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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 0771.PDF
MARCH 16, 1939 FLIGHT. 273 Commercial Aviation An I.N A. Accident ON February 23 two machines belonging to India National Airways collided when flying on the Karachi-Lahore route. The bulk of the air mall carried was saved. This accident is the second this year on Indian internal routes; a few weeks ago one of the Tata Wacos crashed in bad weather. Channel Island Licences AS might be expected, Jersey Airways, whose services now virtually form a part of the Railway Air Service network, had no difficulty in obtaining their provisional Air Transport Licensing Authority licences. The two old-established runs— Jersey to Southampton and Jersey to Heston—have been licensed for seven years, while the newer Jersey to Exeter and Jersey to Shoreham services have been licensed for two years. In the last cases the routes will be flown in each direction on Fridays and Mondays. Additionally, Guernsey Airways, a subsidiary company, has been granted two-year licences for Guernsey-Exeter, Guernsey- Heston, Guernsey-Southampton and Guernsey-Brighton ser vices, which will be operated experimentally during week-ends in the summer. At the enquiry various traffic figures were given. In 1935, for instance, Jersey Airways carried 24,624 passengers, and this figure increased steadily to 33,875 for last year. Air France's 7939 Plans DURING this season Air France will operate six cross-Channel services to Paris daily throughout the season, using sixteen-seater Marcel Bloch machines, leaving Croydon and Le Bourget simultaneously at 9 a.m., n a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. every day of the week. The new schedule will start on April 16. The timetables over the company's entire European network have been simplified and speeded up, and a number of new services will be put into operation. Le Touquet will be served by a daily service from Croydon, and there will be two services daily to Cannes. Dinard, on the Normandy coast, and La Baule, on the Atlantic seaboard, will have services from London at week-ends. Vichy, the inland resort, will also, for the first time, have an air service from London and Paris. • Switzer land is also to be served with a new direct service from London, via Paris, to Geneva, in addition to the existing service via Lyons. There will be two services to Zurich, one of which stops at Basle. There will be a daily service to Bordeaux and, now that conditions on the Basque coast are once again more settled, an extension will run from Bordeaux to Biarritz during that resort's high season. There will also be a daily service from London, via Paris, to Prague, stopping at Strasbourg, and another from Paris, starting in the early morning. The Riviera will be served by two daily services to Cannes. The Cannes airport has been enlarged so that, instead of the ten-seater Wibaults, twenty-five-seater Dewoitine 338s will be able to land there. For the first time a flying-boat service will be run from Cannes to Corsica, stopping at He Rousse as well as at Ajaccio. These boats will start out from Cannes. This Atlantic TF weather conditions are favourable, it is possible that the •^ first of Pan-American Airways' Boeing 314s will by now have started an experimental flight to Europe. A little over a week ago P.A.A. officials in New York said that the Yankee Clipper, as it is named, was ready to make the cross ing. It is not known for certain whether a load of journalists will actually be carried on this first flight, or whether they will go over on a second experimental crossing. At the moment P.A.A.'s idea is to obtain as much publicity as possible from their preliminary Atlantic flights. Meanwhile Cabot, one of the modified "C" class Atlantic boats, has completed its airworthiness trials at normal loadings, aad the refuelling arrangements are now being tested before it is certificated for still higher loadings. The machine has taken- off under its own power at an all-up weight of 48,000 lb.