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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 2383.PDF
AUGUST 25, 1938. FLIGHT. 165- COMMERCIAL AVIATION (CONTINUED) : WORLD NEWS Airline Licensing THE 1938 Air Navigation (Licensing of Public Transport) Order has been published. An article dealing with this Order and explaining the various points in simple language appeared in Flight of July 14. The Ensign is Ready THE first Armstrong-Whitworth Ensign for Imperial Airways has now completed both its manufacturer's and the Air Ministry trials and may, by the time this appears in print, be actually flying on its first regular service. Apparently, and despite rumours to the contrary, the payload is in excess of that originally laid down and the top speed is certainly greater than that specified in the contract. Freight Only? ACCORDING to reports K.L.M. will be starting a freight-only service between Amsterdam and London early in October. For a start one return service will be operated every day and Douglas D.C.2S will be used. Presumably this is by way of being a reply to the operations of International Air Freight. Incidentally, all the Cyclone G. engines in the K.L.M. fleet of D.C.3S are to be fitted with Chandler-Groves carburetters, which are not only immune from ice-formation troubles, but also have an automatic mixture control. "Mercury's" Next IN last week's issue we explained that the previously planned flight across the Atlantic by Mercury had been given up and that another flight, possibly to an Empire destination, would be made with this machine. It seems now that this flight will be in the nature of a non stop '' record '' attempt, in which Mercury will leave Maiu at its maximum all-up weight, carrying fuel only and no payload. In this condition the machine should have a still-air range of more than 4,000 miles, which brings a non-stop flight, for instance, to India within the range of normal possi bilities. As a separate and self-contained flying machine, Mercury's maximum all-up weight is only 14,000 lb., but when taken off with Maia it is regularly loaded up to a total of 20,800 lb.—a figure which gives a disposable load of 10,800 lb. Such a flight as that suggested would have very definite propaganda value apart from its use as a test for long-range work in general, whether by civil or military machines. In the meantime two more pilots have been selected for service with Imperial Airways' Atlantic division. Their names are Capt. E. R, B. White and Capt. A. C. P. Johnstone, and they are likely to be flying the two new Albatross machines to Montreal and New York later this year. Both of them, of course, hold First Class Navigators' licences, Fire in the Air BY its very nature and catastrophic results it has always been practically impossible to prove that any particular aeroplane accident was caused by fire which had actually broken out in the air. At last, however, an unfortunate case of this kind appears to have been proved in America—with, it is to be hoped, useful lessons to be learnt. On May 24 this year a United Airlines Douglas D.C.3 crashed" and caught fire in a forced landing near Cleveland, Ohio. According to the very complete evidence which has been gathered together by the shortly-to-be-defunct Bureau of Air Commerce, a cylinder barrel of the starboard engine failed and a connecting rod subsequently lifted the cylinder and head, causing a minor fire inside the cowling. Apart from the normal results of engine failure, this fire would not have been serious were it not lor the fact that flames passed through the holes (necessary for the passage of the oil lines, ignition leads, and so forth) in the rear bulkhead. These flames caused an oil line to be burned through, and the resulting continuous oil fire was intensified by the air blowing through the openings. As a result the pilot found it necessary to make an immediate forced landing, but even this might not have been serious had it not been for the fact that the left wing touched a tree during the approach. Both .the Department of Commerce and the operator con cerned have taken steps to develop a bulkhead, for use between the power and accessory sections in the engine nacelle, which will prevent in future such a fire from spreading. In the meantime one can give due praise yet again to the very thorough way in which evidence concerning American trans port accidents is collected and published in the greatest pos sible detail. Our own reports are meagre by comparison. In New Zealand B Y now Union Airways of New Zealand should have taken delivery of the first of their two new Lockheed Electras, which will be put on the Auckland-Wellington run. Up to July 15 this year the company had carried 9,141 passengers on the trunk service and had piled up a passenger-mile total of more than two million. Some time next year the Mount Cook Tourist Company will be starting a service, as suggested in the issue of Flight of May 12, between Christchurch and the Hermitage, using, in all probability, a Percival Q.6 for the work. Double Master TSJOVV tnat flying-boats are used extensively on Imperial •L^l Airways' services it may be expected that quite a few Double Master Pilots' certificates will now be awarded. In the meantime it is a very unusual award. The latest recipient is Capt. R. H. Mcintosh, who is one of our pioneer transport pilots. In the early days he was flying for Handley Page Transport, more recently with British Air ways, and now he is flying for Airwork with the fleet of machines used for Service navigation instruction. Transport Record USING the same Lockheed 14 in which he recently flew round the world, Mr. Howard Hughes, with three companions, flew on August 20 from Glendale, California, to New York in a flying time of 10 hr. 32 min. 20 sec. The distance between these two points is 2,378 miles, which gives the Lockheed an average speed of 237 m.p.h. on the trip, and the flight is alluded to as the fastest yet done by a commercial machine. Over most of the distance the Lockheed was flown at a fairly high altitude by way of testing a new type of oxygen mask. It may be remembered that Mr. Hughes already holds the absolute record for transcontinental flight; in January last year he flew over the same route in a total time of 7 hr. 28 min. D/F for Shoreham. THE short-range radio station which for some time has been planned for Shoreham Airport is now finally in action and a local control zone has been instituted which, as usual, consists of an air space up to 2,000ft. and within a circular area having a radius of 5 miles. The W/T call sign is GFH and the frequencies are 327 kc/s (917 metres) and 353 kc/s (850 metres) on request from ground to air; and 327 kc/s (917 metres) from air to ground. The station is at present actually on the dividing line between the Heston and Portsmouth communication areas. At the same time the teleprinter equipment is being brought into use. Before next winter Shoreham should also have complete night- lighting equipment. THROUGH FROM AUSTRALIA : A reproduction of one of the many special covers which were sent out by Qantas Empire Airways on the first Australia-England mail service under the new all-up scheme. Since Rose Bay is now the terminal base for the Australia service, the Qantas head office has been transferred from Brisbane to Sydnev.
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