Pictures by Dick Ross
Page 25
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AIR freight exports from Birmingham to
the Continent, and inwards air freight movements, are being boosted very considerably by new equipment operated under contract with British European Airways by F. V. Carroll and Son Ltd., of Hounslow.
Two 14-ton Ford/Boden artic box vans of 2,000 cu. ft. capacity are employed on the shuttle service between Elmdon and Heathrow. Each vehicle makes a return trip daily, with a journey time of about 31 hours. Since the service was inaugurated in November, tonnages carried have more than doubled.
To facilitate palletization the vehicles have now been fitted with Rolamat slave pallets. These are bolted to the floor of the 30 ft. Boden vans and loaded light alloy Argosy pallets are manhandled, with ease, along the platform. Spring-bolt type locking devices locate the pallets firmly on the vehicle floor.
Four pallets are carried. When loaded by fork-lift truck the front half of the slave pallet rests on the floor of the van body—about a yard of floor is available for this purpose.
The Carroll inter-airport service is designated as a flight and it operates at scheduled times. It epitomizes the flexibility of road transport. Mr. Frank Carroll told me of another typical example. His firm's vehicles stood by recently when it was feared an Argosy flight to Scotland would have to be cancelled because of high winds---the drivers were all set to carry urgent air freight by road to Scotland.