— 2,000 lb. more than the prescribed figure. After refuelling the all-up weight will be 53,000 lb. It will be remembered that Captain F. Entwistle, the chief of the overseas division of the Air Ministry Meteorological Office, is at present in South America in connection with the British South Atlantic service. In an interview which he gave recently m Buenos Aires he confirmed the already understood fact that modified "C "-class boats would be used by British Airways between Bathurst and Buenos Aires. It is possible that, when £e closes the harbours on the North Atlantic, the boats will be transferred to the South Atlantic mail route. Capt. Entwistle a «o said that the mau»carrying charges on this country's services would be likely to be a great deal less than those made by Air France and D.L.H. West Indies Extensions "C^ARLY last month K.L.M. started their new service from -»-' the base at Curacao, to Barbados, via Trinidad. It is being flown once a week over the first part of the route; and three times a week between Trinidad and Barbados. During this year it is expected that the K.L.M. network in the West Indies will be extended to Surinam and Para maribo, in Dutch Guiana. The latter extension, which will be a continuation of the Trinidad run, is likely to be of particular importance, since it will reduce a seven-day journey to one of seven hours. A Civil Hercules CPECIALLY developed for installation in civil aircraft, the *-? new Bristol Hercules IV has an international power rating of 1,010-1,050 h.p. developed at 2,400 r.p.m. at 4,500ft. The maximum output for all-out level flight is 1,220 h.p. at 2,800 r.p.m. at 5,500ft., but for take-off at the same crank shaft speed, 1,380 h.p. is available. Thus the Hercules IV is the most powerful aero engine available for commercial use in this country. Not only has a Hercules IV, it is reported, passed its: type test with complete satisfaction, but it recently completed an equally successful 250-hours' endurance test, representing 40,000 miles or more of flying Under conditions of maximum fuel economy and imposing-extremely severe duty on many of the working parts. At the end of every tenth hour through out the trial w^as included a ten-minute period at full throttle take-off output. The powers obtained at the end of this endurance test were even higher than those reached in the type test." Hercules of this type have been chosen for installation in the new class of Short flying boat for Imperial Airways. Developments in connection with the experimental 31-ton transport landplanes with Hercules engines, ordered by the Air Ministry, are also progressive. British Extensions in Europe IF the necessary negotiations are satisfactorily completed, British Airways will be starting three new European ser vices on April 16. One of these has been mentioned, both in the House and by the Cadman Committee, as being desirable. The first will be a weekday return service between Heston, Berlin and Warsaw. Lockheed 14s will be used, and with these machines Berlin will be reached in less than four hours and Warsaw in a"bout six hours. The second will be a service between Heston, Frankfurt and Budapest, with one return journey each weekday. Lockheed 14s will again be used, bringing Frankfurt within 2| hours and Budapest within s:x hours of Heston. On both these runs stewards will be carried and luncheon will be available. The third service will be one between Heston and Brussels, operated twice on weekdays in each direction. With Lockheed Electras, or ioAs, the fly ing time between the two terminals will be ij hours. The existing services between Heston, Hamburg, Copen hagen and Stockholm, and between Croydon, Cologne, Han over and Berlin—the latter carrying the night mail and operated in conjunction with D.L.H.—will be continued as before. It has already been announced that the Paris services will be run to a schedule of eight return journeys per day on week days and five on Sundays. In this case the service will be operated jointly by Imperial Airways and British Airways with D.H. Frobisher-class machines. Imperial Airways will duly be restarting their Zurich service, but will, of course, discontinue their present service to Brussels, Cologne and Frankfurt. The additional schedules will mean that the British airlines in Europe will, during the summer, be 2| times their present length. Air mail will be carried unsnr- charged on all the services except that returning from Hungary. The agreement with foreign companies will be reciprocal, though Poland and Hungary have not yet done anything under the agreement. The services to Berlin and Paris will be faster than those run.by any other company. British Airways' fleet at present consists of five Lockheed ioAs, seven Lockheed 14s, and three Junkers JU.52S. The last are used onlv on the night mail run. Lockheed 14s will be used on the West African service. When they receive the Fairey F C 1 transports British Airways will have a majority of British machines. The development of this type is being handled by the Air Ministry. Two have previously been ordered and an order has recently been placed for twelve more of them. The prototype should be flying in 1940. and the type will be used for European services and not for the Atlantic. British Airways are also interested in the Short 14/28 landplane which has been ordered by the Air Ministry.
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