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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 1334.PDF
FLIGHT. DECEMBER 13, 1934. Commercial Aviation days, and the return flight will start on each Wednesday. On this special occasion the return flight, carrying 1,231 lb. of mail matter, was inaugurated on Monday by the Duke of Gloucester, assisted by the Governor General, the Governor of Queensland, and the Prime Minister. Both R.A.A.F. and private machines provided an escort for the machine, which was piloted by Mr. L. J. Brain, the chief pilot of Qantas Empire Airways, Ltd. Owing to a temporary dislocation caused by the Long- reach tragedy, Imperial Airways are carrying the first mails through to Port Darwin, using Armstrong " Atalantas," alter which either a Qantas D.H.86 or D.H.6i's will continue the journey. In the meantime, a report has been made on the accident. Though the mail rate is low enough in appearance (is. 3d. per half ounce) it is comparatively high when heavier packages are considered. As an example, the cost was 17s. 6d. for each copy of Flight sent out. Flight, incident- ally, also sent a number of letters. In due course, no doubt, passengers will be carried on the Singapore-Brisbane section, but for the first few months, at least, the service is for mails only. AN EAST COAST ROUTE TO SCOTLAND Aberdeen Airways'1 Projected Route Surveyed : The Need for Wireless : Developments at Dyce : The D.H. " Dragon Six" FOR a survey flight between two cities so far apart asLondon and Aberdeen, the month of December would not,on the face of it, appear to be the best. The chances ofgetting through to time schedules on certain pre-arranged dates are likely to be far from good, and, if such a flight has been given some prior publicity, the adverse effects of failure are likely to be pronounced. If one thirsted for knowledge of the real winter conditions over such a route, however, a better month could not have been chosen. The operator will, if he has reasonably bad luck with the weather, discover exactly where the difficulties of a scheduled service lie and will be able to combat them. Last week Mr. E. L. Gandar Dower, with the co-operation of the De Havilland Aircraft Company, organised a survey flight between Hatfield and Dyce (Aberdeen). A " Dragon Six," piloted by Captain Hubert Broad, was twice defeated on the outward journey by weather conditions, and the obvious moral was made still more obvious. Wireless and D/F equipment, coupled with perfect organisation, are absolutely essential if the projected service is to be a success, and to that end the Air Ministry might lend assistance to the intermediate municipalities concerned. Hull, the first stop- ping place, will have its mobile radio equipment back again next year (it is at present at Pulham); Dyce is to be equipped; but at present the most difficult part of the route, between Hedon (Hull) and Dyce, is almost entirely without facilities. From the Passengers' Viewpoint In general, the East Coast route is very reasonably well pro-vided with aerodromes for use in case of emergency, and the "Dragon Six" showed what could be done by covering thewhole outward journey in a flying time which was very little more than three hours—against the eleven hours or so takenby the train. The route is an interesting one from the passen- gers' point of view, and no doubt Edinburgh, which mightprovide a better percentage of traffic than Aberdeen itself, will be included among the stopping places if and when a good civilaerodrome is fully developed. Turnhouse, of course, is a Service aerodrome, and Macmerry is undeveloped. The savfcgin time with a fast machine is obviously worth while to the business man just as soon as he knows quite definitely thatthe service will run, and with clockwork regularity. Mr. Gandar Dower's Aberdeen airport at Dyce should, whenit is completely finished, be one of the very best in the pro- vinces. Certainly considerable sums of money have been, andare being, spent in its development for use by Aberdeen Air- ways, Ltd., and the Aberdeen Flying School, Ltd. The complete runs will be from 600 to 800 yards, and theapproaches are not only good but likely to remain good, for Dyce is far enough from Aberdeen to be free from buildingdevelopments. Nevertheless, it is only five miles from the centre of the city. When Mr. Gandar Dower bought the land it must haveappeared to be a most "unnatural" landing ground, with a stream running clean through the centre. Since that time thestream has been diverted while a special 650-yard concrete "box" was made for it beneath the aerodrome surface, thegreater part of the aerodrome has already been Hunterised and laid out with a complete draining system, and work is pro-ceeding rapidly on the remaining portions. In due course a control tower with wireless equipment will bebuilt on a "peninsula" to the north, and large and small hangars, a power house, and a clubhouse stand now on theeastern boundary. The village of Dyce itself, with a railway station, adjoins the north-east corner. The clubhouse deservesspecial mention for its combination of internal beauty and utility. Mr. E. A. Starling is the pilot in charge of the school, ofcharter work, and of the twice-a-week Glasgow service carried on through the winter while wireless is awaited. It was inter-esting to note that two Klemm " Swallows " are used for the major part of the training, with a Blackburn '' Bluebird'' anda " Puss Moth" for more advanced work. A Short "Scion " and a D.H. "Dragon " are used by Aberdeen Airways, butwhen the new service is opened " Dragon Sixes" will prob- ably be put on. Next year's plans depend entirely on the provision of wire-less facilities and on the possibility of obtaining a mail con- tract from the Post Office. Highland Airways have runbetween the Orkneys, Inverness and Aberdeen; Aberdeen Air- ways' own Glasgow service should connect with the WestCoast and Irish routes; and, after April 1, Aberdeen passengers will be able to catch the K.L.M. service to Amsterdam at Hullif the time-table can be arranged to suit. It is possible, too, that Newcastle's new Woolsington aerodrome, which is nearerthe city, will be ready during next year. Looking further into the future, there are possibilities that a direct service fromAberdeen to Norway may be opened, but it is difficult to see the potential traffic to justify such a service. The return trip in the "Dragon Six '" gave some indicationof the true possibilities of a fully organised service. Despite sundry climatic deviations, the run from Aberdeen to Hatfieldwas made in a flying time of 3 hr. 18 min.—an average of 125 m.p.h.—without including a seventeen-minute stop atCramlington, but with a slightly adverse wind. The " Dragon Six" cruises comfortably at 137 m.p.h. and was noticed by amember of the staff of Flight, who was on board, to be flying at 147 m.p.h. for some time with the "Gipsy Sixes " turningover at 2,100 r.p.m. In reasonable weather conditions the machine can be trimmed to fly both hands and feet off for longperiods. Now that the more-speed-at-any-cost tumult has died down,it is interesting to notice that the D.H.89 carries six pas- sengers and their luggage at a cruising speed of 138 m.p.h.and costs no more to run per mile than the original " Dragon." The higher speed balances the slightly higher consumption ofthe " Sixes." Orkney Service Change As from December 1 until March 31 the Highland Airways machine will leave Kirkwall for Inverness at 1.30 p.m., instead of 2 p.m., so that it may arrive before dark. ; The Lahore'Karachi Service The first mail, passenger and freight service between Lahoreand Karachi (via Multan and Sukkur) was opened on Decem- ber 3 by Indian National Airways, Ltd. Regular services byI.N.A. are now running between Karachi and Lahore, Cal- cutta and Rangoon, and Calcutta and Dacca, with charterfacilities at Delhi, Calcutta, Rangoon, and Lahore. The value of the new service is indicated by the fact that this informationwas sent by the first service and reached the Flight office on December 10. The Calcutta-Rangoon service, incidentally, is being dupli-cated, machines leaving Calcutta on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
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