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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1061.PDF
MAY 25T11, T944 FLIGHT 33L EtriIain's Overseas Air Services Diary of a 26,000'miles Wartime Tour : R.A.F. Transport Command and B.O.A.C. in Four Continents The Vickers-Armstrongs Warwj s IX weeks before my date of departure on a tc\ur which was to take me into four continents, across botnsAtlan-tics, and over a total distance equal in length to 11JH Equator, Royal Air Force Transport Command headquar ters produced an itinerary planned to carry me from London back to London in thirty days. At the bottom of the document was printed the following " Important Notice " :—Owing to frequent change of time table at short notice it is recommended that the day and ^t time of departure for the next stage should be ascertained at each, point of arrival. Vyj«E advice, indeed. I thought back on various inci dents which had interrupted my flying journeys during the years of peace, and privately decided that I would be lucky to be back* in two months. In the upshot, the itinerary won through. I was back in Londqn on the thirty-fifth day—and three of those days were con sumed by nnserviceability at Montreal of the trans atlantic machine. During my absence I flew on twenty days, on some of them only for a small part of the day. Four, times I flew all througfa the night. The total dis tance flown was 25,600 miles, and total flying time (take-off to touch-down) was 144^ hours, making an average speed in the air of 177.5 m.p.h. In war conditions, such speed and certainty of travel is impressive, reflecting great credit on Royal Air Force Transport Command and the British Overseas Airways Cor poration, who between them carried me for 23,600 miles. For the remaining 2,000 miles I flew with United States Army Air Transport Command—a brief experience which B.O.A.C. and the R.A.F. Trans leless provided th>»«!fght for comparison and contrast. ftpf least iiiU|iiiiiniiTr i the evident scope for accelera• If Ul 111""1 THE AUTHOR MR. BOVVYER is Chief of the Information Department, Society of British Aircraft Constructors. He has held that position since 1930, when he left the wor d of Heet Street journalism to organise the Information Department, which conducted a world-wide news service on behalf of the British aircraft industry till the outbreak of war. During Sir Charles 8. uce-Gardner's tenure of office as Chairman of the Society, Mr. Bowyer was his Principal Assistant, and last year, when Sir Charles was appointed Controller of Labour Allocation and Supply at the Ministry of Aircraft Production, Mr. Bowyer was promoted to joint responsibility for the chie'executive work of the Society. The present series of articles, however, are not to be read as statements by the Society. They embody the author's personal views and experiences only. WWPWBry^cTTeTrule, by use of some or all of the fifteen days which were spent on the ground and the coming into service generally of faster and longer-range aircraft. Assum ing that the haste were justified or necessary, it will cer tainly be possible ten years hence to complete a similar journey in less than a fortnight. Longer flying hours will become more bearable with improved comfort for passengers. Wartime does not encourage luxury—which one does not expect—and a stern atmosphere of austerity was breathed for most of the trip. On reference to the log I find that I travelled ne^fly 10,000 miles either sitting or lying on the floor, or, as in the South Atlantic ferry, on a shelf above the bomb-bay. In such circumstances long hatrls become trying, and the noise inside the aircraft, which are virtually stripped of internal padding of fur nishings, adds considerably to fatigue. Ventilation is also uncertain in converted bombers. These three drawbacks ol wartime flying were par ticularly noticeable on the longest sustained flight of the journey—6,450 miles from West Africa to the Bahamas, accomplished in 38^ elapsed hours, includ ing two nights' flying. Such conditions will not afflict the post-war traveller. They must be accepted for the time being as inseparable from war, though Transport Command and the Corporation are constantly engaged on improve ment of the accommodation. South Atlantic and North Atlantic ferry aircraft an; being fitted with seats as sup plies and labour become available, and the ventilation— in particular the heating—now supplied On the northern
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