the one which has been adopted in this case. If so, the com- pany has neglected to publish them, and enquiries made have not produced much in the way of satisfactory answers. The schedule seems to have been drawn up on the basis of using only one machine, which starts in the morning from Glasgow, spends two hours at Croy- don, and then flies back to Glasgow the same afternoon. As it takes some forty minutes to get from Croydon to Victoria, this wait will not be very useful to a man who thinks of flying from Glasgow to London and back in a day. He will not be able to do much busi- ness in London. It seems to amount to this, that the southward journey is useful and the northward trip is of advantage to very few people. It starts too late in the day (15.10 hours). The Postmaster-General is quite frank about it. In a circular on the subject he says : " The mails for Douglas and Belfast will afford a later time of posting in London for first delivery the next day in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland generally. Ordinary correspondence for the other towns mentioned will not benefit in time of delivery from transmission by air." We can only hope and presume that before long a north-bound machine will start early in the day from Croydon, and so make that journey as useful as the ether.
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