PACIFIC AIR SERVICE

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22707, 11 May 1939, Page 12

PACIFIC AIR SERVICE

GIANT FLYING-BOAT

DUE IN JULY

SURVEY FLIGHT TO

AUCKLAND

i’AN AMERICAN AIRWAYS TO

FOLLOW NEW ROUTE

(FUESa ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.)

AUCKLAND, May 10

One of the largest flying-boats in the world, a 74-passenger Boeing Clipper, recently delivered to Pan American Airways, is expected in Auckland in July on a survey flight over the new South Pacific air route. The machine, a sister ship to the Yankee Clipper which has just completed a double Atlantic crossing, will fly from Honolulu by way of Canton Island and Noumea (New Caledonia) to Auckland, An early resumption of the service interrupted in January, 1938, is indicated by activity along the new route chosen by Pan American Airways. Passengers for Auckland by the Mariposa, due from San Francisco on Friday, include Mr E. B. Buxton, one of the company’s meteorologists, who was in Auckland last year, and Mr D. F. O’Brien, who will become chief radio operator at the southern terminal. Through passengers for Sydney on their way to Noumea are Mr A. L. Lewis, formerly airport manager at Auckland, and a ground crew of six men. The operations and maintenance stall' are expected to reach Auckland in June. Details are not yet available of the names (if those chosen, although it is possible that the party will include some of the men who served in Auckland while the service was being op. rated by the ill-fated Samoa Clipper. To establish a flying-boat base at Canton Island, a party is already on the way by steamer. The necessary materials and supplies are aboard, and no time will bo lost in building a base, putting in moorings, and making arrangements for the various auxiliary services such as radio ■ ud meteorological, necessary before the service can be begun. South Pacific Weather Immediately on his arrival in Auckland, Mr Buxton will resume his interrupted task of compiling a weather history of the South Pacific area. The new chief radio operator, Mr O'Brien, will replace Mr A. L. Charman, who was recalled to Honolulu after the Samoa Clipper had been lost. The company’s radio service in Auckland has been maintained ever since, however, by a second operator, Mr W. Taylor. In addition to providing the necessary staff in Auckland to administer the various departments associated with the resumption of the service, it is likely that Pan American Airways will extend its buildings at the Mechanics Bay base. By flying over the new route, two calling places on the original route will be omitted. The Boeing Clipper will not stop at Kingman Reef or Pago Pago; but will call instead at Canton Island and Noumea. These changes are not surprising, as Kingman Reef offers no facilities whatever for a land base, the flying-boats having In be refuelled from a floating base, and there are certain geographical difficulties associated with a call at Pago Pago. For the smaller Sikorsky to call at Pago Pago was not difficult; but the difficulties of calling there with the larger type were one of the factors that made it impossible for the company to use one of its Martin flying-boats on the South Pacific run. The latest developments effectively dispose of the persistent rumours that the company intended abandoning its plans to come to Auckland, and that Sydney or Brisbane would become the southern terminal of the route. The view that the service would come to Auckland as originally intended was recently expressed by the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M, J. Savage).

TI v ANS-TASMAN SERVICK

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

ASSEMBLED

MOORING PONTOON ARRIVES FROM ENGLAND

[THE PRESS Special Service.]

AUCKLAND, May 10.

The latest addition to the substantial quantity of equipment for the Tasman air service, to arrive in Auckland is a Brady pontoon specially ordered from England, which reached Auckland by the Port Alma to-day. A special pontoon, developed to suit the Empire type of flying-boat, it was ordered last year and will be assembled in Auckland. Shaped like a U, the Erady pontoon embodies many interesting features. In design it resembles a rmruatuie floating dock and consists of two parallel decks, joined by a submerged framework. Tanks give the pontoon the necessary buoyancy. When a fly-ing-boat has landed it is warped mio position by a ground crew and is drawn tail first into the pontoon, coming to rest with the hull between the two sections of the decking and above the submerged frame. Inflated butlers on the inner edge of the decking prevent the delicate hull from being damaged. -The design of the pontoon is such that the wing of the machine extends on either side of the pontoon with the wing-tip floats well out of the way. , _ , On being unloaded from the Port Alma, the Brady pontoon will be handed over to the Auckland Harbour Board. It has been sent out in sections and after being assembled will be anchored in position ofl the base in Mechanics Bay. A ramp will run from the embankment and parallel with the shore to a large pontoon which will be connected by gangways with the Brady pontoon. , , . Other essential equipment already in Auckland ' includes engine test benches, spare parts for the Bristol Perseus engines with which the modified Empire flying-boats are powered, rubber float moorings, and a rostrum on which members of the ground staff can stand while working on the fly-ing-boats. The rostrum, together with the necessary cradles for use in haul-

ing out the flying-boats, wall be sent to the Royal New Zealand Air Force base at Hobsonville, where the machines will be dragged put of the water if necessary and given attention ashore. The rostrum is intended for use only when the machines are ashore. In addition there have also arrived from overseas many minor items of equipment such as “dope,” and other preparations for use on the hull and wings of the three flying-boats built for the service.