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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 0997.PDF
APRIL 4, 1940 COMMERCIAL AVIATION SPRING SEES A REVIVAL OF COMMERCIAL FLYING, BUT NOT IN THIS COUNTRY. Before the start of the first Swissair Douglas on the inaugural flight of the new Locarno-Rome route. THE FACE AT THE WINDOW "A. Viator on the Luxury of Being Allowed to See : Brass Hatters and the March Hare :- ; - r UMMER is icumen in, so roll out the barrel, thebarrel of gin." Which remark, rather to my sur- prise, is poetry and only shows what the first springmarsii marigold, bog myrtle blossom or water lily seen nodding a slender head on our airport surface will do to abloke. Summer timetables are in the air, and there's a finedrying wind, so as I say, roll out the barrel, trundle forth the tun and enjoy your little selves. There is, however, noneed to overdo it, and this is a word for the ear of the Air Ministry who, when they gird up such loins as theymay possess, are inclined to be a bit overwhelming. There is no need to roll out a 50-gallon barrel and push it downa steep slope at a peaceful picnic party in the meadow below, which is about what they have done to the smallerair transport companies, and the barrel is in no sense a hospitable one, but full of cement in its most solid form. My great-great—, anyway, a jolly forbear of mine,way back in 1802, did a trip from Truro, Cornwall, to London in a gig, and despite toll bars and the bars of manya cheery tavern he made it in 14 days for the single journey. If the railways are going to run air transport it's me for agig m future. Meanwhile, the neutrals are doing quite a lot of flying, and you can pop over to Amsterdam on any of four services thn °ne °f whicl1 is run alternate days by the Danish and tie Dutch companies so that you may travel in a Douglas u^-3. or in a Focke-Wulf Condor. J-ae Scandinavian Air Express, famous in peacetime formany a past year, is still going strong. At the moment you change from a Dutch D.C.3 to a Swedish one (if Mr.^ouglas, of U--S.A., will pardon me) at Amsterdam on the J umey to Stockholm, and this standardisation of flying stock has definite advantages. You hardly notice thedifference, except perhaps that the Steward will recommend Swedish Schnapps whereas the Dutchman you have justsaid good-bye to was in favour of Dutch "Bols." But there is one even more important difference and thatis that between Amsterdam and Stockholm the windows are plain glass. Travellers tell me that it seems quite aluxury after the opaque windows on the England-Holland stretch, and it is interesting to see how much one valueslittle things like that, which nobody ever cared twopence about in pre-war days. Why, bless me, it's worth a tripto Belgium or Holland just to see ordinary street lamps and neon advertising signs blazing away at nights, and if youcan borrow a car and drive with headlights at full blaze you feel like a million dollars. But to get back to these opaque windows, it is reallyquite a selling point, they tell me, to be able to tell pas- sengers that after Amsterdam they will be able to look outof the windows. So much is this so that when A.B.A., the Swedish air lines, operate right through to England fromStockholm in the day, as they will quite soon, it is proposed to render the windows opaque in Holland and to lightenthe darkness of passengers on the outward journey when they reach Amsterdam. I imagine some form of opaqueglass shutter with a lead seal on it will be used for the purpose. Things being the way they are in civil aviation, I wonderno caricaturist has had the idea of a sketch entitled '' The Brass Hatter's Tea Party." It might feature the Hatterin uniform and brass knobs, as is perhaps but fit and proper in these piping times of war, and the March Harewould, of course, be present, the straws in his hair show- ing which way the wind was blowing.
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