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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0708.PDF
414 FLIGHT MAY 8TH, 1947 CONGO BOUND river thert are iairly well kept emergency fields every 40 km. LEOPOLDVILLECustoms. On airfield; Petrol: All grades; Met.: On airfield; Gem-nil: Main airport of the Congo. One long concrete runway, in goodcondition (railway running across the middle). FROM LEOPOLDVILLE TO LAGOS AND RETURN MOANDA General: One concrete strip in need of repair and a windsock. SAINT NOIRECustoms: Police from town inspect passports; Petrol: 73 and 87; General: One rather poor gravel strip. French Air Force station. MAYOUMBA General: Grass strip in the bush. One extremely dirty rest house. PORT GENT ILGeneral: One gravel strip (being enlarged)—nothing else. Petrol obtainable in about^two hours from Shell agent (English tradingfirm) in town 7 miles away. LIBREVILLEPetrol: 73 and 87 at least; General: One grass strip and an over- night hangar for aircraft. At least 73 and .87 octane. Hotelin town best seen on West Coast (which isn't saying much). DOUALACustoms: On airfield, but immigration authorities have to be seen in town; Petrol: 73 and 87 (from Shell agent); General: One goodgravel strip with large hangar nearby. French Air Force station. All hotels filthy to an extreme. PORT HARCOURT (Nigeria) Petrol: 87, 90 and 100 octane; General: Two. excellent all-weathergrass strips. As everywhere else visited in Nigeria, airfields per- fectly kept and efficiently run. BENIN CITYPetrol: 73 at least; General: Two excellent all-weather grass strips. If no hotel available near airfield in Nigeria, accommodationalways offered by hospitable English residents. LAGOSCustoms: Officer in attendance certain times of the day; Petrol: All grades; General: Main airport of Nigeria used by K.A.F. *$j£B.O.A.C. and run by civil authorities. One tarred runway and one grass strip, both in good condition. Airfield 10 miles fromtown. Hotels only fair B.O.A.C. CAPTAINS LORD KNOLLYS presided at a luncheon given last week byB.O.A.C. in honour of two of its old-timers, Capts. O. P. Jones and Dudley Travers. lie jestingly referred to the factthat the corporation does not encourage '' records'' (a refer- ence to the flight made by O. P. Jones a few days previously,when he crossed the Atlantic in 5 h 28 min) and said that records and schedules do not go well together. He was gladto pay tribute to these two captains, and through them to the other great captains of the past and of the future. Theirflying careers had been outstanding and were now coming to an end SO far as B.O.A.C. was concerned, Capt. Jones going tothe Irish company, which is to operate Atlantic services in competition with B.O.A.C., while Capt. Travers would, hehoped, do useful work in helping to develop the new large Saro flying-boat. Capt. Jones's training had been incomplete inthat he had never piloted a flying-boat! Lord Knollys said the great feature of the careers of thesetwo old pilots had been the personal contacts and many friend- ships they had formed during their long service, thus building up a very valuable tradition of service to airline passengers. Referring to the recent announcement that there are to beno more American aircraft for Britain, Lord Knollys said B.O.A.C. would do its best with available British types andwould provide a different service. Details were now being worked out for operating routes with the Solent and Plymouthflying-boats. Capt. Jones assured Lord Knollys that his fast last flight wasquite unpremeditated. He recalled that many pilots had given their lives in the service of aviation, and was glad to see presenttwo old-timers such as Capts. Bailey and Wilcockson. He- paid a warm tribute to his wife, without whose care andencouragement he would not have been able to carry on the work. Capt. Dudley Travers paid a tribute to the engineers andground crews, without whose conscientious work the good safety record could not have been achieved. A telegram was read, from Calcutta, whence A. Cdre.Brackley sent greetings and good wishes to his two old friends. TAKING SHAPE The latest production stage of the Bristol Brabazon I, showing for the first time the fuselage completely covered. The 65ft starboard outer main plane is shown under construction and the oleo legs of the Dowty undercarriage are in the foreground. The main wheels will have four 62m x 35m—29m Dunlop Compacta tyres and the nose wheel twin 3801 x 11.75—17m tyres.
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