SEA AND AIR LINERS

Hokitika Guardian, 12 November 1928, Page 8

SEA AND AIR LINERS

LINKING UP EUROPE. THE GERA lAN CHALLENGE

Germany which already control* L!h' civil air linos of Central Europe is now making a great bid to establish air lines from Ireland to the Continent across the very heart of England. The plan, which is that of the .Jlinkers firm, is for a service from Queenstown to Northern Europe by way ot Dublin, Liverpool, and hull. A connecting line from Hull to London would link up Paris. Bold in, and Vienna in the scheme. Transatlantic travellers would save from 36 to 48 hours. The journey from London to

Dublin would bo reduced from 12 hours to three. How Britain lays behind Germany in the development of air traffic is shown below by the Da fly Express air correspondent. Germany has 100 air liners in commission, Britain has 21. Squadron-Leader F. E. Guest, Af. P.. •1 former Air Minister, points out in an interview that the grant for civil aviation, once £1,000.000, is now onlv G220T00 a year. “Every civilian air liner,” he said, “is a potential bomber. How Germany rules the world in civil aviation may be gunged from the <V t that 33°6 foreign aeroplanes made flights between Great Britain and the Continent last ymor, British machines made 248!) similar flights. Germany operates 14,"00 miles of air routes in Europe, France has 8800 miles. Britain 1000 miles. German air liners fly -10. COO miles adny, British aircraft fI.V 8000 miles. Germany has 160 air liners—ootential bombers—in commission. AVe have 21.

Germany is not allowed a mililarv Air Force. We spend more than £lO, ON),OOO a year on ours. Vet the recent air manoeuvres have demonstrated that London could he laid waste and the population annihilated within the first week of the next war. Great Britain is on the point of losing the potential Irish Service, owing to lack of initiative.

I am aide to reveal that a German company, eperating German machines will probably shortly open a service between Queenstown and the Continent. American liners passengers will be nicked up at Queenstown and raced to Europe via Dublin. Liverpool, and Hull. Seaplanes from Hull will carry then across the North Sea to Copenhagen, Oslo, 'and Stockholm. Branch lines will link up with London and will enable travellers to reach Paris, Berlin, and Vienna from 36 to -18 hours ahead of the present time table.

The idea, when it was originally conceived, was put up to Imperial Airways. They turned it down. Junkers. the great German aircraft firm, took up tlie project with enthusiasm, and approached the Liverpool Corporation. A contract, it is expected will shortly he signed giving the Germans. though a subsidiary British company, the right to opera to the valuable air service to Ireland. Tt ts«l-os by boat and train some 14 hours To reincih Cork or AVaterford from London. An aeroplane will do the journey in less than four hours. To reach Dublin you leave London at 8.60 \o.m.. and arrive in time for breakfast the following day. Air liners will leave at 4.30 p.m., and he in Dublin in time for dinner the same evening.

‘When T whs Secretary of Sin to for Air wo 1 1 ml £1,000,C00 for civil aviation” said Squadron-Leader the Right Hon. F. H. Guest, ALP. “This dwindled to £400,000, and now the grant is only £220,000. What the Air Afinitrv do not seetn to realise is that every civilian air liner is a potential bombing machine in time of war. As the Karl of TTalsbnrv said in the House of Lords recently, ‘Take an air liner put in a machine gun, take out the fittings, and attach a few bombs and you have a complete bombing aeroplane.” “For a mere £220,000 a year subsidy we are maintaining at Croydon two complete squadrons of what are really bombing machines. that would cost many hundreds of thousands of pounds a year to maintain in service conditions. The convertibility of civil machines has been trebly proved. “The Imperial Airways route to India' is good. Sir Samuel Iloare ha= ci-.>iod that the next development will be an airway to the Cape of Good Hope. Unless the authorities wake up we shall be teo late. I am myself going out to South Africa early in October to investigate the position. Great Britain owns all the land east of Lake Tanganyika we have there the most wonderful natural air route in the world. Unless we hurry the trench and Belgians will capture the service. They hold the ground to the west of the great lakes, and then comes hun-.d'-vls of miles of desert—a paint nn tural aerodrome. Sir Alan CobTiain has made a wonderful survey of the possibilities of. the British route thronirl) Kenya and Tanganyika, yet little or no use has been made of it. “Seaplanes would he the machines carry travellers as far as Lake A ictoria and aeroplanes would operate over the rest- of the route. Unless we seine time bv the forelook one of the meet valuable air services in the Empire will go to Belgians.”