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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0706.PDF
412 FLIGHT Congo Bound Part II. Flying in the Congo : A Visit to Lagos : Airfield Facilities, Lympne to Leopoldville, Summarized By D. W. WEAVER A LITTLE information about the organization of civilaviation in the Congo may be of interest. There isone Director of Aviation who issues licences, C. of A.s, etc. A certificate of airworthiness is issued every six months, and consists of the Director of Aviation having a quick look over the aircraft, and if, in his opinion, everything is in order he issues the new C. of A. free of charge. As I have said, no landing fees are charged, there are usually no hangars to pay hangarage for, and no one appears to have heard of daily or 50-hour inspections. All in all, keeping an aircraft in the Belgian Congo is a very inexpensive business. Visit to Lagos After a short rest in Leopoldville* I set off with Major Duncan-Smith for Lagos, where he had some business to transact. We flew to the mouth of the river Congo, land- ing at Moanda, where there is an excellent runway. This is used solely as a private strip by a Mr. A. Fischer, who owns two Aeronca Chiefs and a Miles Messenger. The latter, incidentally, is the one Alex Henshaw flew out to South Africa as Miles' demonstration model. I have since flown the aircraft, and it appears to be standing up to the climate very well. From Moanda we flew up the coast, landing at Point Noire in the French Congo. The airfield was a typical example of the French Air Force stations we encountered along the route. The runway was in an advanced state of disrepair, the living quarters of officers and men alike were filthy, and the only serviceable aircraft appeared to be Ansons. After a two-hour wait for petrol we took off for Mayoumba, here we had to spend the night in an incredibly filthy rest house, sleeping two in a small bed as it was the only one with a mosquito net. On the next day we flew on to Douala. calling in at Port Gentil. Douala is in the French Cameroons, and the hotel accommodation here was once again dirty to an extreme. The airfield, with one long runway, was the best encountered in French territory. Next morning we MAY 8TH, 1947 f!S?Vr. * Ti e flight from Englctttd to LcopoUh-iU* u bi'd lacl urek. " Between Libreville and Point Noire we saw plenty of game." Antelope, herds of buffalo and wild pig were quite a common sight. The art of balance took off at first light and encountered bad weather over the hilly country of trie interior. Low cloud was obscuring most of the high ground, and after I had flown through what looked like the worst of the weather the Major took •sover and I put down the back of my seat and went to sleep on the luggage in the rear of the cabin. The Major has about thirty flying hours to his credit, and is shaping well above average, but his over-confidence cost me a few grey hairs. I suddenly woke up to find the aircraft in cloud and the Major happily flying on instruments with" - the directional gyro looking like a roulette wheel. He had seen a hill ahead and had climbed up into cloud to avoid it. I spent an anxious ten minutes trying to get up through the cloud wondering which hill we were going to hit first. When we did eventually break cloud there was a 6,000 foot peak just to starboard of our course. Our altitude was then 4,000 feet. After that little incident I remained awake! We made our first landing in British Nigeria at Benin City, where there is a perfectly-kept airfield with two grass runways. Although we were the first aircraft to land there in six months (and also they weren't expecting us), we were refuelled and having a drink with the airport man- ager within 30 minutes. Next stop was Lagos, and to relieve the monotony of flying straight on a course we low-flew along the beach for an hour. It was rather amusing to see a native woman with a huge basket on her head running at full tilt up the beach without the basket showing any signs of falling off. Some native fishermen must have thought we were rather low, as they all abandoned ship when we went down to have a look at them! After two days in Lagos we started back for Leopold- ville. This time we flew via Port Harcourt, Douala. Libreville, Point Noire, and Moanda. Between Libreville and Point Noire on both the outgoing and return journeys we saw plenty of game. We low-flew over several great herds of buffalo, and took photographs from almost over their heads. Antelope and wild pig were also a very com- mon sight. Back in Leopoldville I added up the total mileage flown and found it to be just over the 10,000 mile mark. It had taken a little over 100 flying hours of anxiousness, worry, boredom, excitement and sheer good fun to make my demob, leave a very memorable one. Summary of Airfield Facilities TOUSSUS LE NOBLE Customs: On airfield. (Required all baggage to be unloaded butlater compromised by examining one small valise.); Petrol: All grades of Shell; Landing fee: So francs; Net.: In control build-ings; General: One metal-strip runway. Very soft, ground ofE runway. Landing made uphill in preference to into wind. Re-freshments airfield buildings. LYONSCustoms: On airfield; Petrol: All grades; Landing fee: So francs: Met.: On airfield. General: One long concrete runway in rather
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