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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 0098.PDF
JANUARY II, 1940. COMMERCIAL AVIATION PRIMITIVE BUT SERVICEABLE : The Airport building at Balivanich airport, Outer Hebrides. Airways' Rapides with a somewhat unusual blister on its nose. In front of it is one of Scottish IT'S THAT MAN AGAIN! A. Viator" on Short-sighted Policy and Many Other Things RECENTLY K.L.M., with an enterprise which is helddown but by no means defeated by the war, stageda special flight from Amsterdam via an English Airport which shall be nameless to Lisbon via Madrid. British authorities were cordial and so were the Spanish. The Portuguese had already accorded permission, not only for the special flight but for a regular service, Amsterdam —Lisbon, if and when it should become possible to run one. The way of the pioneer is hard in wartime, how- ever and in spite of the general benefits which would ensue from such a service, it is doubtful if the necessary permission for regular services would be forthcoming. A hint at the situation may be gleaned from the fact that it was necessary for K.L.M. to fly outside French territorial waters all the way, whereas permission was obtained to land in England, in Spain and in Portugal. The flight was made with precision, without incident and in- very goad flying time, and the machine, a D.G.2., pilot and crew will remain in Portugal for the.present. : Admiral Raeder and General Goering respectively, sent New Year messages to the German Fleet and Air Force and both quaintly enough referred to the glorious traditions of those services. Neutrals, such as American Air Force and Navy men, will wonder of just what these glorious traditions consist. Deliberate bombing of a trawler in order to spill the fishermen into the sea so as to machine gun them has become a cherished Nazi Air Force tradition I assume, and the parallel Nazi Navy trick of carefully selecting shrapnel to murder people in open boats after a submarine has sunk the steamer is another "glorious tradition" I suppose, to be enshrined in the annals of the harbour loving Navy of Nazi Germany. Uncle Hermann again promises us an aerial onslaught such as has never been known in the history of the world. We do not rant and bluster about what our Air Force will do in return, but Uncle H. should know by now that it won't be exactly like sitting under an apple tree in spring with sweet scented petals showering down. Meanwhile there is one cheery bit of news for the New Year chaps and I hope it is true. Some innocent Fritz out wild pig shooting saw the prize of a lifetime i.nd let fly. It proved to be Uncle Hermann also out shooting and he was caught " whilst crouching in a stalking atti- tude, peering through the trees." As though that was not delightful enough in the way of New Year's news, the paragraph I saw continued with the remark that the -wound was " only superficial." Well naturally a bullet which would have gone right through you or me, prob- ably lodged in the fourth or fifth layer of fat and the Fritz concerned should in future carry his anti-tank gun when out after pork in those parts. During Christmas celebrations at our airport, there was a French Air Force officer who had dropped iu casually. Wishing to say something seasonable, a Britisher who had little French, suddenly raised his glass politely to the Frenchman and remarked " Bon Soir Monsieur." The time was then 11.35 a.m. Any movements which may be afoot to expand com- mercial aviation despite the times, scarcely seem to meet with the encouragement they deserve. Air France, I hear, now operates a regular air line from Marseilles to Lisbon via Lezignan, Oran and Tangiers, thus circumnavigating Spanish territory. This may mean that the Spanish Government will not allow French aircraft to land in Spain or it may mean that France prefers to avoid Spain lest reciprocal rights to fly Spanish civil craft through France should be demanded. It seems logical to assume that it has not yet been
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