AVIATION IN INDIA

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 139, 29 June 1937, Page 14

AVIATION IN INDIA

% Development of WellEquipped Serviqes DIRECTOR'S ADDRESS Tho development of flying in lndia and Burma was the subject of an address to the Napier Botary Club. yesterday by Lieut.-Goihmander VV. Watt, N.R.R., Director of Air Bervices in lndia and Burnia. The fact that oue air service in lndia is run entirely by Indian pilots, and that regular air services from three European countries, with a prospect of more, are now run, was mentioned by the speaker, who also told his audience of the number of famous flyers he had met while at Karachi. Seven years ago, said Lieut-Com-mander Watt, lndia boasted one regular air service, a weekly oue each way. Soon after that a Duteh service to Batavia and a French service to Saigon commenced regular weekly service, and other internal services followed. To-day aeroplanes passed through lndia like trains through a junction, he added, so that at times the Karachi aiiport contained as many as six different planes at a time bound for .various destinations in the East. All the aerodromes in lndia had an aero club, and one service was run efficiently entirely with Indian pilots and had not had one serious mishap in th'e five years since it had come into being. "The main aerodromes under ouj services now are Karachi, Jodhpur, Delhi, Cawnpore, Allahabad, Calcutta. Akiab, and Rangoon in Burma,,•, tlio speaker continued. "Jodhpur is « separate State, but acts with our ad vice, and on our , services we have 36 Indian officers who have been trained fully at Karachi and then passed on to other zones. Second-class 'drome> arfe linked between the main zones. "Flying is done at night as well ah day, ^ and our fields have first-clasf lighting and beacons." Most of the planes were equippet; with wireless, and to them were trans mittad the latest meteorological infoimation and advice regarding position. of other planes in the vicinity. Tla ground control service was an extreme-' ly efficient organisation. The aerodrome at Jodhpur, continued tbe speaker, was the best-equipped field he had ever seen. The Maharajal. of J udhpur was one of the keenest oi the aviators in lndia, and took an in tense interest in. the development oi flying. • ■ • The Maharajab of Indore, also, had been an intensely enthusiastic aviator in the development of services. He now owned several aeroplanes and had aijotlier linely-equipped aerodrome. The enthusiasm of the native princes was such that they vied .with each other in the excellence of the equipment of their fields. • Several famous flyers had stayed with the speaker, including Colonel and Mrs. • Lindbergh, the late/ Sir Gharles Kingsford-Smitli, the late Mr. C. T.'P. Dim, Mr. Biitler, who was dubbcd ' ' Carpet Slippers 7 7 because of tlie fact that he flew always in slippers, Mr. and Mrs. Mollison, Miss Jean Batten, and rnany foreign flying oificjsrs. The speaker and Mrs. Watt had met Miss Batten several times before she became famous, and again when sho crashed in the desert 20 imiles from Karachi. "In Europe they call Jean Batten the ' try-again girl,7 and I must say that she is a wonderful pilot,77 he conJluded. - ■•■■■■.