AIR TRANSPORT NEWS
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GOVERNMENT INVESTIGATIONS INTO AIR TRANSPORT.
THE Prime Minister has appointed a committee to consider and report to the Secretary of State for Air upon measures which might be adopted by the Government or the local authorities to help to promote civil aviation in England, and on the probable cost of such measures.
The committee will consider the requirements of the Post Office for air mails and the relation between air transport and other forms of transport. The committee will comprise BrigadierGeneral Sir Henry Maybury, G.B.E., K.C.M.G. (chairman), Colonel Sir Donald Banks, K.C.B., D.S.O., M.G., Mr. J. A. N. Barlow, C.B., C.B.E., Sir Cyril Hurcomb, K.B.E., C.B., Lieutenant-Colonel F. C. Shelmerdine, C.I E., O.B.E.
Mr. J. G. Gibson, of the Air Ministry, will be the secretary.
TO INVERNESS AND BACK IN A DAY.
THE Miles Merlin of Birkett Air Service, vice, Ltd., has done several useful trips this summer. A few days ago it was flown by Mr. „Newman, a wellknown pilot, from London to Inverness and back in a day. The passenger was a lawyer, who had some papers to be signed urgently.
The total distance of 900 miles was covered in 6t hours' flying time and Airwork, Ltd., which organized the charter at short notice, had a car waiting at the Scottish end of the trip. The machine left Croydon at 4.40 a.m. and arrived back at 4 p.m.
CO-OPERATION WITH SHIPPING LINES. '
MRE is more evidence of co1 operation between air-line and shipping companies. The French Line is now chartering aeroplanes from Imperial Airways, Ltd., to meet Atlantic liners, particularly the "lie de France" and the " Normandie."
A few days ago a D.H.86 machine went to Plymouth to fetch eight passengers from the " Normandie " and brought them to Croydon in time to catch the morning Continental services. One . passenger caught the 9 a.m, machine to Budapest and so reached there six days after leaving New York, probably the quickest journey ever made between these two places.
NEW IMPERIAL SERVICE TO FRANCE.
ADAILY service from London to Le Touquet, so arranged that business men can spend each night at the French resort, has been started by Imperial Airways, Ltd. The machine leaves Croydon at 6.15 p.m. and reaches Le Touquet 45 minutes later. It leaves there at 9.15 in the morning and arrives at Croydon at 10 a.m. The fare is 26 return.
"BRITISH CONTINENTAL ": NEW MACHINES FOR NEW SERVICE. WE learn that British Continental VII.Airv.-ays, Ltd., has taken delivery of its third Dragon Rapide and expects to receive its first D.H.86 Express Air Liner (four Gipsy Six 200 h.p. engines) within a fortnight.
About September 1, the company will be starting a service between Croydon and Lille, North France, STEADY AIRPORT PROGRESS.
ONJune 20, there were 23 municipal airports in Great Britain and Eve towns had purchased sites. Twenty other towns were considering buying land and four towns had reserved sites in planning schemes. A year earlier the corresponding figures were 19, 6, 11 and 5.
The towns with licensed aerodromes are as follow :—Blackpool, BrightonHove Worthing (joint airport). Bristol, Cardiff, Carlisle, Doncaster, Hull, Inverness, Ipswich, Leeds-Bradford (joint airport), Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Norwich, Nottingham, Plymouth. Portsmouth, Renfrew, Rochester, Scarborough (licensed only for private use), Southampton, Stokeon-Trent and Walsali.
Bury St. Edmunds, Hastings, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Perth and Southport have purchased sites, AIRWAY BOARD PROPOSAL SET ASIDE. :
THE Commercial Aviation Com
mittee, which was formed last December by the London Chamber of Commerce, the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, and the Federation of British Industries, has again brought forward its scheme for an independent statutory board to plan the internal airways of this country.
On July 29, Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister, Secretary of State for Air, accompanied by the Under-Secretary of State for Air, Sir Philip Sassoon, received a deputation from the committee, when the matter was again put forward:
The deputation was led by the chairman, Sir Stephen Dernetriadi, who stated that the proposed board would not be concerned with the owner.; ship of aerodromes, for its main functions would be the technical develop,ment of radio and lighting, the issue of specifications to secure standardization, the planning and installing of this equipment, its supervision and maintenance, the provision and control of air traffic, personnel, etc.
The Secretary of State for Aix replied that, aftercareful thought, he had come to the conclusion that an independent body would not necessarily prove the best instrument. He had secured a strong committee of the Treasury, the Air Ministry, ,the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Transport and the General Post Office (referred to in a separate paragraph), the function of which would be to consider the most advisable measures to be adopted.
IMPERIAL TRAFFIC MUCH HIGHER.
THE Imperial Airways' traffic figures for May have just been issued and show a big increase in miles flown and in ton-miles of pay-load over the figures for the corresponding periods of last year. The miles flown in May were 398,990, against 235,813 a year ago ; ton-miles totalled 434,928, compared with 284,489, and receipts, 2151,220, against 2128,871.