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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 2088.PDF
FLIGHT SEPTEMBER IITH, 1941. HERE AND THERE Air Mail PaymentsT HE Civil Aeronautics Board hasexamined the cost of transporting mail by air in the case of American Aii-lines and has recommended that the com- pany be paid at the rate of 9.5 centsper scheduled aeroplane-mile flown with mail. The Board also recommends thatthe one rate be applied to the whole of the company's system, not different ratesfor different routes. Up to 300 lb. of mail must be carried per trip. (Thisrate is roughly nvepence per mile. Machines such as the Douglas DC-3 costabout 70 or 80 cents per mile, 35 to 40 pence, to run, including all operatingcosts, depreciation, office overheads and interest on capital. It therefore appearsthat American Airlines must be taking about 30 to 35 pence per mile for pas-sengers and freight.) Monopolies, Hands Off! CENATOR McBRIDE, the Australian*-5 Minister of Munitions, is reported by Financial Nezvs as saying that no worldaluminium monopoly will be allowed to grab Australia's new aluminium in-dustry. Rolling and extrusion plants are reported to be already in existenceand the establishment of the industry is being expedited by the import of somebauxite. There are large depots of this mineral in New South Wales, Victoriaand Queensland, but up till the start of the war there had been little reason todevelop them. The decision to produce aluminium inAustralia was taken after the outbreak of war, when it became evident that theimport of this essential metal for the aircraft industry would be very muchrestricted. Australia has a chance to start the industry with a clean slate asno aluminium has previously been pro- duced there. Judging by the Minister'sstatement, it seems that at least some people are aware of the danger of lettingan important industry get into the hands of a private monopoly. This danger waswell illustrated by the account on page 347 of our issue of May 15th of the groupof companies in U.S.A. which were in- dicted before a Federal grand jury andaccused of restricting magnesium out- put, so become indirectly responsible forGermany's production being 400 per cent, more than that of the UnitedStates. U.S. NAVY PATROL : Although we gave them up after the 1914-18 war, theAmericans still employ blimps for patrol over the Westerri Atlantic. The photo- graphs above show an observer seated in the control cabin studying a merchantman,and three blimps on parade at Lakehurst Naval Air Base. Hunting the Mesotron THE University of Chicago is using anairliner of the United Air Lines fleet to carry two of its physicists to a heightof 30,000 feet just after dawn for the purpose of studying cosmic rays andother high-altitude phenomena, reports Aviation. The expedition ascends witha 7001b. magnet, batteries, a Wilson cloud chamber and " geiger counters,"and is on the look-out for the mysterious cosmic particles, among which is themesotron. Accident Hate HPHE accident rate for the airlines in-*- U.S.A. is again commendably low for the year 1940 with one passenger deathper 36 million passenger-miles flown. Though this rate is not quite so good asthat for 1939, which was 44 million, it is much lower than the rates for the years1936, 1937 an(i I938, which were 10, 10 and 19 million respectively. The total deaths for 1940 were only38, three of these being crew. Con- sidering that over 119 million aeroplane-miles and 1,265 million passenger-miles were flown, it is evident that air trans-port has achieved a remarkable record of safety. There were 53 accidents, butonly three of these were fatal ones. Air Mail to Northern Ireland Tj*ROM Monday, September 1st, an air-*- mail service for letters, letter packets and postcards has been operatingbetween Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Correspondence must be pre-paid in addition to the ordinary inland postage rate, with a special air fee of3d. for each 8 oz. for letters or letter packets and 3d. each for postcards. Ablue air mail label should be affixed (or the words " Air Mail " written) in thetop left-hand corner of the address side. Correspondence may be posted in anyletter box. The advantages of this service overtransmission by the1 normal routes will vary according to the time and place ofposting, but will be between 6 and 24 hours. Generally, letters posted early inthe day in England, Scotland and Wales will secure no advantage. Letters forNorthern Ireland posted in London too late for the collections in the head dis-tricts at noon, and in the sub-districts at 10.30 a.m., will secure about 24 hours'acceleration. The benefit of the service from Northern Ireland will apply mainlyto letters posted early in the day for London and the Midland and SouthernCounties. The new air mail is not avail- able for correspondence to Eire. THE FINISHING TOUCH : Reindeer grazing in Finland with a Dornier Do 17 for company.
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