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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 2168.PDF
84 FLIGHT. JULY 28, 1938. COMMERCIAL AVIATION (CONTINUED) : WORLD NEWS llford Beginnings Dawn Records ON Tuesday the newly formed Southern Airways, a subsidi ary of the Straight Corporation, started a regular daily service between Ilford, using the new aerodrome there which is part of the projected London City Airport on Fairlop Plain, and Ramsgate. Two services will be run in each direction daily. The Straight Corporation has obtained the very useful exclu sive rights to operate from the Ilford aerodrome, which is nearer than any other to the centre of London, and additions to the present service are expected to be in operation next year. As a matter of interest, the name of Bury St. Edmunds Airport, Ltd., was recently changed to Southern Airways, Ltd. There is, apparently no particular significance in the change. Incidentally, too, the Romford Flying Club have the instruc tional rights at Fairlop. On the following day—that is, yesterday—Western Airways, another subsidiary of the Straight concern, started a twice- • daily return service between Cardiff and Swansea, as an ex tension to the present Weston-Cardiff ferry service. The Jersey Marine aerodrome, which serves, in addition, Neath, Briton Ferry and Port Talbot, is the Swansea terminal. This landing ground is the property of the Earl of Jersey, and has been leased to the Straight Corporation. Air France's Cadman AIR FRANCE has been subjected to a searching enquiry somewhat similar to the Cadman Committee's investiga tion in this country. It is reported from Paris that the Commission appointed last May by the French Air Ministry, to examine the present position of Air France and investigate conditions under which the various routes of the company are being operated, has completed its task. The Commission's report is now in M. Guy La Chambre, the Air Minister's, hands and he is about to give close study to its findings. On the whole, Air France has emerged from the ordeal, if not unscathed, at least unshaken. The net running costs per kilometre flown are criticised as being high, and attention is drawn to a number of late departures on schedule journeys. But the main criticism is directed against the insufficiency of seating accommodation in many of the machines, which has resulted in substantial losses through business being turned away—a fact which reflects less on the company, which is sell ing all the seats it has available than on the factories, which are so preoccupied with military orders that they cannot turn out suitable machines fast enough. This state of affairs is particularly noticeable on the London- Paris line, where seats have been fully booked ever since the new Marcel Blochs were introduced,, and duplicated services have had to be put on in many cases. The Commission's report recommends a speeding up in the production of com mercial types. This Year's Atlantic FOLLOWING Mercury's record-breaking flight last week (described on pp. 79-80) an extensive programme involv ing, in all, fifteen experimental flights across the Atlantic will be made during the rest of the summer by three different types. Mercury will be making two more out-and-home trips; the Short Cabot, one of the newT high-payload Empire boats, will be making two return trips; and yet another two will be made by the first Albatross. Afterwards, the second Alba tross will make a further one-way crossing and will remain on the other side of the Atlantic in order that survey flights may be carried out during the winter months. The actual dates of the crossings will naturally be determined by weather and other conditions, but Mercury's next two cross ings will be made respectively towards the end of next month and the end of October; the first Albatross crossing will be made in the middle of September and the second early in October; while Cabot's flights will also be made in September and October. After each outward crossing Mercury will fly back, so to speak, under her own steam, via the Azores and Lisbon. The first of the Albatross will take off from Collinstown aerodrome, Dublin, and will fly to Hattie's Camp and Montreal, returning by the same route. Cabot's crossings, will, of course, be made to Montreal and New York, via Foynes and Botwood, return ing by the same route. The crews for all the flights will be provided by Imperial Airways, and the programme will be carried out jointly by Imperials and the Air Ministry. NATURALLY enough, the recent visit of their Majesties to France meant a tremendous increase in the number of daily papers flown across to Paris. Wrightways have been carrying more than two and a half tons of papers every morn ing and made more than one special landing elsewhere in order to deliver the King's own newspapers. Since the beginning of 1936, Wrightways' dawn service to Paris, now operated generally with D.H. 86Bs, has only been cancelled owing to weather on ten occasions. It was last week that Mr. J. W. Duggan, who has been flying for Wrightways and previously for Wrightson and Pearse, since May, 1934, made his 1,000th return flight on the service. All-up to Australia FOLLOWING the initial semi-experimental through flight with an Empire Boat to Sydney, the all-up air mail scheme for the section between Singapore and Australia came into action on July 23, and the first service leaves Southampton to-day. From now on all letters and letter packets addressed to Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Papua and those islands which are normally served by boat from Australia, will be taken the whole distance for ifd. for each half ounce. The previous air-mail rate for these destinations was is. 3d. per half ounce. As far as the return mail is concerned that from New Zealand and New Guinea will be charged at the standard all-up mail rate, while that from Australia will be charged at 5d. per half ounce. There will be three services a week from this country to Australia. D.D.L's First Condor ON July 14 Det Danske Luftfartselskab, the Danish airline operating company, took delivery of its first Focke-Wulf Condor. It was flown from Bremen to Copenhagen in an hour and ten minutes—giving an average speed of about 210 m.p.h. This F.W.200, which has been named Dania, will, as fore cast in our issue of June 30, be put on the Copenhagen-Ham burg-London route, on which she will make her maiden flight to-day. As a temporary arrangement, and until another Condor is delivered at the end of September, the machine will be used on this as well as on the Copenhagen-Berlin run. The Condor was originally described in Flight of December 23, 1937, and some impressions of the machine from the passengers' point of view were given in the issue of June 30, this year. Another big German commercial machine, the Junkers Ju.90, it may be remembered, recently established height with load records, reaching in one case an altitude of 23,750ft. with 22,046 lb., by way of extended factory tests. It is not generally known that this machine is fitted with a built-in hot-air de-icing system of a type with which D.L.H. have been experimenting for some considerable time. Consolidated's 100-passenger Project A NUMBER of interesting and unusual features appear in the design which Consolidated Aircraft have put for ward following Pan-American Airways' request for tenders for 100-passenger flying boats. It may be remembered that the essential requirements for this machine involve a payload of 25,000 lb., a range of 5,000 miles, and the use of a pressure cabin. The Consolidated project depends on the development of engines giving more than 2,000 h.p. so that the required num ber of power units can be reduced from six to four, and thus leave space in the wing for additional passenger accommoda tion. The engines which are envisaged will be of the liquid- cooled type, and will be located between the spars and drive the airscrews by means of extension shafts. The difficulty of arranging reasonably unrestricted passenger accommodation in the wing was overcome by placing the main bulkheads at the sides of each compartment and using auxiliary arched ribs between them, these being designed so that they do not reduce the effective head room in the compartments. Altogether, thirty-six of the hundred passengers will be accommodated in the wing. According to the preliminary specifications, the Consolidated boat will have a gross weight of 168,000 lb., a span of 194ft, a maximum speed at 20,000ft. of 276 m.p.h., and a range at this operating altitude of 5,000 miles in still air. The stalling speed at sea level with half the fuel load, with the flaps down and with power on—interesting and significant qualifications- is given as 78 m.p h.
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