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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 0238.PDF
104 FLIGHT, 25 January 1952 AROUND ADEN AIRWAYS Pleasant Experiences as a Passenger on a B.O.A.C.-owned but Independently Operated Line By GEOFFREY DORMAN, A.R.Ae.S. 1AST summer I was afforded an opportunity of making a short tour of some of the routes of Aden Airways, starting at Nairobi and ending at Cairo; I flew via Mombasa in Kenya, Mogadishu in Italian Somaliland, Aden, Kamaran Island in the Red Sea, Asmara in Eritrea, Port Sudan in Sudan, Jedda on the Arabian coast (the port for Mecca), and then across the Red Sea—for the third time in one day—to Cairo. Aden Airways are a wholly-owned subsidiary of B.O.A.C., but work as an entirely separate company, only their policy being guided by the parent Corporation. The Aden Airways system was at one time No. 5 Line, B.O.A.C., which was formed into a separate organization, for political reasons, in 1948. At present it operates Dakotas, bit traffic is increasing so rapidly that some bigger aircraft will be necessary soon, and I was given to under stand that the chartering of Argonauts from B.O.A.C. was under consideration. These 40-seaters would be particularly useful during the period from August to October, when pilgrims from all over the Moslem world visit the Holy City of Mecca. Mecca is a prohibited area for all aircraft and only Moslems may go there. Pilgrims go by sea or air to the port of Jedda, which is 40 miles by road from Mecca. When I passed through Jedda the pilgrim season was due to begin in a fortnight, and already there was a big concentration of airliners of many lines and many makes. Aden Airways' general manager is A. de Graaff Hunter, but he was on leave at the time of my visit, so I was unable to make his acquaintance; nor was I able to meet the deputy genera] manager, P. B. Putt, as he could not leave his office in Asmara, two or three miles from the airport, during our 95-minute stop, and I could not leave the Customs area to see him. However, on the flight from Asmara to Cairo, we had as passengers Sreve Colvin (chief pilot) and J. S. Chambers (publicity manager), so I was able to get much information from them. Aden is the real centre of the network, but as the climate there is very hot and humid, the administrative headquarters are in Asmara in Eritrea, which is under British mandate from UNO. Asmara is 7,5Coft above sea level, so the climate is preferable to that of Aden. The various links are shown on the accompanying map. On joining the system at Nairobi, I was taken charge of by John Dudley, the company's representative there, who drove me to Eastleigh Airport. We took off for Mombasa at 7 a.m., flying in Dakota VR-AAE with Capt. Johnny Pascoe, a crew of three, and Aden - Airways Ltd Appropriately, the company's insignia features the B.O.A.C. Speedbird, but with an extra wing added. 16 passengers. The morning was fine—though too misty to see Mt. Kenya to the north or Mt. Kilimanjaro to the south—and the flight of 270 miles was made in 1 hr 45 min, flying at 9,000ft. The country below began with the flat grass plain around Nairobi, then became dry, arid and mountainous where the ground falls away to the coast, and, finally, green and fertile near the coast. We followed a course not far from the railway and road from Nairobi to the port of Mombasa, passing over some small towns and settlements, at least one of which had its air strip. . After 45 minutes on the ground at Mombasa, we took off for Mogadishu in Italian Somaliland, 540 miles. We had a fine view of Mombasa, which is on an island in a creek, with many docks, and a railway bridge to the mainland; and then northward over dense green palms, and in sight of great surf breakers rolling in from the Indian Ocean. After 1 hr 45 min we were over the border between Kenya and Italian Somaliland, and in a further 20 min we crossed the Equator with no fuss nor ceremony, for crossings the line means nothing to these "locals." Stewardess Aden Airways' network, and connections to trunk rou.es. Diana Dowell served us with hot coffee and very appetising sandwiches, well worthy of the catering department of B.O.A.C., and after 3 hr 35 min we landed at Mogadishu. We approached over a coast from which the spray from breakers was rising as from a small edition of Victoria Falls. The town shows signs of wartime bombing, but there is a good airport with one good long runway, and a terminal building which was crowded with Italians, Somalis, Arabs, Indians, and other races. All were milling around together, for Customs segregation was very lax. We took off with 19 passengers—only six of whom were Europeans—and the rest of the. load was made up of luggage and freight, including food for Aden, such as sausages, bacon, and butter, all difficult to obtain there. The Aden Dakotas have a C. of A. for 28,000 lb, and we were still well under maximum load. But in the great heat prevailing, it seemed to me that we took off a bit sluggishly. The skipper, however, told me that this was not really so; he purposely held down for a bit to gather speed. Mogadishu to Aden is 750 miles. Soon after we were airborne, we were given a most excellent lunch of cold chicken and salad, pineapple and cream, cheese and coffee, with sherry and red wine. Owing to the mixture of races, some Asian and African passengers had to have special food which made the stewardess's work a bit complicated, so Capt. Pascoe handed over the controls to the first officer, and came back into the cabin to act as wine steward and so get lunch served more quickly. This, and many other actions of the Aden Airways crews, seemed to contain very much of the old informal spirit of Imperial Airways. We flew over a part of Abyssinia, but it was mostly covered with cloud; what I did see through gaps seemed mountainous, arid, and uninviting. We were about 35 min behind schedule owing to a very strong head-wind for much of the way; as we crossed the Gulf of Aden from Berbera to Aden, it was blowing a gale from the north. Aden is a rock of volcanic origin which is believed to have been thrown up by the same cataclysm which formed the Great Rift Valley, the Central African lakes, Red Sea, and Dead Sea. As we approached it from the south it reminded me of both Hong Kong and the Rock of Gibraltar. Approaching at 4,000ft, we kept hearing thuds against the side of the fuselage : these, the skipper told me, were collisions with locusts, one of which flattened itself against the windscreen. They were being blown out to sea, quite out of control, by the gale. We landed on Aden Airport 4J hr later, just as the sun had set, and got through Customs quickly. The airport is in the Aden Protectorate, which lies on the mainland and is reached by an isthmus from the colony that is the Aden Rock. It has been for many years an R.A.F. station, and now a new terminal building is nearing completion. I was quartered at the Crescent Hotel in Aden proper, and after I had bathed and changed, Johnny Pascoe drove me to Aden Airways mess on the airport for drinks and dinner. As we drove across the isthmus I saw by his headlights a number of crabs, both
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