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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1391.PDF
PLIGHT, 19 August 1960 265 In pc- die Congo, internal aviation is predominated by Sabena'snetwork. In addition, Sobelair, a Sabena subsidiary, use "essna 310 aircraft working local services from Elisabeth- Mi 'tanleyville and Usumbura; Air Brousse have a fleet of p d^ Pacers and Tri-Pacers on similar work around Leopold- fk' "n'd charter work is also undertaken by these two companies. Aero' clubs operate most of the other aircraft in the Congo. In the East African Territories a total of 148 civil aircraft were esis'ered on February 1, 1960. Of this number 42 were single-sined Piper machines, whilst Cessna singles accounted for Mother 34; such is the predominance of American aircraft in this class The first aircraft on the register is a D.H.51, Miss Kenya, which still flies at local air rallies. Powered by a 90 h.p. RAFeneine driving a four-bladed wooden propeller, VP-KAA had, n 1928, the distinction of being the first aircraft in Kenya. It isnow owned by a private syndicate, and is hangared at Wilson Aerodrome, Nairobi. . . . . v , , . , , The development of aviation m Kenya has been assisted bythe construction of more than half of the 135 strips in the terri- tory by the Kenya Police Air Wing. Under the command ofWe Cdr A. N. Frankel, the eight Cessna 180s of the Air Wing last year logged over 5,000 hours. Eight special VHF frequenciesenable direct contact to be maintained between the aircraft and police stations and vehicles.Nairobi is the main base of Campling Brothers & Vanderwal, the largest of the East African non-scheduled companies. Theinstruction fleet consists of five aircraft and the charter business is carried out by two Macchi MB.320s, two Bonanzas, oneComanche and a fleet of Cessnas. As CBV are Cessna agents their fleet is constantly changing. Maintenance forms an import-ant source of revenue to the company as they do all Cessna and Bonanza "majors" and most Piper overhauls. However, early thisyear Wilken Air Services was registered and, as Piper sub-agents, this new and enthusiastic organization hopes to capture a shareof the sales and maintenance market. Caspair, a subsidiary of CBV, still operate a regular servicearound Lake Victoria with Rapides based at Entebbe. Meanwhile, East African Airways Corporation have been preparing to retiretheir four Rapides from the Uganda internal routes and the coastal services. The Rapides have been limited on very hot daysto four passengers on the longer stage-lengths, and the uncertainty of seats has discouraged regular passengers. The airfields havenow been improved to DC-3 standard and it is hoped that the introduction of Dakotas on these services will generate bothregular freight and passenger traffic. Typical of the small charter companies is Pharazyn Air Charters,with one Bonanza based at Kitale (a centre for European settlers in the Kenya Highlands). Manager and pilot is ex-RAF DennisPharazyn, who registered his own company four-and-a half years ago; most of his charters are between Nairobi and Kitale, andPharazyn has now flown this route over 1,500 times. An interesting operation with headquarters at Nairobi is thatof Desert Locust Survey, a department of the East African High Commission. Three Beavers equipped with Britten-Norman spraygear are used, together with a reconnaissance Cessna 182. The pilots like the power provided by the Beaver's Pratt & Whitneyunit since they have to fly just above the locust swarms when spraying and frequently in hilly country, with its associated down-draughts. In July the locusts enter Africa from Arabia: DLS spray the swarms in Ethiopia and Somalia, later following theminto East Africa. Central Africa. In the Central African Federation, as in EastAfrica, the development of aviation has been accelerated by the lack of good surface communications. This factor is particularlysignificant in Northern Rhodesia. From Lusaka,- the capital, Sqn Ldr W. G. Redding commands the Communications Flightof the Northern Region Government; the Flight operates five air- craft and undertakes emergency duties as well as the transportationof government personnel. Charter companies in the Federation are located at Kitwe,Lusaka, Kariba, Victoria Falls and Bulawayo as well as at the reaeral capital, Salisbury. Particularly interesting at the neweulawayo Airport are the activities of Africair (Rhodesia), a sub- sidiary of the General Mining and Finance Corporation. Theoverhaul and maintenance of the Wenela fleet is being transferred ~,urW^yo from Africair> Johannesburg. Wenela, the Witwaters- rand Native Labour Association, use eight 40-seat DC-3s and two • s^at DC-4s in the movement of African labour from centres1 -p Federation and Tanganyika to Francistown, in Bechuana- fand; from here the natives travel by rail to Johannesburg to work Hio (v^111181 "^e Passenger turnover on this operation is reputedly iUy,uoo per year. It was interesting to find that this DC-3 fleet was°emg maximized." The conversion, costing some £6,500 installed, onsists of redesigned engine cowlings and exhaust systems, as*;u.as tainngs on the main undercarriage wheels and tailwheel. ±nt success of Central African Airways' "Skybus" operations vV'^ lng- Started last January, this third-class service pro- l-s a convenient link to enable Nyasaland labour to reach the This D.H.51, in regular use, was the first aircraft to enter East Africa. It was registered there in 1928 and is named "Miss Kenya" Refuelling a Cessna 182 owned privately by Gp Capt Soden, a settler in the Kenya Highlands Native labourers, after completing their 18-month contracts in the Johannesburg mines, leave a Wenela Dakota at Mbeya, Tanganyika industrial areas of Southern Rhodesia. CAA are at present flyingone return Salisbury - Blantyre service per week using 40-seat DC-3s and it is planned to increase frequencies and possibly makeroute extensions to Lilongwe, Fort Jameson and Ndola. The single fare for this existing 300-mile flight is £4 10s, in contrastto a cost of over £12 for the comparable Viscount flight. Load factors of virtually 100 per cent have been obtained, the distri-bution of races being 65 per cent African, 20 per cent Asiatic and 15 per cent European (although Europeans are not encouragedto use this service). One factor that assists in minimizing the fare is the "Skybus booking van" which tours the African town-ships; a down payment of £4 10s cash, non-returnable, made to the van conductor is the only way of securing a seat on the aircraft. In the Union of South Africa and South West Africa, butexcluding the protectorates, there are some 315 licensed civil aerodromes, over half of which are privately owned, and probablya similar number of unlicensed strips. Beyond the conventional charter flying in this area, two types of operations are particularlyinteresting. The first is the large amount of executive flying asso- ciated with the wealthy mining houses, many of whom own theirown aircraft. The second is the extensive use of light aircraft for agricultural purposes. Small companies (frequently one-manconcerns) have created fierce competition in the latter field, and prices as low as 4s or 5s per acre for spraying are sometimescharged under favourable conditions. This price war has caused the collapse of several smaller organizations and has caused concernin certain areas. However, now that the resultant economic advantages have been wen proven, there seems no possibility of alarge reduction of flying in this field. The exploitation of air transport in South West Africa is gather-ing momentum; flying from Windhoek with a fleet of 16 (Navions,
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