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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1538.PDF
92 FLIGHT JULY 23RD. 1942 FERRY COMMAND BIRTHDAY instructions are very strict, and record runs are frowned upon. In fact, Sir Frederick Bowhill has made it a mili tary offence to push aircraft ahead of schedule. Never theless there have been some astounding flights under freak weather conditions. There was one from New foundland to Britain in 7 hr. 40 min. for the 2,000 miles, and G. R. Buxton, one of the the original B.O.A. pilots, brought a Liberator at an all-up weight of 58,000 lb. the 3,000 land miles from Montreal in 12 hr. 55 min. Strangely enough. AIR Chief Marshal Bowhill himself, ac companied by his Senior Air Staff Officer, Grp. Capt. G. C. Powell ' (formerly B.O.A.) made the same flight in 13 hr. 29 min. The average times for the West-to-East crossings are: Newfoundland (Gander) to Britain, 10 hr. ; Montreal direct to Britain, 15 hr. ; and the Boeing flying boats on the Bermuda run take anything from 22 hr. to 25 hr. At the British end there is a sea plane station which handles the flying boat traffic to and from Bermuda and the Cata- linas when they arrive on this side. In addition to these direct routes there is also an Arctic route via Greenland and Iceland. . " Flight " photograph. On the Liberator I the pilots have simplified controls-comprising four throttles ; master airscrew control ; manifold pressure gauge on port outer engine ; revolution counter on port outer engine and master ignition switch. All others are under control of flight engineer, who also has duplicate throttles linked with the pilots'. On Liberator II the flight engineer has been dispensed with and the pilots have a full panel of instruments and controls. The photographs show (left) the flight engineer's panel, and (right) the pilots' controls on a B.O.A. Liberator I. "Met" and Signals As will be realised, an extensive signal service is neces sary for such an organisation. It a machine meets trouble in the Atlantic the captain is directed to the nearest convoy so that the crew may be picked up It the trouble occurs nearer home, the Ferry Command signal service has at its immediate beck and call a number of air/sea rescue units. It is in no small measure due to the efficiency of the signals branch that none of the small percentage of machines which have been lost have met their end by enemy action. I11 the thousands of crossings of the Atlantic, made by day and by night, summer and winter, not a single interception has been made by the Luftwaffe. For signal purposes the Atlantic is divided into halves, the western half coming under the H.Q. in Canada and the eastern half under the control station in Britain. These main controls take charge of the machines until they are approaching the base, when they are handed over to local control, who looks after them until they land. All these stations are, of course, fully equipped with radio beams and beacons and D.F. systems. The volume of traffic increases daily as American output of machines and Canadian output of aircrews increases. It is not difficult to visualise the time when aircraft will be despatched in formations to avoid swamping the signal service. Weather is one of the great problems of trans-ocean flying, although most of it is done at " overweather" height. Reports come in from all sources, and the Com mand has main forecasting stations at Montieal, Newfound land, Bermuda, Iceland and Great Britain. Forgetting for a moment its urgent war purpose, this Ferry is just an enormous experimental airline which "^ being run regardless of cost and the hampering regulation^ of peacetime. All the data are being carefully sifted and kept ready for .the time when the world returns to sanity. " Flight " photograph. "\ A newly arrived Lockheed Ventura at its dispersal point awaiting collection by A.T.A. The ; Ventura is the military version of the Lodestar. It has double-row radial engines.
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