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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 2110.PDF
JULY 25, 1940 MODERN WARFARE : A Curtiss A-18 ground attack machine " shooting-up " a line of tanks on U.S. Army manoeuvres. finders are advised to take them to their local authorities for disposal under the scrap metal salvage scheme and thus let German metal assist in the war against Germany. Mail Pay for U.A.L AN important rate decision was givenby the Civil Aeronautics Authority when it ordered that United Air Lines should be paid for the carriage of mail on an aeroplane-mile basis and not per pound-mile. The following rates are effective from July i : 18 cents per aero- plane-mile on the New York-San Fran- cisco route, 19 on the Seattle-San Diego, 36 on the Salt Lake City-Spokane- Seattle, and 37 cents on the Cheyenne- Denver. Rates are based on the straight line mileages between airports. V'ice-President of Engineering D . W. TOMLINSON, chief engineerand " overweather" research flier for Transcontinental and Western Air,has been appointed vice-president in charge of engineering for the airline, anewly created position. Jack Frye, pre- sicleiit, said Tomlinson's election wasmade in recognition of the increasing value of engineering and research whichhas been under Tomlinson's control for many years and which has played an im-portant part in development of the TWA system. Tomlinson, who has been flying formore than 20 years, was placed in charge of TWA's experiments in "over-weather '' flying five years ago and his research led to the airline's recent pur-chase of a fleet of four-engine Boeing Stratoliners. Long Delivery Flight FOR a considerable time Guinea Air-ways has had heavy bookings on the Adelaide-Darwin run in Australia and hashad to cope with them by using the comparatively small Lockheed Electra IOAS, of which they had two. But AerLingus Teoranta had bought two new Lockheed 14s and were unable to usethem owing to the fairly complete ban on airline flying in the British Isles. Soa sale was arranged by W. S. Shackle- ton, Ltd., and Guinea Airways' chiefpilot, Capt. D. G. Cameron, accom- panied by Capt. N. S. D. Buckley, cameto England by air to take delivery. The two aeroplanes are now safely inAdelaide, having left here on May 27 under the control of—strangely enough—Captains D. G. and Dan Cameron. Radio operator Garnham assisted, whileCapt. Buckley did the same service on the other aeroplane. Only day flyingwas allowed, and only one stage per day, so the trip took about 14 days. But inflying time it was a very good effort as it occupied just one hour more than theflight of The Comet. New Fleet Fighter '"PHE Vought-Sikorsky Division of the -»- United Aircraft Corporation is en- gaged on the initial tests of a new type of single-seater fleet fighter for the United States Navy. The machine is designated XF4U-1 and embodies a fuselage of monocoque construction, employing spot welding. The tail surfaces are also of monocoque construction, and the wing, which is of the inverted gull type, has a single spar. The "gulling" of the wing enables the height and weight-of the HERE AND THERE (CONTD.) undercarriage to be reduced. When the1 wheels are retracted doors are closed over them so that the under surface of the wing is perfectly smooth. The engine is one of the new Pratt and Whitney R-2800 fourteen cylinder two- row radials, which is rated at 1,850 h.p. for take-off and delivers 1,600 h.p. at a height of more than 20,000ft. A Hamilton standard constant-speed Sir-. screw is employed. The gross weight of the machine is about 9,000 lb. (the Hurricane and Spit- fire weigh 6,000-odd lb.); the span is about 40ft. and the length approxi- mately 30ft. U.S.A. Statistics ON May 1 there were 33,740 licensedpilots in U.S.A., of which 1,203 held airline transport certificates. There were 10,209 certificated mechanics and 190 repair stations. Certificated aircraft amounted to 12,829, with uncertificated aircraft an additional 495. Certificated gliders totalled only 39, but there were also 83 uncertificated ones. U.S. Air Traffic ^.-- APRIL was a record month for "airtraffic in the United States, nearly 80 million revenue passenger-miles being flown by the sixteen airlines. March was the previous best with 73 million, and the highest month for 1939 was October with a total of 70 million. A comparison of the first three months for 1939 and, 1940 follows and substantial increases can be noted : Revenue Passenger-Miles. 1940. 1939. January .... February .... March 55 53 73 .234 ,025 ,096 ,672 ,818 .779 34 3i 44 .457 ,046 .441 ,270 .932 ,846 L Economy : De Havillands have installed a grass drying and powdering plant to deal with the mowings from their aerodrome. Powdered grass is one of the most modern methods of conserving grass for cattle feed. If one was installed at each R.A.F. aerodrome the ground would still possess its original agricultural value. The plant is made by Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies, Ltd.
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