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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 1262.PDF
1266 FLIGHT. NOVEMBER 22, 1934. Commercial Aviation CROYDON: High Winter Bookings : The " Irish Swoop " Leaves : Cheaper Air Mails Streamlined Sloth : The Qantas Tragedy IN spite of unpleasant weather, the passenger bookings onall lines have been extremely good during the past week.During the week-end several companies, including ImperialAirways and K.L.M., duplicated services, and on Saturday Imperial Airways took eighty passengers from London toParis alone. Three supporters of the Italian football team arrived byImperial Airways at 2 p.m. on the day of the match and, taking a fast car, arrived at the ground at 2.30 p.m. After-wards they caught the 6.30 p.m. air liner to Paris. They had travelled all night by train from Spain to link up withthe Imperial Paris-London service. I hope they saw good football to justify the journey—but I doubt it. That unlucky aeroplane, the Irish Swoop, has finally leftCroydon, piloted by Mr. Bonar, for Southampton. It is to be shipped from there to the U.S.A. for modifications. Theyappear to be needed. Just a Party Amongst important passengers last week were Gen. Smuts,Mr. Fokker, and Mr. Sikorsky. The latter was outward bound to Paris after his recent lecture before the Royal AeronauticalSociety. Last Friday also the English Ice Hockey team flew by D.L.H to Berlin, where they played a match the sameevening. A special " Scylla " was chartered to carry accessories toParis for the Mdivani-Woolworth party which cost such a lot of money. These accessories were members of the orchestra,cabaret troupe, and sorrre odd" guests. The machine brought back much the same sort of load next day. A freight consignment which aroused much interest camefrom Delhi via Imperial Airways recently. This was a magnifi- cent specimen 01" a Persian rug, very old, and with the mellowcolouring only age can give—a wedding gift to the Duke of Kent and Princess Manna from the Viceroy of India andLady Willingdon. Some of the people who are accumulating the largest numberof flying hours are the stewards of Imperial Airways. They stick to the same aeroplanes and are not moved about as thepilots are. I am told that Messrs! Jeffcoate and Steer, the two senior stewards, have something like 23,000 hours to theircombined credit. Saturday, November 17, marked a step forward in air mailprogress. Brig.-Gen. Sir Frederick Williamson, Director of Postal Services, was at Croydon to see the Imperial Indianmail machine depart, and to hand a mail bag to the pilot. The occasion was the establishment of a long overdue flat rateof postage on Eastern and African routes. Sometimes the brightest ideas of Government departmentsare pathetic failures owing to refusal to consult those engaged in the practical side of the business. We get it with the AirMinistry in matters such as beacons and other devices sup- posed to assist flying. On Saturday the G.P.O. triumphantlyproduced a streamlined mail van which is supposed to accelerate ground transport of mails between Croydon and the City. Iam convinced that Imperial Airways were not consulted, and probably the thing was kept a jealous secret also from theAir Mail Section of the G.P.O. The car is a marvellous shiny blue affair with a practical disadvantage—it is too small tohold the amount of mail frequently carried from Croydon, which amount is continually increasing. The streamlining isunlikely to benefit the G.P.O. between London and Croydon, where speeds of 60 m.p.h. and over are not usually attainable,and, anyway, it has a stop on the accelerator, I am told, which prevents it moving faster than 35 m.p.h. On its first appear-ance last Saturday, an auxiliary van had to be used to bring the bulk of the India mail to Croydon. It is, however, abeautiful and, I suppose, an expensive toy. Telling the Passengers The -need for a loud speaker in the main hall at Croydonis growing daily more evident. At Le Bourget they have had one for a long time, but at Croydon passengers have to becalled when machines are departing or when passenger cars are about to leave for London. Considerable delay would beobviated by this means, especially as the main hall is apt to be thronged with sightseers at departure and arrival times,and there is no adequate provision for issuing them with tickets. This is done at a little table just within the mainentrance where passenger coaches draw up, and I have seen the whole doorway blocked by visitors, many of whom makefrenzied efforts to buy sixpenny tickets from officials of the air companies who are attempting to deal with passengers. I understand that the Qantas D.H.86, which was to haveleft here last Monday, commanded by Capt. Youell, will not leave for the present. Although Capt. A. R. Prendergast,who lost his life in the recent unfortunate air accident in Australia, had spent most of his service with Imperial Air-ways, Ltd., he was one of those typical air liner commanders who was popular and well liked by everyone at Croydon. Hisloss, with that of Mr. Creates, his first officer, will be deeply deplored. Mr. F. R. Charlton, who was well known at Croy-don, had some 6,000 hours' flying to his credit as a flight engineer, and he had been with Imperial Airways for a con-siderable time. Many friends will miss him at the Airport of London. - A. VIATOR. Night Flying at Rangoon Two new searchlights with red reflectors have been erected at Rangoon aerodrome, one on the north and another on the south masts of the D./F. station. Misr Airwork Director in Europe The managing director of Mi^r Airwork, Mr. K. Eloui, left Egypt on October 24, by K.L.M., on a short business trip to Holland, England, France, and Italy, where he will take the opportunity of inspecting the latest types of com- mercial aircraft. Wireless Help in Siam v ~ •:'-.'::--• The wireless station at Bandon, Siam, has wr been com- pleted, and will materially assist the Imperial service, as it bridges the radio gap between Bangkok and Penang—where, incidentally, two metalled runways are to be laid down. U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences and Air Transport The transport reconstruction commission, under the Atademy of Sciences of the U.S S.R., is actively preparing for the January session of the Academy, which -will be devoted entirely to questions of transport. •A report'on air siervices is being drawn .up by a special group headed by Academician Chaplygin. ' The work of this group is concentrated on problems covering aviation motors consuming heavy fuel, the organisation of a proper meteoro- logical service and the safety of air lines. The group consists of the most outstanding Soviet aviation experts, such as A. N. Tupolev, the designer, and Professors Dubenski, Mogilianski, and Nekrasov. Aiming High The Soviet Union evidently believes in asking a lot in orderthat they may receive a little. In a State competition for new high-speed mail and passenger aircraft designs maximumspeeds of 249-280 m.p.h. are required with landing speeds of 47-56 m.p.h. The service ceilings in the cases of both singleengined five-passenger and twin engined twelve-passenger types must be well ever 20,000 feet. In each case the machines mustbe equipped with 700-850 h.p. engines, of Soviet design, and must be ready before 1935. Anyway, the Soviet engineers may produce something reallyuseful in the way of flapped, variably supercharged and "variably airscrewed" machines before the closing date -ofthe competition. .... —" r Blackpool and Squire's Qate ,,..;?; In keeping with the town's motto, "Progress," BlackpoolCorporation have become one of the first municipalities in the country to own.two aerodromes, for included in a big land deal,just completed, is Squire's Gate Aerodrome used by Blackpool and West Coast Air Services, Ltd. The Corporation alreadyhave Stanley Park Airport, but it is rather appropriate that they should have bought Squire's Gate, as it was on thissite that in October, 1909, they promoted the first aviation meeting ever held in this country. It is probable, however,that the use of Stanley Park will eventually be discontinued.
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