BENEATH THE WINDSOCK

Evening Star, Issue 22459, 2 October 1936, Page 2

BENEATH THE WINDSOCK

by gypsy noth

EMPIRE FLYING BOATS. Time is to be saved in preparing the first of ti.a new Empire flying boats for service by submitting the second one to officials tests while the first is returned to the construction slied for the sound-proofing ana furnishing of the cabins, says • The Times.’ The normal procedure is to hand over the first aeroplane of a new type to the Air Ministry for airworthiness trials. In this case the second of the senes will follow the first so quickly that- it may serve as the prototype for official purposes while the Canopus is being made ready to take passengers. ■ The heavy traffic and the lack of flying boats to handle it on the Mediterranean section of the Empire routes make it desirable to have the Canopus in service as soon as may be. In the maker's trials at Rochester this first of the string of 29 new flyisg boats has given such satisfaction that both Imperial Airways and Messrs Short Bros, have felt justified in taking the course which should allow it to begin earning its keep as soon as the class has received its airworthiness certificate. The Canopus on its first flight behaved well. It has since been flown with every variety of loading except the full overload. It has handled well in the air and on the water. It has been tried with every possible engine combination and has even proved easy of control with

twi of the four engines stopped on the same side. Shortly most of the maker’s trials should have been made, and by that time the second boat of tho series should be almost ready for launching. A few days will be spent in tost flights at Rochester, and then : the boat will be delivered to tho Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe for full trials. Meanwhile tho Canopus will be having a double skin provided in its cabins and packed with sound-absorbing material. Its chairs, tables, and bunks will be fitted, carpets will be laid, and pantries equipped. From the trials the makers believe that the performances of this class will fulfil all expectations. The cruising speed will be quite 100 miles an hour. ROMANCE OF AIR TRANSPORT. Fresh news is just to hand concerning one of the most remarkable aviation enterprises the world can show—the air transport services in New Guinea which fly between the sea-coast base at Salamaua and the gold-mines up in the Wan district inland. Although each load has to be flown up for many thousands of feet above jungle-clad mountains, one of the organisations operating these services has now succeeded in carrying just on 30,000 tons of freight, and well over 30,000 passengers, to and fro, between the gold mines and the coast (states the ‘ Imperial Airways News Bulletin ’). Nowadays, when air loads from the coast have reached the aerodrome up at Wau in the mountains, portions of thorn are transhipped to other planes and flown on to Rama, Watut, Roaring Creek, and other subsidiary landing grounds away in valleys and on mountainsides. The work of the surveyors and prospectors is being pushed farther into the interior, and now there are several thousand Europeans who depend upon air transport for the receipt of their supplies. In addition to ore and mining equipment, the air freighters carry a remarkable variety of loads. Among one recent batch of cargo, waiting on the aerodrome at Salamaua for dispatch over tho mountains, were barrels of cement, tins of kerosene, bags of rice and flour, sheets of corrugated iron, inotal telegraph poles, and cases of tinned food and meat from the refrigerators. It is 10 years, now, since the first prospectors forced their way up through the jungle from Salamaua, and discovered the rich goldfields in the Wau area. But it took 14 days for native bearers to carry loads up from Salamaua to Wau, and the transport problem seemed insoluble until experiments were made with aeroplanes. Now the trip from the _ sea-coast to the mines can be made in half an hour by air. AERTAL T, 'GHTHOUSES. Important technical surveys, carried out in connection with the forthcoming flying-boat route of perial_ Airways down the cast coast of Africa, have just been complelcd by Captain Dnrrant. superintendent of Empire air routes wireless, and Mr R. A. Monday, aviation expert (if the Marconi Company. Arrangements were made, dorinrr those 'surveys, for new wireless “ lighthouses,” containin'* the latest forms of equipment, to be installed at Mombasa, Dnr-es-Salaam, Hindi, Mozambiouo, Q'uliame, Beira, Inhanibane. and Lourcnco Marques. Returning to Nairobi recently, after bis journeys along the east coast. Captain Pi'it:' nt left by a northbound ! .:■ -- ; a;, ,v.\s |,leer. lie will next

concern, himself with wireless develop, ments on Persian Gulf sections of the England-Australia rout~ Discussing progress on the East Africa coast, Captain Durrant paid a warm tribute to the co-operation of the Portuguese authorities. They had, he said, been particularly helpful, providing every possible facility, and enabling surveys_ to be completed with a minimum of difficulty or delay. While referring to airport progress generally on the Empire routes, Captain Durrant also paid tribute to the improvements at the Rand airport, Johannesburg. This had, he pointed out, grown in a comparatively short space of time from a “ one-shed aerodrome ” into a splendid airport with handsome and substantial buildings. Customs and refuelling facilities, and all modern equipment. Captain Durrant was wireless officer in the R. 34 when that famous airship made her flight to and fro across the Atlantic, and not long ago he made a first communication survey flight on the Khartum-Kano route which is now in operation l,y Imperial Airways.