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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 1577.PDF
JUNE 17, 1937. FLIGHT. 599 All-Air Mail from Holland K.L.M. are now carrying all letters,from Holland to the West Indies, the first- lead leaving ;Schipol airport on June 5 in a Douglas D.C.3. The Prime Minister of Holland, Dr. Colijn, was present to witness the inauguration of the " all-mail-by-air " service. Three to Australia FOLLOWING the completion of a general agreement between the British and Australian Governments it has been decided, as expected, that early next year there will be three weekly services from England to Australia. Flying-boat bases have been selected at Groote Island and Karumba, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, and both Darwin and Townsville will be night stopping places, though whether boats will, in fact, be used between Darwin and the still unnamed terminus remains to be seen. Singapore's Airport ON June 12 Singapore's new civil airport was officially opened, when Sir Shenton Thomas, Governor of the Straits Settlements, fired a signal rocket. He had come over by Imperial Airways from Seletar with an escort of twenty- seven Service machines. Seletar had previously been used by the air services. In addition, three Martin bombers came over from Ban doeng, three Fokker seaplanes from Sourabaya, and a K.L.M. Douglas D.C.3 from Amsterdam on the first all-mail-by-air run. There were the usual displays and joy-riding arrange ments. Display Restrictions DURING the period preceding the R.A.F. Display pilots of civil machines are asked to exercise special care—and, when possible, to fly about 3,000ft.—within an area bounded by lines joining Hyde Park, North Weald, Duxford, Feltwell, Peterborough, Leicester, Upper Heyford, Harwell, Northolt and Hyde Park. On June 24, 25 and 26 a large formation flight will be made from Northampton to London, and on those days other pilots are asked, in addition, to avoid flying below 5,000ft. within an area extending five miles on either side of a line joining Northampton and London. Atlantic Preliminaries ON Saturday Cavalier made the first official passenger flight between Bermuda (Darrell's Island) and New York (Port Washington), while the Sikorsky S.42B., Bermuda Clipper, carried out a similar run in the other direction. Passenger bookings can now be taken and the first regular service should have been carried out yesterday. There will be two return trips every week, the two boats taking it in turn to operate the service. Meanwhile, it has now been definitely announced that the first Ireland-Newfoundland flight will be made on June 24. The machine, whether Caledonia or Cambria, will put down first at Botwood, Newfoundland, and will then carry on to Montreal, where a landing will be made on the St. Lawrence. Special radio stations, in addition to those in Ireland and New foundland have been established at Montreal, Rimouski and Shediac. ... , The final steps in the formation of the Air France-Trans- atlantique Company, which is to operate the French North Atlantic services were taken on May 27, when a decree was signed by the President of the Republic approving the contract entered into between the Air Ministry, Air France and the Compagnie General Transatlantique. Clauses in the contract include statements that the capital will be 4,000,000 francs; that Atlantic surveys and test trips will be made at the expense of the French Government, Air France-Transatlantique receiving a fixed sum to cover the costs ; that the French Government will give the company the right to use any new types likely to be useful, and that both Air France and Air France-Transatlantique agree to convey on demand to the Government a sufficient portion of the shares to enable them to hold 55 per cent, of the capital stock. The last clause has been inserted with a view to the possible form ation of an international company to operate the North Atlantic air services. M. Louis Allegre, the managing director of Air France will be the president, and Mr. Louis Couhe, who recently resigned his position of Director of Civil Aviation, will be the managing director. Commercial Aviation Japan-Formosa J APAN AIR TRANSPORT has taken delivery of two Douglas D.F. flying boats (two Cyclone Gs). They are intended, apparently, for the Japan-Formosa run. More Landplanes for the South Atlantic '"THE very unfortunate accident to the LeO 47, the flying •»- boat prototype which was about to be handed over to Air France, will not hold up work on the completion of the series of five which Air France have ordered. The accident was not due to any structural or other material defect, and the work will go on, but it will be a year before the first will be ready. The gap thus created in the transatlantic fleet stationed at Dakar will have to be filled, and once again landplanes will be called in. The Air Ministry will place at Air France's dis posal two more Farman 221s taken out of establishment, where they are used as bombers, and adapted for mail carrying with four Hispano 12 Xrs engines similar to those used with such remarkable success on the other South Atlantic four-engined Farmans. Air France are now nearing their 200th organised mail-carrying transatlantic crossing, and of that number nearly fifty per cent, have been made by land machines. Travelling Exhibition STARTING with a three-day stay at Victoria Station, Lon don, an Imperial Airways' exhibition train will shortly be making a tour of the southern counties. The train will consist of two special coaches, and it is hoped that the exhibition will be opened with due ceremony on July 13. Thereafter, according to the preliminary arrangements, the train will be taken to Eastbourne (July 16), Brighton (July 20), Portsmouth (July 23), Bournemouth (July 27), and other centres, the names and arrival dates for which will be given later. At each town, where the coaches will be conveniently placed at or near the station, the first day of the exhibition will be devoted to invitation inspection by the local business firms. On the following two or more days it will be open to the public at a very small charge between 10.30 a.m. and 8.30 p.m.; two members of Imperial Airways' staff will be in attendance for operation and explanation. Among other features the exhibits will include a number of sectioned models of historical and modern transport aero planes ; a model of the Langstone Harbour land- and seaplane base; working models of radio equipment; plan and profile maps of Imperial routes; a series of photographs; air mail and air freight displays; and a diagrammatic representation of the progress of Imperial Airways from.1924 to 1937. Such an exhibition should do a great deal to interest and educate the general public, members of which are surprisingly ignorant, particularly of modern means of radio navigation, and of the sort of accommodation which is provided in to-day's transport aeroplane. Spe/ce Goes Onward LORD DERBY, when he opened the new hangar and control tower at the Liverpool airport, Speke, last Friday evening, could have taken "Good-bye to all that" as his theme when lie referred to the adapted farmhouse which has hitherto housed the control organisation. The theme of his speech, and that of the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, was that Speke was now one of the finest airports in Great Britain, and should be, in course of time, one of the best in Europe. Every modern development of airport con trol has been put into the seven-storey ninety-foot tower, while the hangar is claimed to be the largest of its kind in Europe, being 407ft. long, 212ft. wide, and 65ft. high to the ridge of the roof. Future development will, of course, be considerable, and the control tower will be the dominant feature of the main station building which is to be constructed around it; the contract for this has been placed and amounts to £79,000, in addition to the £154,000 already spent in constructional work and layout at Speke. Buildings associated with the new hangar include administrative offices, garage and workshops, and office accommodation for airline companies and agents. On declaring- the hangar open, Lord Derby pressed the switch which operated the 50-ton doors, and a civic party went up in a West Coast Airways machine, what time Geoffrey Clapham, instructor to the Liverpool Aero Club, did some aerobatics, and Lancashire Auxiliary Force some formation flying in the brilliant sunshine.
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