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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 1328.PDF
FLIGHT JUNE 12TH, 1941. FLIGHT TO DILLI CHINA. PACIFIC O C E- A N SINGAPORE labat Bay ^i B-A.N DA — Scale of Miles - —1 1 1 t= 0 100 200 300 4OO 500 NORTH AUSTRALIAN. Once a lortnight the Empire flying boat deviates from its usual route and calls at Dilli, the capital oi Portuguese Timor tor the local inhabitants can be imagined. A giant flyingboat one day, a trim landplane the next, then a strange- looking aircraft described by one on the spot as a " four-engined aerodynamic compromise" all the way from -Tokyo. This last certainly caused the most stir. Therewas nothing spectacular about the quiet, speedy and efficient handling of their craft by the British and Dutchcrews, but the Japanese arrival was full of incident. First of all, the flying boat, for such it appeared to be,made four circuits round the harbour and then came down on the water with a bump amid clouds of spray. It con-tinued to bounce along the surface until, at the end of the sixth bounce, it might be said to have alighted. Itthen taxied around for a full quarter of an hour before connecting with the buoy. There was at one time somedanger of its being driven on to the sandy foreshore! No sooner was it at rest than the cabin door opened and aJapanese admiral, in unform and wearing a sword, ap- peared, framed in it. It cannot truthfully be said that hewas enthusiastically greeted by the Portuguese and Chinese population, but the natives'found the uniform colourfuland watched him keenly. The Japanese have made a number of other survey flightsto Portuguese Timor. As it is, with the exception of Dutch New Guinea, Australia's nearest neighbour, being only a tew hours' flight from Port Darwin, the Common-wealth has followed these preliminaries with interest. The Portuguese have not yet approved a regular Japanese ser-vice, nor have the Dutch granted the right to fly over their adjacent islands. Dilli has an aerodrome as well as a lagoon for flyingboats, but it is not of a high standard and only gives a landing run of some 600 odd yards. It is, however, pos-sible, to use it diagonally to obtain a length of I.GOO yards.Levelling and enlarging are needed to make it into a first- class aerodrome. Conveniently situated from the town, itis one mile north-west and is known as the Aerodrome Humberto Cruz, this being the name of the pilot who madea return flight from Lisbon to Dilli in 1934. It was also used by the late Pat Fairbairn when he flew from England^to Australia. " Other Australians who have visited Dilli lately to arrangethe flying-boat service are Captain E. C. Johnston, Assist- ant Director-General of Civil Aviation, David Ross, Super-intendent of Operations, and Hudson Fysh, managing director of Qantas Empire Airways. No oil in quantityhas yet been found in the colony, but a concession to search is held by the Australian, A. J. Staughton. and theGovernor has declared this to be valid till the end of the war. Funeral of Lord Austin /"MVIL defence sections of the Austin organisation, the Home^--' Guard, detachments of the works police, fire brigade, A.F.S., St. John Ambulance unit, nurses of the Austin Ambu-lance stations, and members of various other services all took part in the funeral of the late Lord Austin when he was buriedat Lickey Church, Birmingham, which is midway between his home in the Lickey Hills and the Longbridge factories whichrepresented his life's work. The long line of cars which followed the hearse formed animpressive cortege, and at Longbridge, where the works flag was flown at half-mast, the whole of the employees lined theroute in silent tribute to their late chief. The funeral service was held at St. George's Church, Birmingham. New Device to Aid Parachutists A NEW device for recording every phase of parachute jumps•*• •»• was successfully tested in Moscow recently. Baling out at an altitude of 4,921ft. with the apparatus fastened to the!rbelts, two flyers came down with a complete record of their jumps, even to the oscillation caused by the wind. This apparatus was invented by I. B. Stolbovoy, working atthe testing laboratory of the Chkalov Central Air Club of the U.S.S.R. in Moscow. It is constructed on the principle of thebarograph. A curved line described on a ribbon records the height of the jump, how many seconds elapsed in the freedrop, when the parachute opened, and how the subsequent descent proceeded. The device will be very valuable in casesof delayed jumps from high altitudes.
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