AIR TRANSPORT NEWS
Page 59
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AIR TRANSPORT CONFERENCE.
A CONFERENCE of air-service and PA. airport operators is being organized by the Air Transport Section of the Society of British Aircraft Constructors, to be held in London from January 10-12. The Air Transport Section is doing excellent work to organize operators to present a united front. There are two divisions, one for aircraft-operating concerns and the other for airport proprietors, municipal and private.
Each division will hold a business meeting on January 10. This will be followed by the reading of papers on (I) future organization of air traffic, radio services, etc., (2) legal responsibilities, (3) existing national and international regulations, and (4) aerodrome organization. Visits will probably be made to two of the London airports.
MUNICIPAL AERODROMES: GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT.
AN Air Ministry return recently published gives lists of municipal aerodromes in being and in prospect, as on September 30. It shows that 89 towns had had sites inspected, and a further 69 towns had displayed interest in aerodromes. The number of licensed municipal aerodromes extant was still only 21, compared with it at November W, 1933.
The five new ones are at Carlisle, Doncaster, Rochester, Scarborough (licensed for "private use ") and Walsall. Besides these 21 aerodromes, there are six sites which have been bought but not yet turned into aerodromes. This compares with eight sites at November 30, 1933, and makes a total_ of 27 sites and/or aerodromes, against 24 10 months previously. New sites that have been bought in these 10 months are those of Bury St. Edmunds and Newcastle-on-Tyne.
THE ISLAY FERRY.
FOLLOWING our statement, on November 2, that the GlasgowIslay air service might re-open for the winter season, we now learn from Mr. George Nicholson that he intends to start the service to-morrow (December 1),
The double flight will be made on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, leaving Renfrew at 9.30 a.m., calling at Campbeltown at 10.10 a.m., and arriving at Duich, Islay, at 10.45 a.m.; the machine will leave again at 1.30 pan., call at Carnpbeltown at 1.55 p.m., and reach Renfrew at 2.40 p.m. The single fares will be :.-.Clasgow-Campbeltown, 19s. 6d.; Glasgow-Islay, 30g.; Campbeltown-Islay, 15s.
The freight rates will be respectively, 2d., 21d. and id. per lb., subject to • minimum payments of respectively is. Gd., 2s. and 1s. These fares and rates are most reasonable.
Mr. Nicholson has applied to the Post Office authorities for a contract to carry mail three days weekly.
He has also been in touch with Carlisle Council regarding the improvement of its aerodrome and the erection of hangars, as he hopes he will be able to recommence on May 1 the service to the Isle of Man which was run late this summer. He intends, however, to make Carlisle, instead of Newcastle, the eastern terminus.
WINTER NAVIGATION LECTURES.
THE Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators of the British Empire has arranged courses of lectures to prepare candidates for the second-class navigators' examination, next March. These lectures are being hold in London and Liverpool. The fee is £5 Ss., which includes maps, charts and equipment, and the classes are held twice weekly. Those wishing to join should send the fee to the Clerk of the Guild, 61, Cheapside, London, E.C.2.
DUPLICATION OF IMPERIAL SERVICES.
LAST week we announced the introduction of fiat rates for Imperial air mails. The next big development (and one at which we have hitherto only been able to hint) is the duplication of Imperial air services to Johannesburg and to Calcutta. From about the end of December there will be two departures weekly in each direction between London and these stations on our two main lines.
AUTOGIRO MAIL TESTS • ABANDONED.
THE tests of an Autogiro mail-carrier that have been made under the auspices of the G.P.O. have ceased, and the latest report of the Post Office is that no further experiments with methods of picking up and dropping mails on the roof of the Post Office building at Mount Pleasant, Londan, E.C.1, are to be made for the time being. Whilst there are distinct possibilities for the Autogiro in this work, the roof at Mount Pleasant is not suitable in its present state.
CUSTOMS AT GLASGOW AND BELFAST.
UTNDER Air Navigation Directions %-.18j, the Secretary of State for Air has announced that, in agreement with the Commissioners of Customs and Excise, Newtownards Airport, near Belfast, and Renfrew Airport, near Glasgow, have been approved as customs
aerodromes. Customs -facilities are not always available at these airports and prior notification is necessary.
Air services between the Free State and the British mainland are probably to be operated next year.
HILLMAN'S PUBLIC FLOTATION. IT is now officially stated that 11111'man's Airways, Ltd., is shortly going to the public for £100,000 of capital. Mr. Hillman's intention is to turn the concern into a public company, so as to develop internal air lines on a scale scarcely practicable with private funds. Ho has been a pioneer of air services in this country, and we expect that his prospectus will show that, whilst not receiving a Governmeat subsidy, he has obtained satisfactory trading results.
As recently stated, Mr. Hillman has obtained a contract from the Post Office to carry mails on the LondonLiverpool-Belfast-Glasgow route, as from December 1. He intends to retain the main executive position.
INVERNESS-WICK IN HALF AN HOUR.
FOLLOWING the recent decision by the Postmaster General to make the Inverness-Orkney air mail an all-theyear-round service, further developments are taking place in aviation in the north of Scotland.
One of the new Dragon Rapine (or Dragon Six) machines has arrived in Inverness for a demonstration flight on the Inverness Orkney route. The machine, which has a cruising speed of about 140 m.p.h., left Inverness carrying mails to join at Wick the Orkney mail plane. The flight from Inverness to Wick was accomplished in 34 minutes, and after a stop of 35 minutes at Wick, the return journey with the southward mails was made in 4u minutes.
The machine was piloted by Capt. E. E. Fresson, of Highland Airways, Ltd. The company is considering putting on one of these machines, as the new contract with the Postmaster General begins to-morrow.
VALUE OF MODERN EQUIPMENT.
TWO of the Airspeed Couriers operated by London, Scottish and Provincial Airways, Ltd., now have landing lights and radio. Work is proceeding on the gradual equipment of all this company's aeroplanes with the Vickers Armstrong landing light and the standard A.T.R.4 radio apparatu..
The importance of such equipment was demonstrated earlier this month, when one of the machines operating on the Leeds-Nottingham-Heston-Paris route was reported missing. Actually, it had landed at Dieppe on account of bad weather, and, having no wireless. had asked the Chef du Port to telephone this information to Le Bourget. This he unfortunately failed to do.
One of the Couriers tested its Vickers Armstrong landing lights at Heston a few days. ago. After taking off by the Chance-Airwork shadow-bar floodlight, it succeeded in making landings and take-offs by its own lights alone.