ROMANCE of the AIR

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 165, 15 July 1939, Page 14 (Supplement)

ROMANCE of the AIR

Jcicnce ha? oiven/ienw(ho9.

THIS age, it is commonly accepted, is the age of science. Men call it so because no other has seen such tremendous changes crammed into such a short time. It is particularly since the Great War that advances have been so markedly noticeable. What was the place before' the war of the telephone, the motor car or the wireless? But perhaps in more than in any other direction progress has been most obvious in aviation. Three flaleiiieut* will add force to this assertion. In l'.Uo the -Daily Muil" offered u prize of £I(),(M)O for a nonstop ilitjliL from London to Manchester. Kleveu years later, the paper oll'ered tlio Hiinit' prize tor a flight across the North Atlantic. In l!t:i4, the same sum was tin- prize for I he winner of a /light from to Melbourne. Now air lines span the world, and the t-tory of the expansion of imperial Airways shows how civil aviation ha* parsed far beyond the sphere of the novel and irs accepted as eoMiniolipluce. In 1!12.">. the year alter lite company was formed. s.-,:;.04ii miles w<Me flown." Last year the total wart ti.2'2:i,!>(!B miles. In I!>-J), services operated to Paris. Cologne, i Ha~l(> and Zurich. The next year tin I Kfiypt-India routi> was surveyed, and l>y l'.l'J'.l ua~ in operation. li\- \'.KiJ. it. uapnti.iWle to ||y by one of the companyV machines from London to Capetown. Two years later the I/ondon Silica pore Kerviee was extended to Australia. By l!t:»t> the, service had become twieu

weekly. In 10:»7. as most New Zealanders will recollect, a survey flight was ina<le in the Centauriifi to t lie Dominion. In that year, too, the Ber-muda-New York service was established. Last year the Kmpiro mail scheme was inaugurated in Australia. Advancing Each Year Almost every year in the company's history has *«een sonic new and important development in the routes operated or the services established. One has to look at the map actually to realise what this cold statement of facts means. Mf>*t of the world is embraced in this aerial spider's web. The establishment of new eervioes meant increases in etaff. Tn 1024 the staff numbered 260. Now there are 368.1 personi* on the payroll. Tbey axe employed in 30 countries, spread, over five continents. Because of the specialised nature of the company's -work, staff could not normally be secured fully qualified to undertake the diverse specialised responsibilities required of them, so the company had to establish its own school for post-grnduatc training in air navigation, radio work and the like. The. international complexity of (lie company's affairs, is also demonstrated by the fact that 50 banking accounts are maintained, while dealings are done in -~i currencies and business conducted in a score of ljiujniajres. Up to Marcl. 31, 1939, the company's aircraft had

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flown over 40.000.000 mile* in<i with x thii-c .if it< HiliMiliitry and associated ' : companies are now llyin;; more than '" ■ :lO.OIMI miles earli day * a pivater die- x tniHv (liiin from Knyltind to Australia ' and hack. At, tin , outset it \vn« realised that the _ <■ < n 11 J >: 111 \- would have to receive State subsidy; Init-lliis assist a nee compared i with that fiivi'ii to other concerns in . oilier countries lias l>ooll surprisingly finall. In ]!>2.1 the subsidy was Ci:i7.Odd. Last year tho amount wa* ■ .C.*i.Vi.Ki(l. In 13 years the totil amount 1 ii'coived lias iJ4.-")(K).0(M). • 111 the oijiht years from lit'id to )!C{4, i the l'iiitc<l States subsidised American L itviiilion to the exient of £2.1,000,000. l-'or tlie the years, 1!):!2 tn 10:57, normal trading i-eceipts pruvidod t>B |>er cent - nf the com pa n y'h income, and the Bllb- < p-idy, '■>- ]ier cent. In the same |ierind. i e salaries and were tlio bijipest . item of expenditure, eom)«'i«iii£ 22 jier s cent. I'uci and oil ciiinp next at IS per t cent. Replacement, of fivinjr stock and ■i equipment was fourth with 14 |H>r cent. ■, Imperial Airways has always given e do-e attention to other developments v i'f 'der the inere extension of miles s llown. and can claim to have established s new .-landiiids of air travel. In 1!)24. I. the company took over 1* aircraft of e M'M'll diH'erent types. After dijrwtilijl \' the experience that had acciiuiiilat ed up c to tli.it time, the. company came to the

- ccnclusion that to achieve financial I autonomy aircraft employed in- ; tcMisivoly would lie necessary, Imperial - Aiiu.ivs, thoreforc, concent rated on . cii::nn:it in:,' their Rinjrjf aircraft 3 and replacing them by larjrc multi-i'i!»ii;i-d "planes. With each new type. higher speed as. well as other improve•mciitrs were called for, a compromise being made to secure the best balance 3 of speed, range, paying" load capacity, 1 comfort and operating cost. s In .02!), the company decided to • .standardise four-engined aircraft for its 1 major aircraft. This year, it is cons <luctii!g aeceptanct , trials of the Ensign 1 cbifis and the Frobisher clase aircraft, which have cruising speede of approxis mutely 170 and 200 miles an hour - respectively. 3 Apart from the leadership in the use a of ir.ulti-engined aircraft, Imperial r Airways was also the first company to - cany stewards, and to supply at "nret f simple meals and later full meals— 7 five course lunchee, and seven course 3 dinners. The Hannibal and Heracles f four-engined aircraft, put into service i in 1031, have now flown 8,000,000 miles. - and have carried 300,000 passengers with--3 out an injury to any of them. The company'e fleet now numbers S7 aircraft. ' developing more than 200,000 h.p. 1 Tlic first, part of the Empire air mail ; programme was started on June 20, 1037, > 'vlien letters were dispatched from tfngl land to Kmpire territories in Africa . bearing lid stamp onlv and no air mail I A.bel.

Tli ; second part, to India and Malaya. was put into force on February 23, I'.'.'LS. and the third and la<st part to Australia, (for all British Australasia mail) on July 28, 1038. Twenty-four (oi:.« of mail now Jrave Kiigland cai'li week hv air <>n the Umpire service*. Ir. other words, over 2,000.01)1) letters arc carried by Imjieiial Airways each u.'ck from KnghiPd to llio Kinpiri , n\ cr-i'iif.