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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 1229.PDF
NOVEMBER 15, 1934. FLIGHT. 1231 COMMERCIAL ^Z\VJAT/ON = 7\JRLINES AIRPORTS- CROYDON Silken Merchandise : Service : Gale Warning : " The Old Order Changeth " Winter Passengers : More in a Lifetime LAST week's air thrill was the alleged descent of certain inti-mate silken garments, of what Mr. Squeers would have_j called "the female gender," from an aeroplane on to asteamer deck. According to the movements of machines at that time of day,it was either a K.L.M. or Luft Hansa machine, but neither company missed a parcel. Thus, it must have been the unobserved act of a passenger.Why any such property should have been jettisoned is a difficult question to answer, but the matter is not so amusingas it may seem. With certain types of aeroplane these silk garments might have caught in the controls. I hear that the charter of machines by Railway Air Services,Ltd., from Spartan Air Lines, Ltd., for the Isle of Wight service, which was so successful last summer, is now endedand will not be renewed until next spring. " Spartans," how- ever, will attempt to run the service through the winter,which will certainly be to the advantage of R.A.S., Ltd., next year, as continuity of any service offered to the public ismost important. Olley Air Service, Ltd., had a charter last week which musthave broken most records. A passenger was brought from the boat at Cherbourg to his hotel in London in iJ hours. Theaccent, in this case, is on the word "service." Mrs. F. Kerr-Wilson, O.B.E., owner of the very successfulWilson Airways, Ltd., mentioned by Sir Eric Geddes at the Imperial Airways' general meeting as "that very enterprisinglady," left Croydon for Nairobi during the week in a "Dragon" piloted by Mr. N. C. P. Mostert. Mrs Mollison arrived from Holland by K.L.M. on Fridayand Lady Londonderry, with her two daughters, left for Belfast by Railway Air Services, Ltd. The visit was to theircountry seat Mount Stewart, which shows that you can spend a week-end on the other side of a large stretch of water with-out loss of time or inconvenience of travel. The newspaper spoke of a gale in the Channel on Saturday and of four liners (but not air liners) which were unable to take their pilots aboard and had to heave to. Some ten years ago 1 remember telling a circle of shipping people that the aeroplane would be a more regular and reliable means of trans- port than the ship and being heartily laughed at for my pains. Saturday's air services operated as usual, of course. Sir John Salmond, Government Director of Imperial Airways, Ltd.. left for Singapore by LA., Ltd., on Saturday. It is said that he is to make a tour of inspection of ground organisa- tion between Singapore and Australia. The new Polish Ambassador came in by Luft Hansa, earlier in the week, to present his credentials, and the retiring Ambas- sador left by boat. 'The old order changeth," and few of the younger diplomats can brook the slow, wearisome sea voyage in these days. Air France had a sudden "gold rush," carrying about a ton and a half from Paris. This was, however, not the advance guard of a period of activity in gold transport, b.ut an isolated consignment. Mr. Anthony Fokker arrived on Monday by K.L.M. Passenger figures are still favourable for the time of year,and long-distance passengers, who used to be rare in winter, are travelling more than ever. Last Sunday's K.L.M. machineout from Croydon had seven Berlin passengers and three Scan- dinavian out of seventeen.The argument is not infrequently put forward that people are no better off for "all this speed" and that the stage coachand sailing packet got there just as quickly as was possible in those days, so that, having no faster means of transport tocompare it with, everybody was content. "Why," say the apostles of stagnation, "should I travel to Paris at close on200 m.p.h. and what real good does it do me?" The answer is that, for pleasure or business, flying is onlya means of getting more done in a lifetime and a means, occa- sionally, of saving valuable life—e.g., when it is a question oftransporting a specialist to a patient. A. VIATOR. JERSEY AIRWAYS' NEW FLEET Six D.H.$6 Four-engined Machines to be put into Operation Next Year : Jersey Airways Excellent Traffic Figures SOME months ago it was stated in Flight that one of ourmost successful unsubsidised operating companies, JerseyAirways, Ltd., would be putting D.H. 86's into serviceLast week an order was placed with the De Havilland company for six of these machines, which will each carry fourteen passengers, and which are to be equipped with all the latest aids to navigation. Once or twice since the Tersey line was opened the D.H. "Dragons " have reached their objective safely on one engine, and the new machines should completely remove any possi- bility of failure over the long sea crossing, for they can fly fullv loaded on any two of the four Gipsy Six engines fitted. Cruising at r45 m.p.h., the D.H.SC's wdl :reduce, the time for the Heston-St. Helier journey to something rather less than an hour and a half. Tersev Airways, Ltd., under the management of Mr. W. L.Thurgood, a coach operator and bodybuilder, started opera- tions between Portsmouth and St. Helier on December 18, 1933.and between Heston and St. Helier on January- 28 this year Since that time the fleet has been increased from one D.H."Dra-on " to eight, and something like a thousand passengers were carried every week during the summer season. Duringthe month of August alone the figure reached 4,500, and even now an average of more than 250 passengers are carried everyweek on the single daily service each way. At the end of last month, 18,530 passengers had been carried since the service started. The wide stretch of sand in St. Aubin's Bay is at presentused as a landing ground—a fact which tends to make the time- table a troublesome one—but in due course an aerodrome willbe laid out near the racecourse at St. Helier. In the mean- time, the new machines will require rather more landing space,and Mr. L. T. H. Greig, the Jersey manager, will have a difficult task in seeing that the sands are really and truly clear ofpossible airscrew victims. The purchase of the new fleet, which involves a sum of some-thing like ^50,000, has been made possible through the addi- tional capital obtained by arrangement with the WhitehallSecurities Corporation. If 1935 is as successful a year, in pro- portion, as 1934, the backers should receive value for theiimoney. There is no reason why it should not be, for Jersey Airways are well known and have had a trouble-free season.
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