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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 1036.PDF
1038 FLIGHT. OCTOBER 4, 1934. COMMERCIAL /AVIATION — AIRLINES —AIRPORTS - THE START OF THE "DIFFICULT SEASON" Many of the internal lines are to be operated during the winter months, and the experiment, even if only partially successful, will provide interesting data for both pilots and traffic managers. Next year they may have better ground organisation WITH a climate that is so proverbially erratic, ina country where the little hills appear to swell in wetwearther and poke their heads through the rain clouds,and where the ground organisation is still so incom- plete, no one would have been in the least surprised if all the internal services had shut down with a crash at the end of last month. As it is, one finds that most of the companies are either carrying on for another month or definitely planning skeleton services to cover the entire winter season. Railway Air Services for instance, though putting the shutters up on their Liverpool-Birmingham-Plymouth and Birmingham-Cowes services, are carrying on with the London- Glasgow route until further notice—at least until the end of this month—with a slightly altered timetable. The north- bound "86 " will, for the period of the extension at least, leave Croydon at 9.45 a.m., Castle Bromwich at 10.50 a.m., Barton at 11.50 a.m., Aldergrove at 1.50 p.m., and will arrive at Renfrew at 2.45 p.m. The return times remain as before— Renfrew 9 a.m., reaching Croydon at 2 p.m. Wireless Arrangements This line is fairly well furnished with D./F stations at Croydon, Barton (GEM), and Newtownards (GET), while pilots will be able to receive some assistance from the R.A.F. station at Abbotsinch, near Paisley; Renfrew has no radio. The Air Ministry, incidentally, has just published a Notice to Airmen giving information about the radio stations likely to be of use to the internal services, and a list of authorised points for map reference. The Spartan Air Lines' London to Cowes service will, too, be continued for the time being, calling additionally at South- ampton and making connections with the longer service. The pilots have radio help from Portsmouth (GEN), as well as from Croydon. Machines leave Croydon at 9.45 a.m. and 3.30 p.m., and leave Bembridge at 8.30 a.m. and 2.15 p.m. (This flying business may mean that travellers will actually learn to use the daylight hours before 9 a.m. !) On Sundays the service leaves Croydon and Bembridge at 9.40 a.m. and 3.40 p.m., respectively. Mr. Edward Hillman is running his Belfast service "up" one day and "down " the next. In other words, his " Dragons" or "89'*" leave Essex Airport on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at.10 a.m., stopping at Speke and Ronaldsway, and arriving at Newtownards at 1.30 p.m. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays the machines leave New- townards at 12.30 p.m. and arrive at Stapleford Abbots at 4 p.m. His London-Paris service is run daily. The tidal question makes Jersey Airways' timetable neces- sarily a complicated one, departures varying between 8.30 a.m. and 12.30 p.m., but one service is to be run each way everv day. While crossing the Channel the pilots can keep in touch with Portsmouth (GEN) and report their position. This is, from the navigation point of view, one of the more difficult services, but the pilots have had a great deal of experience of the crossing, and the service has beer in suc- cessful operation since last December. The ]ersey-Paris service is being run at present on Mondays and Thursdays in each direction. London Scottish and Provincial Airways are now carrying eighty passengers a week, though their Leeds-Nottingham- Heston and Paris service was only started during the summer. It is to be run daily each way, with an additional service to Heston and back. A "Courier" leaves Heston at 9.30 a.m., reaching Leeds (Shertmrn) at 11.5 a.m.; at 11.20 a.m. the Paris machine leaves there, arriving at 3.20 p.m. Another "Courier" leaves Paris at 9.30 a.m., arrives at Sherburn at 1.20 p.m., and leaves for Heston twenty minutes later. Special "twenty-four-hour cheap return" tickets are offered on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Two-way wireless will eventually be installed in all the machines, and the company is making an application to have the wireless equipment at Hedon, Hull, shifted to Sherburn for the winter, since the K.L.M. service has been discontinued during the winter months. The country west of Haldon is not the easiest in the world to fly over during bad weather, but Provincial Airways are carrying on with a daily service each way, leaving Plymouth at 9 a.m. for Croydon, and leaving Croydon again at 2 p.m. The journey normally takes a little over two hours. All the "Dragons" are fitted with two-way wireless, but the pilots are flying rather into the unknown beyond Ports- mouth, which is the last wireless equipped aerodrome on the run. But they should know every mile by now. The P.S. and I.O.W.A. Portsmouth-Ryde "ferry" will be run at hour and two-hour intervals, as usual, though the later services are cut off as the days get shorter. The week- end service between Heston and Ryde will be run during October with one service each way on Friday, two on Satur- day, one from Ryde on Sunday, and two each way on Monday morning. Special services are, incidentally, run at normal fares for parties of six or more on the Heston-Ryde run, and for parties of four or more on the "ferry" service. In the North Blackpool and West Coast Air Services, one of whose direc- tors, incidentally, is Mr. Gordon P. Olley, are carrying on throughout the winter with a service each way, leaving Liver- pool at 9.30 a.m., Blackpool (Squire's Gate) at 10 a.m., and returning again from the Isle of Man (Ronaldsway) at 2.15 p.m. During October Highland Airways are continuing the Inverness-Kirkwall service, if only because they have a news- paper and mail contract until the end of the month. The Aberdeen part of the route was closed down at the end of last month, but will operate on a revised timetable on Tuesdays and Fridays during October, a machine leaving Kirkwall at 10 a.m., Wick at 10.30 a.m., and arriving at Aberdeen at 11.45 a.m. The return journey starts at 12.15 Pm., and the machine arrives at Kirkwall at 2 p.m. On Mondays and Saturdays the same machine will maintain a service to the Northern Orkneys. Exactly what will happen after October remains to be seen, but the Kirkwall-Wick service will definitely be continued, as last year, throughout the winter. After October 7 the Bristol to Bournemouth service of Norman Edgar (Western Airways). Ltd., will be discontinued until the spring, but the Cardiff-Bristol " ferry " will be operated twice daily in each direction. A machine leaves Cardiff at 11.15 a.m. and 3.15 p.m., and leaves Bristol (Whit- church) at 10.45 a.m. and 2.45 p.m. The Rochester-Southend hourly "shuttle " service is carry- ing on for the present, the first machines leaving Rochfoi-d and Rochester at 9 a.m. and the last at 6.30 p.m. Naturally, the shortening days means that the late services will be washed out one by one. This line is run, of course, bv Short Bros, and Southend-6n-Se^ Flying Services, and a " Scion " and a " Fox Moth " are used. On the whole, therefore it will be seen that almost all the internal operating companies are putting up some sort of show. It remains to be seen bow the schedules can be held without taking risks in bad weather.
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