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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1088.PDF
Short Calcutta "City of Stonehaven," on the Nile at Kareima. IMPERIAL RECORD . . . Imperial Airways for period of ten years. European service sub sidies were to be increased to £125,000 per annum for 1929-30, £110,000 for each of next four years and then £30,000 for 1938-39. 1930 April 11 th: Cairo - Cape Town route survey completed. April 12th; England - India route again began to be all-air except for rail sector Skoplje - Salonica. Time reduced to six- and-a-half days. June 16th: Experimental London - Birmingham - Manchester - Liverpool route opened mainly to offer connections with Con tinental services at Croydon. Argosy aircraft used. Route closed September 20th. 1931 February 28th: Weekly England - Central Africa service began with terminal at Mwanza, Tanganyika Territory. Passengers carried only as far as Khartoum. "Sylvanus," one of the three Short Kents used in the Mediterranean. April 4th: London - Delhi service extended experimentally for mail only to Australia. Mail picked up by Charles Kingsford Smith at Koepang and flown to Darwin, thence by Q.A.N.T.A.S. to Melbourne. April 11th: England - India service accelerated to five-and-a- half days. April 25th: Second experimental Australian mail carried from Akyab to Sydney by Kingsford Smith. April 27th: G-ABFA Scipio, first of three Short Kent flying- boats commissioned. Others were G-ABFB Sylvanus and G-ABFC Satyrus. May 16th: European sector of Empire routes reverted to London - Basle by air, Basle - Genoa by train thence by air. June 11th: Four-engined Handley Page Hannibal began to operate on London - Paris route. This was first of fleet of Hanni bal class for Empire and Heracles class for European routes. Original fleet: Hannibal class—G-AAGX Hannibal, G-AAUC Horsa, G-AAUD Hanno, G-AAUE Hadrian. Heracles class— G-AAXC Heracles, G-AAXD Horatius, G-AAXE Hengist and G-AAXF Helena. September 11th: Heracles operated on London - Paris route for first time. October: Trans-Mediterranean sectors of England - India and England - Central Africa routes separated. Became London - Paris by air, Paris - Brindisi by rail then to Athens by air, where routes became; to India via Castelrosso - Haifa by air, Haifa - Tiberias by car and Tiberias - Karachi by air. To Africa via Mirabella and Alexandria. December 9th: London - Mwanza service extended experi mentally to Cape Town with Christmas mail. 1932 January 20th: England - Central Africa service extended for mail only to Cape Town via Nairobi, Dodoma, Salisbury and Johannesburg. Kisumu - Mwanza sector abandoned. Time to Cape Town, eleven days. Croydon - Paris by Heracles, train to Brindisi, Scipio to Alexandria, train to Cairo, Argosy to Khar toum, Calcutta to Kisumu and thence by Hercules. "Horsa" (H.P. Hannibal class), at Khartoum, on the South Africa route. April 27th: Weekly London to Cape Town service opened in both directions for carriage of passengers. October 1st: India route diverted to Arabian side of Persian Gulf from Basra via Koweit, Bahrein, Sharjah and Gwadar in stead of via Bushire, Lingeh and Jask. October 26th: Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta four-engined monoplane first flew on London - Brussels route and sub sequently on Paris - Basle - Zurich route before going on Empire routes. Eight aeroplanes in class. 1933 February 18th: First 10,000,000 miles of flying completed. March 15th: Premium for personal accident insurance on com pany's routes reduced from 12s to Is per £1,000. June 21st: Indian Trans - Continental Airways formed to operate trans-India route in association with Imperial Airways. July 1st: London - Karachi service extended to Calcutta. September 23rd: London - Calcutta service extended to Rangoon. December 9th: London - Rangoon service extended to Singapore. 1934 January 18th: Qantas Empire Airways formed to operate trans- Australian route in association with Imperial Airways. March 21st: Railway Air Services formed, by four main-line railway companies and Imperial Airways, for the operation of British internal services. May 16th: G-ACJJ Scylla, first of two Short L.17 four-engined biplanes, commissioned on European services. November 17th: Flat rate for air mail introduced to certain destinations on Empire routes: 3d. per J oz to Near East, 6d. for East and South Africa, India and Malaya. December 8th: London - Singapore service extended to Brisbane for carriage of mail. Singapore - Brisbane section worked in association with Qantas Empire Airways. December 20th: H.M. Government announced die Empire air mail scheme (later, "Empire air-mail programme"): Beginning in 1937, all letters despatched from the United Kingdom for delivery along the Empire routes would, so far as practicable, be carried by air without surcharge. 1935 April: London - Brussels - Cologne - Prague - Vienna - Budapest and London - Rome - Brindisi services opened by Diana-class D.H.86S. t April 7th: Weekly Brisbane - London service opened for carriage of passengers. London - Brisbane service began on April 13th. 1936 February 9th: Weekly London - Kano (Nigeria) air-mail service began via Khartoum. Kano - Khartoum sector by Diana class. March 14th: Weekly London - Hongkong service began via Penang; Diana class from Penang to Hongkong. March 24th: South African Airways took over operation of Imperial Airways' Johannesburg to Cape Town sector of the England - South Africa route. August 22nd: Imperial Airways (Bermuda), Ltd., formed. October 15th: London - Kano service extended to Lagos. October 30th: G-ADHL R.M.A. Canopus, first of the four- "Astraea" (A.W.A. Atalanta class) at Seletar, Singapore.
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