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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 0069.PDF
JANUARY 12, 1939 FLIGHT. 33 PRESENT FLYING BOAT BASE In these maps the position of the two new airports on each side of the Atlantic, at Rynanna on the Shannon and Hattie's Camp in Newfound land, are shown in relation to the respective flying boat bases at Foynes and Botwood. It is likely that the Shannon base will be transferred in due course to Dernish Island and the boats may eventually use Gander Lake near the Hattie's Camp site. plained, there are two different take-off assistance schemes which have been moving along more or less concurrently. The composite aircraft principle has proved itself in its present form, and further experiments will probably await the construction of the new version. The second method of dealing with the overload take-off difficulty is to re fuel in the air, and this method will be used more or less exclusively during the 1939 mail-carrying flights. Although extensive air-refuelling experiments have been proceeding during the past eighteen months or more, it has, until comparatively recently, been generally considered that these experiments were being made largely in the interest of military expediency. In theory, the refuelling principle had obvious commercial applications, but it has usually been considered that the business involved too great a degree of skill for everyday operations. In fact, the system developed by Flight Refuelling, Sir Alan Cobham's concern, appears now to have reached the stage when it can reasonably be applied to long-distance transport work, and its great feature is that the need for skill is only apparent where the crew of the tanker is con cerned. The majority of the previous refuelling develop ments have necessitated an equal amount of skill and long practice for the crew on each of the machines. In this case the pilot of-the tanker does all the essential man oeuvring, and its occupants are the only persons who need to know very much about what is going on. Tanker Fleet At the present stage it is not permissible to describe this refuelling system in detail, but it is sufficient to know that the necessary contact can nowadays be made in the matter of a minute or so, and that, apart from any gross errors in piloting or team work, no danger is involved. When I visited the Shannon airport site in September, part of the main 1,800-yd. runway had been grassed, but was certainly not ready for use by heavily loaded machines, and the authorities there gave July, 1939, as the time at which the long runway would be fit for use. It appears that 1,200 yards of this runway will, if all goes well, be ready in May, and the use of landplanes as refuelling units becomes a reasonable matter. Otherwise, the tankers would have to fly to Foynes from Collinstown, Dublin, before the transatlantic boat could be fuelled. Now that the Shannon airport can be used, Handley Page Harrows will act as tankers, and two of them will be shipped over to Botwood, leaving one in Eire. By May it is expected that experimental long-distance flights of a more or less local nature will be made with the new boats for the purpose of testing the consumption of the Perseus sleeve-valve engines with which they are fitted and of giving the crews the necessary experience. As soon as possible after the end of the month the first crossing will be undertaken, one of the boats flying from Southamp ton to Foynes, where it will be fuelled in the air before leaving for Botwood, and thence for Montreal and New York. Doubtful Passengers A good deal of stress has been laid on the fact that pro- ' vision for six seats is made in at least one of the four boats—Connemara. Possibly certain Air Ministry, Im perial Airways and technical officials may be carried on one or two flights during the year, but it is optimistic to suggest that fare-paying passengers are likely to be taken before the 1940 season. No doubt there are any number of prospective passen-; gers ready to pay high passage rates for the privilege of taking part in one of the first commercial crossings, but, even if mails are being carried during 1939, the flights are still in the nature of an experiment. Neither the crews of the machines, nor the staff responsible for the ground meteorological and radio organisation, are yet fully experi enced, and it is worth remembering that only after five years' operation have Air France at last considered the idea of taking a few passengers on their South Atlantic ser vices during this summer. Possibly the reason for the passenger-carrying plans is to be found in the fact that Pan-American Airways are to use machines with greater payload capacity, and it is as well for us to be ready to make the necessary reprisal if the American company suddenly decides that passengers shall be carried. P.A.A. have had even less experience than ourselves in semi-commercial North Atlantic flying, and I shall be surprised if they book any passages. For the moment the only landplane types which are being considered for Atlantic services are the two Air Ministry D.H. Albatross monoplanes. Up to a certain size at least the landplane type should always have a better all-round performance than a flying-boat, though it remains to be seen what the position is when all-up weights of thirty tons or more are being considered. There are designers on both sides of the fence, each of whom claim the advantage. At any rate, for sheer efficiency the Albatross will be hard to beat, since it will, in still air, carry a payload of i.ooolb., with a crew of four, over 3,180 miles at a cruising speed of 212 m.p.h. Of the four large-size landplanes now being designed and built—three by Short Brothers and one by Fairey Aviation—it is unlikely tliat more than one, if any, will ever be used over the Atlantic. They are intended primarily for fast long-distance overland routes. Never theless, it is good to know that four such advanced types, two of them tc have pressure cabins, are now on the stocks. And we must not forget P.A.A.'s Boeing Stratoliners ; they -may or may not eventually be used.
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