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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 0301.PDF
FEBRUARY 2, 1939 FLIGHT. in COMMERCIAL AVIATION (CONTINUED) arrival of the Rocket at Euston Station. Looking from my window I see Heracles arrive from Paris. Shortly after wards an Air France Bloch arrives—ask not when she left Paris—and draws up on the other side of Heracles, but what with the forest of spars and wires, the multiple tail unit and the bustling hedgerow of gadgets, I see the Bloch but dimly, as one gazing through a spinney. Heracles actually has mudguards 011 his wheels—sweet, eh? And unsuspected portholes, postern gates and the like. Under his nose there is something closely resembling a portcullis half up and half down, and atop of the fuselage there seems to be, besides a cluster of little sticks, a genuine tin chimney such as you see on old-fashioned caravans. To tow Heracles they need a most impressive bit of iron mongery, a cross between Neptune's trident and a section of steel lattice such as that of which bridges are built. For the first time in my life I have seen a man tapping an aeroplane wheel, just as they tap those of railway trains. It was the tail wheel he hammered; to get the towbar to fit, after which that gallant aeroplane moved off backwards to the hangar. You think I am mocking at Heracles Far from it, for splendid indeed is the safety record of that type of aeroplane and magnificent in its day was the standard of comfort set by it. It is not the fault of Imperial Airways that the Heracles type was not replaced years ago by something more modern and, mark you, it was this good old type which saw the company through and stayed in the air day and night when some of the new and heavily boomed types seemed to have let them down. Hats off then to Heracles! Anyway, Imperial Airways need not worry about speed. The Frobisher class is able to compete with the fastest air liners on the air routes to-day. Further East IMPERIAL AIRWAYS have recently concluded an agree ment with the Chinese Government for the operation of a through passenger and mail service between Europe and Yun nan. This service involves an extension of the present route to Hong Kong and the flights to Yunnan will be made in pool by Imperial Airways and China National Aviation Corpora tion. The latter already make this run. Merger in Australia? THE creation of a single operating company to be formed by a merger of all the present companies is being unofficially discussed in Australia. Apparently several Federal Ministers are in favour of the project, which may shortly be dealt with by the Cabinet. Overtures have not been made to the different companies, but most of these have indicated that they would be willing to enter into a discussion. Needless to say, such a merger would provide the advantages of unified control, the abolition of unnecessary competition, and a general improvement in airline economics in Australia. It is possible that the Government will eventually apply the necessary pressure as a matter of national policy. Christmas Aftermath NOT many people realise what a comparatively large part was played by Service machines and pilots in the handling of the tremendous loads of Christmas mails on the Empire routes. Altogether Royal Air Force machines flew a matter of 29,000 miles, operating one service from Plymouth to Penang, two from Alexandria to Kisumu, Kenya and return, and seven from Alexandria to Lake Habbaniyeh, Iraq and re turn. Among the flights made by specially chartered machines (which covered a distance of 152,000 miles) were those be tween Darwin and Calcutta by a Douglas D.C.3, taken over for the purpose from Australian National Airways. Altogether the various machines carrying the mail covered, during the Christmas mail period, a distance of 1,158,000 miles. Air Service to Cairo I N Flight of January 5, it was explained that Air France would shortly open a new service between London and Cairo. The inaugural run actually started last Saturday, when the Air France long-distance service to Hong Kong was trans ferred from its present route, via Naples, Castlerosso, Corfu and Beyrouth, to a new overland route, via Tunis and Cairo. Previously passengers have left flying-boats at Beyrouth and motored to Damascus before continuing their journey by land- plane. The new route has been made possible by the introduc tion of Dewoitine 338 landplanes which will be used over the whole distance. The service goes on a permanent basis on February 9. Contact at Heston F OLLOWING the installation of flush or " contact " run way lighting at Ringway airport, work is now going ahead on similar lines at Heston. This work, in order that airline operators and private owners may not be unduly curbed, will be carried out in three sections, each section being completed before the following one is started. The first, which lies between the inner marker beacon on the eastern boundary of the aerodrome and a point some two hundred yards east of the circle, will be completed towards the end of February, while the other two sections, running between this point and the main blind-approach trans mitter, should be finished early in March. During the operations the special facilities provided for use in connection with the " ZZ " procedure at Heston will not be applicable, and, at the same time, the ultra-short-wave beacons will be out of action. In the meantime all bearings and " motor " signals will be given, as before, from the control tower. The contact lighting strip is being laid out, as may be gathered, on the blind-approach line, and the sections on which work is being carried out will be marked in the usual way by red fags during the day and by red lamps during the night. TWO IMPERIAL APPOINTMENTS On the left is Capt. L. A. Egglesfield. who left England last Friday to take up the new appointment of Deputy-Director of Civil Aviation in India. After serving in the R.A.F. he joined Imperial Air ways in 1930 and was one of the first pilots to take charge of an Empire boat. During 1937 he surveyed the African, Indian and Singapore routes. Last week Capt. L. A. Walters (right) was appointed to the command of Imperial Airways' flying personnel under the title of Establishment Officer, Navi gating Staff. Capt. Walters is one of our oldest commercial pilots. After war- flying service, he joined the Handley- Page company in 1923 and was, in 1924, one of Imperial's original pilots. Since September, 1935, he has been Deputy Air Superintendent at Croydon.
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