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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 0314.PDF
I3b FLIGHT. FEBRUARY 6, 1936 more useful privilege than membership of the Council would be. It would be a waste of his valuable time to have to attend discussions on Air Force questions. Like wise the four Air Members have no desire to waste their time in discussing the problems of civil flying. Practic ally the two departments of the Air Ministry work quite separately, but it was certainly illogical to leave the Air Council in even nominal charge of civil flying. Per haps on some future date a cross-grained Air Vice- Marshal might have felt his fingers itching to interfere with matters which were rightly no concern of his. That danger, however unlikely it may have been, has now been removed, and the Secretary of State, working- through the Director-General, will now be solely respon sible for civil flying. A Check from Australia While things are going on in a satisfactory way in Britain, it is somewhat of a cold douche to hear that the Government of Australia has rejected the Home Government's proposals for a through service by flying boat to Sydney, combined with the compulsory carriage of all first-class mail matter by air at an Empire flat rate of three-halfpance for a half-ounce letter. It seems that the Australian Post Office supported the proposals of the Home Government, while the Defence Depart ment opposed it, and carried the day. In Australia all flying, both Air Force and civil, is under the control of the Defence Department. At the time when the scheme was made public we commented that, while the flying boats would have to follow the coast from Darwin to Sydney, it was not con ceivable that the inland services of the old Qantas throughout Northern Queensland should be allowed to drop. They have proved very valuable to the grazing districts served, and, once a farming community, other wise very isolated, has come to depend on air services, it would be the height of cruelty to deprive it of that link with the centres of civilisation. In South Africa the new route of Imperial Airways will also lie alon» the coast down to Durban, but the Union Government is willingly taking the internal services under its wing Australia declines to follow the same course. The Preference of Qantas The local company, Qantas Empire Airways, has more than hinted at its preference for flying boats as vehicles for crossing all the water which lies between Darwin and Singapore, although it has been quite satis fied with the work of the D.H.86's now in use. One would have imagined that the Government would have been only too pleased to see a flying-boat route established by a civil company round the Australian coasts. If Australia ever had to defend herself against a foreign attack, those bases would be very useful; and practical experience of flying-boat work on a somewhat different scale than that of the new but small Seagull amphibian; and the two ancient wooden Southamptons which the R.A.A.F. possesses ought to be welcome. The main reason for the Australian Defence Department's objec tion seems to be that it wants to keep in its own hand all responsibility for the section of route up to Singapore. At present the contract for this has been granted to the Australian company, Qantas Empire Airways, and there seems no reason why that arrangement should not be continued in the new scheme, though the inland route would have to be treated differently from the coast route to Sydney. If it is really the case that Australia suggest- that flying-boats should only work from Britain as far as Singapore, and that landplanes should then be used for crossing the East Indies and the Timor Sea, the idea is not likely to find favour with many passengers. It all seems mysterious, and we must await more definite information. A SOCIAL INAUGURATION : On the opening day of the Airports Conference and Exhibition some 200 delegates were welcomed to London at an informal luncheon at Grosvenor House. At the top table, standing, is Councillor Ashley Hall, Chairman of the Conference, and on his right is Sir Robert McLean, Chairman of the S.B.A.C.
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