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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 1293.PDF
MAY 2, 1940 Passing lightly over the minor point that the expression "The High Airs" was coined in Flight, I come to the fact that if the aircraft on the Amsterdam-Lisbon line are liable to be called into port for contraband control at any moment, no intelligent German is likely to make use of this service. This is especially obvious when one considers that there is a regular "covered way," if one may use the term in connection with air transport, from Berlin via Rome to Barcelona and thence to Portugal. That route is all under German, Italian or Spanish control. One of the most intelligent of our air correspondents wrote on this subject as follows: " If M. Monnet wants to control air contraband and currency flowing between Ger- many and America, he should do so by having the Italian air liners in the Mediterranean called into Marseilles for contraband control just as is done with ships '' ; which would be a prettv kettle of fish, maybe, and one liable to boil over at any moment with considerable spluttering and steam, but with no further result, one supposes. Converted Bombers _- ' Somebody has suggested that our lack of commercial aircraft after the war can be remedied by the use of the converted bomber. We tried the same thing after the last war, without much success, but we then had the excuse that commercial aircraft had not yet come into being to any extent worth mentioning. This time our excuses will be many and varied, but they will be mere empty verbiage, for everybody, except the Powers that Be, realises the position now, and knows that provision could and should be made for post-war com- mercial air expansion. But this bomber racket might be worth trying in default of a better. Bomb racks might be beaten into luggage racks and gun turrets might be converted into small smoking compartments of the conservatory type where, in company with an aspidistra and a hanging basket of fra- grant Stinkbine, the wealthier type of client might medi- tate, over a rich cigar, on the profits to be derived froni beating a quite good sword into an indifferent ploughshare. As for the converted bomber pilot, I am not so sure, for we have seen all that in the past. Military pilots not only have to learn to fly civil machines in a civil manner, from the passengers' point of view, but they have to unlearn a lot of military stuff which is useless and even harmful to a commercial organisation. To take off in a steep climbing turn may amuse a bomber crew, but it is liable to shift the personal centre of gravity of the average passenger from his solar plexus to the tips of his toes. To approach playfully an airport in the manner of one practising power dives not only makes a passenger's heart sink to his boots but convinces him that his boots have rushed up and kicked him under the chin. The absent-minded distribution of a load of daily news- papers, leaflet fashion, over a city, might save road trans- port costs, and so might the casual pressure of button B, which released the assorted baggage of twenty passengers from the converted bomb racks. •»..- A. VIATOR. Accident in Scotland - ON a flight from Perth to Heston without passengers onApril 23, a Lockheed 14 belonging to British Overseas Airways crashed into Beinn Uird, near Loch Lomond, and caused the death of the pilot, Captain D. S. King, and the crew, First Officer D. E. Eveleigh and Radio Officer J. W. Elliott. The wreckage, which was found 300ft. below the summit of the 2,000ft. mountain, was not burnt out. At the time of the accident the cloud base was very low in the sur- rounding district. No Atlantic Service IT has been announced in the House of Commons by Capt.Balfour, Under-Secretary for Air, that there will be no British service across the North Atlantic this year as the flying boats, Caribou and Cabot, are still required for the military work on which they have been engaged for some time. The service to Lisbon, for which survey flights are now being made by British Overseas Airways, will be established from Gatwick in the near future and will link with Pan Ameri- can Clipper. Letters by air for the United States, Canada and Newfoundland should be marked '' North Atlantic Air Service" and have the blue airmail label. The letter rate is is. 3d. per £oz. and 7d. for postcards. British Overseas Airways News A NEW Empire boat has been delivered to the CorporationL and has been named Clifton. This is only the second new flying boat or aeroplane which has been added to their fleet since war, while depletions due to military acquisition and accidents have made great inroads on the equipment available for maintaining the services. Since the Hannibal accident, all these magnificent old Handley Page 42s have been grounded. If this is the end of their flying life, it is an un- iortunate end, for they deserved, after their wonderful record of safe flying to be honourably " pensioned off," not, as it were, "court-martialled." Corsair, the boat which was salvaged out of the heart (if Atnca after a dam had been built on a narrow stream to bank up sufficient water for the take-off, is back again in service and nas completed its first run to Australia and return without incident. Captain Shakespeare flew her back, m• i n ndPlane organisation will move to Gatwick about the middle of May and the Lisbon service will officially start as oon as the shift is accomplished. Three preliminary flights l Pu made and a fourth is now being flown. De Havil- ^wishers have been used on all of them. : Tasman Service Starts THE trans-Tasman service started on Tuesday, April 30, withthe first scheduled flight between Sydney and Auckland. One return trip per week will be flown using the two flyingboats Aotearoa and Awarua. The Auckland to Sydney flights will be made on Thursdays. Postal Services 'HPHE Postmaster General announces the restoration of theJ- letter mail (including air mails) and the money order services to Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, but thecorrespondence is subject to delay. The latest time of posting at the Head Post Office, London,E.C.i, for air mail to Malta (is. 3d. per half ounce and post- cards 7d.) is now midnight ou Thursdays only. Whitsun Travel to Jersey . • ~ TERSEY AIRWAYS announce special time-tables for Whitsun,J operating between May 9 and 15. Passengers for Jersey or Guernsey should present themselves at Shoreham Airport notlater than 7.30, 10.00 or 12.15 on any of the above days. There are other departures for Jersey at 14.15 hours on each of theseven days and at 16.15 and 18.15 on Friday, Saturday and Monday. Additional Guernsey departures are at 16.15 °uFriday, Saturday and Monday. The returns from Jersey occur at the same times that have already been given for thedepartures to Jersey. Departures from Guernsey are at 10.15 and 14.30 each day with an extra trip leaving at 18.30 onFriday, Saturday and Monday. New Service to Brussels FROM May 1 Sabena will operate an additional service fromShoreham to Brussels on each week-day. The new time- table from that date will be :— Daily Weekdays Weekdays Daily 8.45 17.30 Dep. Shoreham Airport, Arr. 10.30 17.00 10.15 19.00 Arr. Brussels Airport, Dep. 9.00 15.30 Passengers will still be required to arrive at the airport 75 to 90 minutes before departure, and those leaving on the afternoon plane can take the 2.28 train from Victoria, arriving at Shoreham-by-Sea at 4.04. In the case of the early morning service it will be advisable to travel overnight to Brighton, where special terms are available for passengers at the Grand Hotel (8s. 6d. for a single room and breakfast). Fares remain unchanged at £7 10s single and ^13 ros. return, including the coach to the town terminus in Brussels but not the journey to Shoreham Airport.
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