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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 0209.PDF
JANUARY 24, 1935. FLIGHT. AN HOURLY PARIS SERVICE? in Commercial Aviation A High-speed Service may be Operated this Year between Paris and Gatwick. The Douglas Demonstrated •:-.-;r.iotf-v,-: :••:*''• \ FOR some time it has been known that Mr. Morris Jackaman, of Airports, Ltd., was interesting himself in the possi bilities of a high-speed hourly service from Gatwick to Paris, and last Satur day a Douglas D.C.2 was flown over to Gravesend for demonstration by Mr. K. D. Parmentier, with Mr, Fokker him self as a passenger. There are possibilities that the South- era Railway will build an additional station at Gatwick, which is already on the London-Brighton electric service. Tentative plans suggest that the actual operating company, London and Conti nental Air Lines, which is at present being formed, may acquire four Douglas machines fitted with British engines, and that the new service may start in June. Gatwick, of course, is well outside the London fog area. After clearing Customs the Douglas was flown over to Gatwick and thence on a trial flight to Brighton and back with a distinguished passenger list, including representatives of the Southern Rail way and of the G.P.O. Brighton was reached in eight minutes ! The Douglas at Gravesend. Below the machine can be seen Mr. Anthony Fokker, Mr. H. Gooding (the Gravesend manager), Mr. Parmentier and Mr. Prins. After lunch the machine returned to Gravesend and Amsterdam. The object of the demonstration was to decide whether this machine should be used on the projected service. The Douglas D.C.Zs for K.L.M. The K.L.M. expect to take delivery of their first Douglas next month and the fleet should be with them before the end of April. If the deliveries are made to time the dupli cated Batavia services will start at the beginning of May; otherwise there will be two weekly services in action before September. The Douglas will reduce the scheduled time of the trip to five or six days. The Congo Mail Service On Saturday, February 23, the Sabena service to the Belgian Congo will be opened, making a fortnightly trip in each direc tion and carrying only freight and mails. Before the end of the year larger and faster machines, to carry passengers, will be put into service. The connection from London is by the 12.45 P-m. machine to Brussels on the days prior to depar ture. The return journey will be made on alternate Wednes days, starting from Leopoldville on March 6. Each trip occu pies roughly four days and stops are made at Marseilles, Oran, Reggan, Gao, Niamey, Zinder, Fort Lamy, Bangui and Coquilhatville. Air Mail Increase The Postmaster-General announces that the weight of letters sent by air from ihis country during 1934 was the largest ever recorded and amounted to about 122 tons, as compared with 85 tons in 1933—an increase of 43 per cent. The follow -,n g is a detailed comparison between the letter air mail traffic for the Em years 1933 and 1934 : pue air services Other extra European air services European services . Total 1933-lb. 98,100 27,500 64,500 190,100 1934 lb. Increase. 143.700 46 per cent. 30,200 98,400 272,300 10 percent. 53 percent. 43 per cent. is estimated that nearly 6,000,000 letters were despatched .air from this country during 1934 as compared with about des 00'09° ™ the previous year. The total weight of air parcels tons during 1934 was 74 tons, as compared with 67 For Feeder Services In Flight of December 20 it was mentioned that, in the light of experience gained with the " Scion," Short Bros, were constructing the " Scion Senior," a high-wing cantilever mono plane with four Pobjoy "Niagara" radials of 90 h.p. each. More details are now available. If desired, two engines of 1&0-200 h.p. each may be fitted in place of the four smaller power plants, and the machine can be fitted with floats. Up to ten passengers will be accommodated, excluding the crew, making the aircraft an attractive proposition for " short haul " work and feeder line services. The span is 55ft., the wing area 400 sq. ft., and the wing loading 14.1 lb./sq. ft. A reasonably good ratio of gross to tare weight is promised, the weight empty being 3,291 lb. and the weight loaded 5,640 lb. The maximum speed will be 138 m.p.h., and the machine should cruise comfortably at 120 m.p.h. A landing speed of 55 m.p.h. is promised. South African Affairs Since the reorganisation of South Africa's airways there have been, at one time or another, a number of mis-statements reaching England concerning the actual position both before and after the Government took over the operation. For some time before the end of January, 1934, Union Air ways (Pty), Ltd., was in desperate financial straits and had been unable to carry or to procure a sufficient stock of spares. When, therefore, the Government took over, the lack of such material, which could only be obtained from Europe, made tht maintenance of services more than difficult, and the fact that they were kept in operation at all reflects the greatest measure of credit on those responsible officials. It was in July, under the original staff, that what South African papers alluded to as a "series of forced landings"— actually there were only two in operations involving a weekly mileage of 3,000-4.000—occurred. It was after these mishaps that the S.A.A.F. ground engineers were introduced. That there was serious unrest and deterioration of morale among the staff is not questioned, but this was due rather to dis appointed hopes among the senior ranks after the company had been taken over by the Government. Considering that Union Airwavs were in such dire straits, the Government move must have been, in fact, a godsend to tie staff.
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