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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 0779.PDF
APRIL 4, 1935- FLIGHT. 373 OMMERCIAL /AVIATION AIRLINES AIRPORTS- S A B.E.N A.'s LATEST : The Savoia-Marchetti S.73 being demonstrated near Croydon. At the time when this picture was taken by a Flight photographer the machine was carrying most of this country's aviation correspondents ! CROYDON A Sea Fog Only : The Grand National Charters : A Prime Minister's " Faux Pas" ; Seeing the World : Spring Services ACCORDING to the newspapers, thick fog in the Channel A and Southampton Water brought shipping to a stand- i\ still on one day last week. Dozens of ships of all shapes and sizes, from Channel steamers and fishing smacks to troopships from India, and Transatlantic liners, were involved in the sea traffic chaos. Commercial aviation was completely unaffected, and all Con tinental services ran to schedule, including sundry "after dark" arrivals at Croydon and the German night mail on Wednesday night. Communication with the Isle of Wight was kept open by the services of Spartan Air Lines, Ltd. Shipping magnates must often wrinkle anxious brows and ask themselves " What ol the future? " on such occasions. Amongst those present at the demonstration of the Savoia- Marchetti last Thursday were Signor Grandi, the Italian Am bassador, and Baron de Cartier de Marchienne, the Belgian Ambassador. Sir John Salmond, Mr. Woods Humphery, and Mr. F. G. L. Bertram, of the Air Ministry, also attended, and all, I believe, flew in the machine. The Grand National brought the usual crowd in bowler hats and race glasses, and many of the older gentlemen were dressed to resemble old-time cab drivers in gala clothes. Two fully- loaded " Scyllas" went to the National piloted by Capts. Horsey and Perry, as well as two D.H. 86 machines. The routine Croydon-Speke Railway Air Services machine carried Lord and" Ladv Londonderry and Lady Margaret Stewart. Ollev Air Service, British Air Transport, Commercial Ail Hire, Wrightways, and, I believe, Air Taxis also sent aeroplanes to Speke. A couple of privately owned French Potez monoplanes arrivel at Croydon and cleared Customs before proceeding to Liverpool. 't appeared quite natural for Sir John Simon and Mr. Anthony Eden to take special machines from Imperial Airways tor their Paris and Berlin flights, considering the importance of the occasion. Somebody, however, questioned the Prime Minister in the House of Commons as to whether the lowest tender from several aircraft operating firms was sought and accepted. Mr. Ramsav MacDonald avoided the frying pan, but dropped gently into the fire when he replied that no unneces sary expense was involved and that there was no regular service to Berlin on Sundays. Perhaps the cream of the jest is that this reply apparently satisfied his questioner. All through the winter K.L.M. and D.L.H. have run regular Sun day London-Berlin services! It seems a little hard on these firms for the Prime Minister to announce in the House of Commons that their very convenient services do not exist at all. One nice sunny morning recently I saw two "Scyllas," one " Heracles," one " Argosy," one Bolton and Paul, two D.H. 86s, and one Westland "Wessex," ail sunning them selves on the tarmac before a perfectly empty Imperial Air ways hangar. Perhaps spring cleaning was in progress. Two "naval commanders on leave decided they really ought to see something of the wide world, so they went to Capt. Olley about it. Between March 16 and 28 he showed them quite a lot. Leaving Croydon, they flew via Paris to Car- casonne, Barcelona, Alicante, Oran, Sidi Ben Abbas, Fez, Casablanca, Tangiers, Seville, Madrid, and Bordeaux, as well as making flights ovei the Atlas Mountains and into the depths of the Sahara. Monday, April i.saw the inauguration ol spring time-tables. One new service was the Imperial London to Budapest, oper ated with "Diana" class machines. The first was flown by Capt. Percy, who created mild alarm and despondency by arriving at the Airport in a white cap cover exactly one month too early. Did someone remembet that Monday was the first of April ? Anyway, the machine was held up by weathei at Cologne. At ttie same time—8.0 a.m.—the K.L.M. London-Prague service also came into force, and the Czechoslovakian Ambas- sadoi in London took the opportunity to travel therein to Prague. From Karachi comes a true tale of an American Imperial Airways passenger who bought an elephant during the break fast halt at Karachi. Waiters in those parts will soon grow accustomed to an order such as "Some more coffee, please, ancj—er—bring a couple of tigers, will you? " A. VIATOR.
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