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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 0101.PDF
JANUARY TT, 1940. possible for BO.A. to obtain permission to fly through Spain to Portugal, otherwise a British service would pre- sumably have started on that highly important link London—Lisbon. Whilst K.L.M. obtained Spanish per- mission to make one single landing at Madrid on the flight from Amsterdam via England to Lisbon mentioned above I do not hear any news of Spanish permission being granted to the Dutch company for regular landings in Spain for a Lisbon service, although Portugal is suffi- ciently enlightened and intelligent to desire air transport to and from its capital. France is at war and may be cannot afford to have neutral commercial craft flying around, but the case of Spain is otherwise. In that country the reconstruction would be helped by the air transport of other neutrals and even of belligerents, for Spain is not yet ready to run her own air lines and churlishness in granting permissions to others will not help her when she is ready. It never hurts a nation to let others operate before she herself is ready, and it is obviously easy to safeguard national avia- tion interests in the interim period. Spanish civil aviation chiefs should remember that some twenty years ago there were neither trained civil pilots nor civil machines in Holland, yet Mr. A. Plesman, then as now the leader of Dutch ciyil aviation, did not mark time on that account. He hired British' aeroplanes and em- ployed British pilots whilst training Dutch personnel, so that when the first Fokker cabin machines were deliverid, he was able to launch out at once. Nobody will main- tain, I assume, that K.L.M. has suffered in any way by this procedure, or that Dutch national interests were in anyway injured. Australian Flying Doctor Services THE repoi t ol the Victorian section of the Australian AerialMedical Services for the year ended June 30, 1939. shows this life-saving activity to be as active as ever and further- more financially sound. Victoria, being a compact state, has no need of medical services by air, so the Victorian people have taken on themselves the responsibility of maintaining a base at Wyndham on the north-west coast of Western Australia to serve the settlers in this outlying district. The aeroplane used is a DH Dragon owned by the MacRobertson Miller Aviation Co., whose Pilot Robinson is always on call to transport the medical man, Dr. Sweetman, over an area several times the size of England. The Dragon also does the airmail run between Wyndham and Daly Waters. During the year under review, 32 return flights were made to give medical aid. The total cost of the service (including flying, depreciation improvements and office costs) was £2,800. Revenue was ,£3,000, made up from: — Victorian donations /i,6oo Wyndham donations £JO° Patients' contributions • /i5° Federal Government subsidy ^9«o Sundries £25° Total ^3.°°° A A M S is actually registered under the Companies Act but is a non-profit-making company. All this shows the service to be soundly run with income slightly exceeding expenditure and is a magnificent example of the townspeople of a compara- tively thickly populated part of Australia giving aid to outlying settlers who' live about 2,000 miles away and whom they do not even know The above is. of course, only about the Victorian section. Other states run the bases at Kalgoorlie, Port Hedland, Alice Springs. Cloncurry and Broken Hill. Other medical aid not under the A.A,M.S. is available from Darwin where Dr. Fenton, employed by the Department of the Interior is stationed, and at Ceduna on the coast of South Australia where Pilot Chadwick flies a Fox Moth for the Bush Church Aid, a Church of England organisation. No Quarter-ounce Airmail Rate ? A POST OFFICE official has stated that there is no pos-sibility of introducing a rate for quarter-ounce letters to South America The present rate from Great Britain by the French airmail service is 5s. per half-ounce The statement followed a request for a quarter-ounce rate of 2s..6d., but trie Post Ofl.ee pointed out that, as many letters did not reach 35 Commercial Aviation News Editors, by the way, have-an uaconquerable habit of running before they can walk whejeby many a pink, prehensile Fleet Street nose becomes flattened against brick walls. Just because K.L.M. sent one single plane to Lisbon a number of newspapers confidently assumed, without the slightest Warrant, that a regular service had been or was about to be inaugurated. Moreover, because K.L.M. by no means for the first time, proposes to send a plane to South Africa on a good- will flight, newspapers promptly elaborated a regular Amsterdam—Cape Town service. Whilst all the ridiculous flummery was in progress regarding the arrival in this country of a young English- woman from Germany, that section of the Press which was not at various sea ports being threatened with bayonets by the teeming hordes of soldiery who formed guards of honour, was disporting itself at our already all- too-congested bar for a couple or three days. We were of course, pleased to see the Press boys and so, incident- ally, was the cash register behind the bar, for it is not their fault that their Editors send them around an such dam fool missions. In order to enliven their stop with us some of the less respectful amongst us organised a just- secret-enough disembarkation by stretcher—of a couple of great coats neatly rolled and placed under blankets. There was much clicking of cameras and whetting of purple, indelible pencils on white tongues, before the base decep- tion was discovered. I hear that Sabena, whose Brussels service has been doing remarkably well lately, has decided to operate a, Sunday service as well as the normal week-day ones, in future. , . .A. VIATOR. the half-ounce, quarter-ounce letters could not be carried for half-price as in most cases they would be right up to weight. No doubt this is true, but 5s. is a lot for senders of private correspondence to spend on one letter, though not unreasonable for business firms. Could not a quarter-ounce rate at, say, 3s. be introduced? : ' Alderney Services Resumed JERSEY AIRWAYS announce that regular services 'havenow been resumed between Alderney and Guernsey, operating on demand on Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays. The time-table provides useful and convenient " through " connections for passengers travelling l>etween Alderney and Shoreham or Jersey. Fares and charges are as follows: — Freight Return and Excess (valid three Baggage. Airport to Airport only. Single. months). per lb. s. d. s. d. d. Jersey / Alderney (special " through " fare) .. 22 6 37 6 2 Shoreham / Alderney .. 75 o 125 o 5 Guernsey/Alderney . VI5 o 25 o 1 Isle 0/ Man Also T~*HE air service carrying both mail and passengers to the J- Isle of Man has now been resumed since the New Year. The Storstrom Accident THE report on the accident to the British Airways LockheedElectra which caught fire in the air while flying on the Heston-Hamburg-Copenhagen route last August and descended on the waters of the Storstrom has now been made public by the Air Ministry. The enquiry was conducted by the Danish authorities, and the findings are agreed with by the Air Ministry Chief Inspector of Accidents. Apparently petrol vapour, caused by overfilling of the tanks, probably at" Hamburg, was present within the wing on the port side or in the cabin. This was ignited by some cause which could not be determined. Having brought the aero- plane down on the water, the pilot left the cockpit and swam round to open the cabin door and let the passengers out. Un- fortunately, he was unable to do so, and the machine sank in four minutes Four passengers and one member of the crew lost their lives. The pilot was later saved by a small boat and the aeroplane has since been raised.
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