AIR TRANSPORT NEWS
Page 53
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LONDON-GLASGOW: A FASTER MAIL SERVICE.
THE new air-mail service which Hill1 man's Airways, Ltd., is running between London and Glasgow, under a Post Office contract, which has already been announced in The Commercial Motor, started on December 1, when the Duke of Abercorn despatched the first machine from Essex Airport. Dragon Sixes are being used, and the schedule is based on a cruising speed
of 138 m.p.h. With brief halts at Liverpool (Speke) and Belfast (Newtownards) the flight is made in 3 hrs. 35 mins.
The machine leaves Essex Airport at 10 a.m., reaches Liverpool at 11.20 a.m., Belfast at 12.35 p.m. and Glasgow at 1.35 p.m. The southbound machine leaves Glasgow (Renfrew) at 8.30 a.m., reaches Belfast at 9.30 a.m., Liverpool at 10.45 a.m. and Esser Air
port at 12.5 p.m. Mr Hillman is, therefore, stationing one Dragon Six at each end of the route.
The fares and freight rates are as follow:— The interesting thing about the mail service is that under the PostmasterGeneral's new policy all mail on band up to a given closing time at each centre is sent by air. No surcharge stamps and no air-mail labels are necessary; the Post Office simply sends all first-class matter that has missed the arevious surface-transport departure.
Quite a lot of mail arrives at London from the Continent (via Harwich) in the early morning, and this goes north by the Hillman service. Also in both directions all mail that has missed the overnight train goes by air the next morning and is delivered the next Ifternoon.
The new policy has enabled the Postmaster-General to guarantee minimum quantities, and when the first machine left London on December 1, it carried 48 bags of mail weighing over 700 lb. (in excess of the guaranteed minimum). Of these, 42 bags were for Belfast.
THE NEW ORKNEY MAIL.
rT'IlE new air-mail contract granted
to Highland Airways, Ltd. (referred to in our issue dated November 23), came into force at the beginning of December and will give a better public service, For one thing, Wick now receives its letter mails by air instead of by train. .
The Inverness-Kirkwall service leaving at 10.15 a.m. makes a call at Wick at 11.5 a.m., and letters from the
south are delivered in the town from 11.40 a.m., instead of, as hitherto, in two lots at 2 p.m. and 5.20 p.m. Southbound mails are collected at Wick Post Office at 1 p.m. and go by the 1.30 p.m. machine which arrives at Inverness in time to catch the afternoon train for the south.
This means that letters posted in London before 6 p.m. are now delivered in Wick next morning in time for a reply to be sent, which reaches London the following morning. This saves 24 hours.
Letters between Wick and Orkney are now delivered by air instead of by train and mail-boat. Of course, the Inverness-Orkney service, which has carried mails since May 29, continues daily.
NEW K.L.M. LONDON TERMINUS.
("AN December 3 there was a meeting IN-1 of many friends of the Royal Netherlands Air Lines (K.L.M.) at Horseferry House, London, when the new offices and waiting rooms in that building were declared open. Mr. Piesman, the managing director, and Mr. de Vries, the foreign manager of the company, came across to England to
officiate at the housewarming. Mr. Plesman explained that all weighing, ticket and passport formalities will be dealt with at Horseferry House, so that passengers will not be delayed at Croydon Airport.
FRENCH OIL-ENGINE DEVELOPMENT.
THE latest news from Paris shows that trials of the Clerget 14-cylindered 500 h.p. oil engine, which has been tested in a Potez aeroplane, have been proceeding regularly and with good promise at the Villacoublay test depot. This is one of the big compression-ignition aero engines from which much is hoped in the way of safety and economy.
EMERGENCY AERODROME COACH SERVICES.
THE way in which air traffic in this country has continued during the autumn weeks suggests that coach operators who have not enough work in the winter and who are well placed with regard to commercial airports may be able to obtain some extra business by catering for bad-weather landings which are made at alternative aerodromes.
To give but one graphic example, on Saturday afternoon, November 24, six big air-liners on international routes landed at Lympne because thick fog rested on the ground at Croydon and other airports. The procession of coaches, Daimler hire cars, and other_ commercial vehicles which had been urgently summoned by telephone was a healthy sign for road transport. IMPERIAL AIRWAYS TRAFFIC SHOWS AN INCREASE.
Ttraffic returns of Imperial Airways, Ltd., for September show that 235,623 miles were flown, compared with 201,584 in September, 1933. The ton-miles figure was 306,855, compared with 261,204. The receipts amounted to £137,767, contrasted with £114,346.
The number of miles flown in the six months (April to September) was 1,371,965, compared with 1,232,142 for those months in 1933. The ton-miles figure for April-September was 1,785,743, compared with 1,497,766 in 1933. The receipts amounted to £797,166, as against £676,838.
WEDDING PICTURES BY AIR.
ALTHOUGH the weather was very foggy, especially in the South of England, air-taxi companies did their best to deliver films and photographs of the royal wedding on November 29. Lord Amherst, of the British Air Navigation Co., Ltd., left Heston at 2.30 p.m. and flew non-stop to Usworth R.A.F. station, near Newcastle, in 2 hrs. 15 mins in his Avro Commodore. With him were Mr. Flowerday and Mr. Brown (radio operator). The machine has a Marconi set and Vickers Armstrong landing lights, recently fitted by Airwork, Ltd.
Capt. Birkett flew his Leopard (without radio) in 1 hr. 15 mins. to Sherburn, in Leeds, and Mr. R. Watts, of Birkett Air Service, Ltd., flew a Gull (Gipsy Major) towards Newcastle, but had to land in a field in Yorkshire. A third Birkett machine (a Puss Moth piloted by Mr. Joe King) was bound for Jersey, but, although he had radio, Mr. King had to turn back. The Birkett concern turned away about £200 worth of business that day.
A Dragon of Railway Air Services, Ltd., piloted by Mr. Beresford, left Croydon at 12.11 p.m. and reached Belfast (Newtownards) at 3.25 p.m.
JERSEY TRAFFIC INCREASING.
ACAREFUL watch on the traffic bewe.en London, Vortsmouth, Southampton and Jersey, in the -past few weeks, suggests that the low level of autumn has now been passed. The lowest number of weekly passengers has been about 20, and the figure is now rising to about 25. Forward bookings show that it is likely to go higher towards mid-winter.
There are considerable bookings for the Christmas period—which even last year was most satisfactory. In fact, the company seldom has fewer than 150 reservations made in advance. Reliable local reports say that there are few Jersey residents -who do not look upon the air service as -the normal transport medium between the Channel Islands and England.