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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1645.PDF
732 FLIGHT, 4 June 1954 Mediterranean Air Cruise Comfort all the Way on Aquilds Flying-boat Service to Capri "Flight" photograph Arrival: the Capri coastline is silhouetted against the afternoon sunlight as Aquila's Solent begins a circuit of the island. BLUE water became a frothy white as our Solent skimmed across the Mediterranean near the rocky coast of Capri. We alighted at 5.2 p.m. on May 21st after a six-hour direct flight from Southampton—the first airline passengers ever to arrive at this enchanted island. The occa sion was the proving flight for the regular Aquila Airways service due to start yesterday. Between now and September it will be possible to fly to Capri in 81 hr elapsed time, which includes a traffic stop at Marseilles. During July, the peak month, there will be one round trip weekly. This is unashamedly a de luxe service, for which the flying-boat is the ideal vehicle. Aquila's flights to Madeira, the Canary Islands and now Capri are probably the most luxurious scheduled airline services operated today. The company's present fleet consists of two 42-seat Solents and three 31-seat Hythes. As these aircraft are neither pres surized nor turbine-powered, their popularity is impressive proof of the flying-boat's unique passenger-appeal. Interior spaciousness is undoubtedly its main attraction. Throughout the flight the passenger is completely free to wander about the aircraft at will, and this freedom fosters the sociable atmosphere normally encountered only aboard ship. As shown by the cabin plan reproduced overleaf, the Solent has three separate cabins on two decks, plus a bar /observa tion-cabin which will comfortably accommodate more than a dozen people. In addition, it is liberally equipped with toilets and dressing-rooms. The cabin crew—two stewardesses and two stewards—have far more space in which to prepare and serve meals than have their counterparts in any land-plane of comparable size. And the control cabin, occupying the forward half of the upper deck, is the least restricted we have ever seen. Well-separated stations for two pilots, navi gator, radio officer and engineer, together with a large rest bunk, occupy a space sufficient for at least three times as many passengers. Solent G-ANAJ City of Funchal, the aircraft which made the Capri proving flight, is actually a converted R.A.F. Sea- ford. Although commissioned in 1945 (at Felixstowe, where it flew with the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment), it had logged only about 200 hours when acquired by Aquila last year. Overhaul and conversion to luxury standards were performed by the airline's engineering staff at Hamble. The work took about six months, and no effort was spared to produce an air yacht of most un-military appearance. We embarked in City of Funchal at 10.53 a.m. on Friday, May 21st, in company with 38 other passengers and a crew of eleven. The travellers included Capri's most renowned personality—Miss Grade Fields, accompanied by her hus band, Mr. Boris Alperovici. Our hosts were Sir Donald Henderson, chairman of the P. and O. Steam Navigation Co., which is now associated with Britavia, Ltd. (parent company of Silver City and Aquila); W/C. Barry Aikman, managing director of Aquila Airways; his chairman, Mr. E. C. Mekie; and co-director A. Cdre. G. J. Powell. In command was Capt. Douglas Pearson, Aquila's chief pilot, who made the original proving flight for the company's first scheduled service—to Madeira—just five years ago. His crew, larger than usual in order to provide as many flying staff as possible with experience of the new route, was as follows: Capt. F. Simpson, lst/Off K. Hammer, 2nd/Off D. Weetman, Rad/Off H. M. Bedford, Rad/Off J. Hoyle, Eng/ Off Horan, Stewards H. B. O'Neill and R. Woodward and Stewardesses J. Evans and H. Lee. The outward flight was smooth and uneventful. We cruised at 9,500ft, passing occasionally through inoffensive puffs of cumulus, at a ground-speed of 210 m.p.h. and T.A.S. of 190-195 m.p.h., feeling not the slightest wish to cruise faster, higher or farther. Our route lay via Le Havre, Marseilles, and Elba, where we followed the Italian coastline to Naples. Capt. Pearson then let down to 500ft on the 195 leg of the Capodichino range, in order to test company procedure for a bad-weather approach to Capri across the Gulf of Naples. After a low circuit of the island the Solent alighted on the lee side of its precipitous coast, pitching a litde in the swell. The flight had taken 5 hr 55 min—an average speed of 188 m.p.h. Twelve minutes later City of Funchal lay moored on the blue Mediterranean off the little harbour of Grande Marina. Launches loaded with Italian photographers and newsreel cameramen made circles of foam around die flying-boat, and when Gracie and Boris disembarked the flash-bulbs went on flashing for at least five minutes. The arrival of Capri's first Departure: "City of Funchal" takes off from Southampton Water. The non-stop proving flight to Capri took a little under six hours.
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