FLIGHT BOUND AFRICA.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19177, 7 December 1927, Page 14

FLIGHT BOUND AFRICA.

SIR ALAN COBHAM'S

PROGRAMME.

10-TON FLYING BOAT.

(?ROU OUB OWM CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, October 19

Sir Alan Cobhain hopes to start in. the middle of .-November on what he terms a utility flight of survey. His route is to be' right round Africa returnintT via the West Coast, lhe trip ■ w Tono ofiW.WX) miles 'lhe era t to be used will Oe a shore nil-metai iiySg bSr fitted with two Condor engines. At piesent rt s lamest all-metal flying boat in the world, and when loaded m the air weighs more than ten tons, bir Alan believes that the flying boat will become perhaps the greatest commercia aircraft in the very near future. He hopes by means of this flight to help to bring about the early inauguration of the British Air Route through Africa. He is working in close conjunction with Mr Blackburn and Captain Gladstone who are endeavouring to inaugurate the route between Hgypt and Kenya, and hopes to come to satisfactory arrangements wjth various Governments of the countries he passes through, so that the line will bo continued through the highlands of Tanganyika, Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, and Southern Rhodesia. Up the River Nile. His company (Alan Cobham Aviation, Ltd.) has been working on this route for nearly twelve months, ana they hope by means of this flight to stimulate interest so that the "through route" will be running by the end or next year. Kenya will then be but seven days from England, instead of a month, as at present. Rhodesia will be nine days, and South Africa ten days. The route for this flight will be an entirely new one, for the great flying boat will pass down the River Nile to tlie Victoria Nyanza, and will then follow the chain of Tanganyika and Nyasa lakes to the coast at Beiri* Thence the route will be round the coast via Durban and Cape Town to Walfisch Bay. on to the Congo, Nigeria, Gold Coast, and Sierra Leone, round French West Africa, Morocco, Spain, and back to London. The Air Ministry, realising the utility and importance of this flight for British has loaned i the Short Rolls-Royce Singapore flying boat to Sir Alan. The crew will number five. There are seats for two pilots in the flying boat, and inside the metal hull there are writing desks, dining tables, and sleeping bunks. When the pilot has finished his watch at the controls his place can be taken by one of the crew, and he can turn into his bunk, or should he wish to stretch his legs take a stroll up and down the 60ft hull, or retire to one of the rear cockpits in the tail and take a seat to watch the passing scenery.