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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 1335.PDF
DECEMBER 13, 1934. FLIGHT. HESTON 1339 Commercial Aviation Ards Traffic Figures : Christmas Bookings for Jersey : Those Wedding Pictures THE Ards Airport register shows 84 take-ofls or landingsof machines during September, October and November.There was, of course, a considerable falling off in trafficwhen Hillman's Airways summer service ceased operation early in October, and, since Hillman's mail service has started,there will naturally be a great improvement in the figures. Advance bookings show that there will be considerableChristmas air traffic on the Jersey route. Two hundred and thirty passengers have already booked their passages bo-tween England and Jersey during Christmas week. Satur- day, December 22, is the rush day, and although tides andshortened daylight prevent the running of more than one service each way at this time of year, several aeroplanes willmake the trip together. The British Air Navigation Company transported the" Wembley Lions " ice-hockey team—eleven of them—to Paris in a trimotor Ford on December 1, en route for Prague,whither they proceeded by train. Perhaps the finest achievement among the many RoyalWedding charter flights was that of Mr. F. W, Griffith, of Everson Flying Services, Kildoiian. Leaving Heston forDublin in a " Fox Moth" at about 1.30, he landed safely under difficult conditions at Speke aerodrome, Liverpool, after morethan one and a half hours of virtually blind flying. He" took off again shortly, realising that the approach of nightwould render his landing at Dublin even more difficult, but he brought the machine down safely at his destination, Kildonan,at 4.40 p.m. Lord Amherst in an Avro "Commodore," with Mr.Flowerday as co-pilot and Mr. Brown as wireless operator, represented B.A.N.C.O. in the wedding rush. They weresuccessful in delivering photographs and films to Newcastle, landing by flares at 4.45 p.m. at Usworth. Capt. Birkett in a"Leopard Moth" reached his destination, Leeds, in 1 hour and 15 minutes. Two other flights, one to Jersey and anothernorthwards, were abandored. Two Spartan "Cruiser" monoplanes owned by Bata's, ofZlin, Jugo-Slavia, landed at Heston on December 2 en route for the Spartan Aircraft Company's works at Cowes, where theyare to undergo the annual C. of A. CROYDON Thoughts on the Australian Mail : " Hengist" Goes East—to Stay : Plans for Next Summer—Heavy Traffic : Some Structural Alterations Needed at the Airport I T was a good idea to hold the Australian mail ceremonyinside the big Imperial Airways hangar, under the toweringbulk of Hengist, which looked all the larger for beingindoors, though, as it happened, the weather was both mild and fine. Incidentally, I am told that you can send a letter out toAustralia and receive a reply in the time it takes to send a letter one way only by surface means. I did not hear thispoint mentioned in the various very excellent broadcasts, but it is, in my humble view, a point of paramount importance tothe public. On Sunday morning I received an envelope sent out by theDouglas in the special mail carried during the Australia Race. It is marked, " K.L.M. liner Uiver PH-AJU arrived at Mel-bourne .10.54 a.m. Wednesday 24.ro.34." Needless to say, it came back by surface transport, and was posted in Sydneyon November 6, 1931. It seems just as well to mention the year when surface transport is employed! Our old friend Hengist has, it seems, left Croydon per-manently. Capt. Walters is flying this machine to Cairo, and, I understand, Hengist will then go on to Delhi and work upand down the Cairo-Karachi stretch. Helena, another H.P.42, went out East about a year ago, and is usually to be foundsomewhere between Cairo and Nairobi. The departure of Hengist leaves only Horatius and Heracles of this class inEurope. We are losing Mr. Messenger, too; he will be em- ployed as a commander on the Iraq Petroleum Pipe LinePatrol. There seems to be a sort of competition among very smallchildren who travel by air. The best "solo" or unaccom- panied flight was by Master Jacques Mans, aged three, whoflew to Brussels last week, but the prize for extremely tender years went to Master (or Miss ?) Smit, who has not yet receiveda Christian name, being but four or five weeks old. Baby Smit flew from Croydon to Rotterdam in an attache-caseinstead of a cot. The coming summer will probably be a very busy one. 1hear that K.L.M. will operate five services each way daily, the two most important being run with the 32-seater FokkerFXXXVI and with the smaller FXXII, fitted with four '' Wasp '' engines and carrying twenty passengers. The firstK.L.M. machine is to leave at 7.0 a.m. and the last arrival will be at u .0 p.m. Imperial Airways and Air France willprobably run a large number of services each to and from Paris, and D.L.H. will run one or more services to Berlin.Sabena, with new big Caproni machines, may extend activities, and a number of new inland services may be expected earlynext year. A matter which causes the operating companies considerableconcern, and one of which I made mention this time last year, by the way, is the total lack of activity on the part of theauthorities regarding very long-promised and very urgently required building alterations. It must be four or five yearssince it was pointed out to the Air Ministry that it was essen- tial for passengers' passports to be examined whilst they wereidly waiting for baggage to be unloaded from incoming aero- planes. If these structural alterations are not to be com-menced at once, the best we can hope for is that the pas- sengers' entrance from the tarmac will be a mass of scaffold-ing and the atmosphere thick with brick-dust in the very height of our busy season. The Department concerned with this sort of thing is notori-ously dilatory, and should have a rap over the knuckles from the " proper authority." A. VIATOR. ; '"" Hillman's Airways, Ltd. An announcement has now been made to the effect that a new company, known as Hillman's Airways, Ltd., has been formed with a capital of £150,000 to acquire Mr. Edward Hill- man's air line business. Air Mails Across South Atlantic The first commercial success of the Bleriot flying boat Santos-Dumont was achieved when, recently, this machine made the flight from France to Natal with the mails of Air France. Theflight from Dakar in Africa to Natal in South America was made in 16J hours, non-stop. Leaving Dakar at 4 a.m., theSantos-Dumont crossed the equator at 4.10 p.m., and reached Natal at a quarter past eight the same, evening. M. LucienBossoutrot was the chief pilot on this flight. Another Jersey Venture After January 1, Jersey Airways are to operate a twice- weekly service—on Tuesdays and Thursdays—between St. Helier and Rennes, north-west France, which is an important railway junction. It appears likely that this service will be useful to the general passenger who may be travelling to any part of France. Certainly the summer service to Paris did not suggest any great potentiality; an average of 1 £ passengers per trip were carried as against five on the normal services from Eng- land. The experiment will at least be an interesting one. Some idea of the public attitude towards useful air travel is given by the fact that, as stated in the Heston notes, Jersey Airways have already made 230 bookings for the period between December 22 and 28. • I '
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