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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 0177.PDF
JANUARY 20, 1938. FLIGHT. COMMERCIAL AVIATION THE FASTEST TRANSPORT : A revealing view of the Savoia Marchetti S.83 as ordered by Sabena and by transport concerns inItaly and Rumania. Powered with three Pegasus-type Alias, the top speed, with a disposable load of 7,700 lb., is 263 m.p.h., making it the fastest standard transport in the world. The type is derived from the S.79 which holds a number of records for speed with load. THE WEEK AT CROYDON : ; . Political Backsliders : Falling Bodies : Imaginary Improvements : Inevitable Agreement : ..... ,,:..., Monopolistic : Another Hazard ,. = . ..o M1•R. ANTHONY EDEN might just as well havecrossed from Paris by air during Saturday's gale,for it is always safer and better to deal with the vagaries of one element at a time. The rumour that, when he cancelled, somebody presented him with an ancestral but bladeless bayonet is not confirmed, but, anyway, from what I hear of the tribulations of Channel shipping on Saturday, a collapsible lifeboat and a couple of spare lifebelts would have been a more seasonable gift. Most air services operated as usual that day, whereas Mr. Eden's vessel, after emulating a bucking broncho all the way across, crashed into Folkestone pier, straining its plates and denting its bows. It then cannoned off the jetty and narrowly missed crashing into another ship. It all seems so time-wasting and primitive in comparison with a good aeroplane. • Then there was Mr. de Valera, who might have added lustre to his name by flying over from Dublin on Satur- day with the Irish Sea Airways machine which ran before the wind and beat all previous records for the trip, with a flying time of 86 minutes, as against a previous best effort of 97 minutes. Maybe these politicians prefer the enthu- siasm at Euston, the vociferations at Victoria, the pande- monium at Paddington, or even the loud laughter at Liver- pool Street, to the matter-of-fact way in which they are received at Croydon. Certainly anyone who deliberately chooses the horrors of a sea crossing deserves the plaudits of a railway station mob. Air Devastation Board So far as one can see, it is difficult on Saturday morn- ings for the men working around here on the scaffolding to get back from their leisurely elevenses in time to knock off work for the day. Perhaps or perhaps not—without having what is called cast-iron proof I don't want to la ' any blame unjustly—some such haste may have been con- nected with the fact that some time afterwards certain enormous and heavy planks descended one by one, shaking the very earth as they did so, on the spot where Imperial Airways coaches often pick up passengers. Nobody's brains were dashed out, as it happens, so why worry ? Swissair are experiencing bumper traffic on the Zurich route at a time when other services are not doing so well as might be expected.' I hear they are fully booked up for ten days ahead and contemplate duplicating services, and, moreover, the mails carried outwards from here on that line weigh well over 1,000 lb. a day. Incidentally, it was the Swiss company which brought in Dr. Mengel- berg, the famous Dutch musician, who will appear at the B.B.C. symphony concerts. He was met by members of the B.B.C.—looking extremely B.N.C., I thought. With pathetic optimism some news agency has sent a cameraman down here to obtain first pictures of the alleged improvements to the place. These, according to the poor bloke himself, are said to consist of a tunnel under Purley Way to contain a (presumably) bomb-proof barber's shop. This tunnel may be driven at any moment, apparently, and there is another sudden scheme, which is to deflect Purley Way itself so that it will face in another direction, doubtless to complete the confusion of the airport road traffic. The cameraman believes these things will happen when he is not looking, if he is not devilish alert, and, in consequence, he follows anyone with a spade or mattock. Works and Bricks report that they are " fair wore out along of being followed about and having their pictures took," and there the matter rests at present. So rest also certain odd jobs about the place, such as the torn and mangled iron railings near the entrance gates, and sundry holes in the roof of the main hall. Playing Trains Railway Air Services, together with certain subsidiar ' or affiliated companies, had a jolly day last week when thev met to decide time-tables, the distribution of traffic, inter- availability of tickets, and so forth, on their own network of air lines. Though the affiliated companies are said to retain independence, I visualise the meeting as rather like a free and independent parliament in a dictator-obsessed (I did not say oppressed) country. No doubt the chair- man was an impressive figure in his top hat made from a railway engine chimney, with fumes coming out of th<: lidkss top. The "ayes" would undoubtedly have it. unless the answer required was in the negative. Sunday- newspapers seemed to have the idea that the whole future of internal flying was settled at this meeting, and one broadsheet spoke of the joy the Maybury Committee would feel about the whole show, especially the "elimination of
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