BAGHDAD AIR MAIL

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 175, 20 April 1929, Page 28

BAGHDAD AIR MAIL

One of the problems that confronted those who were responsible for restoring order out of the chaos of the shattered dominions of Turkey, after the war of 1914-1918, was how to link up Egypt, Palestine, and Iraq, countries which, over 2000 years ago, Alexander the Great conquered and absorbed into his Empire. As far as civilised communication was concerned, between Palestine and Iraq there existed an aching void/ Proposals were made to run a railway more or less direct across the desert from Baghdad to Palestine, but the cost of construetion would be enormous, and it is doubtful whether it would in the end be a paying proposition. What was more' natural than to turn to the new means of transport, the aeroplane, to find a solution, of the difficulty. writes Wing-Commander Roderic Hill in his interesting book, “The Baghdad Air Mail,” a copy of which has just reached us from the publishers, Messrs. Arnold, of London. In March. 1921, there was held a conference at Cairo, at which were present the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Chief of the Air Staff, and the local Army and Royal Air Force commanders, besides a number of people who had special knowledge of the Middle East. All sorts of problems were discussed, and among them was the question of am Air Route. The Air Route was intended as a link in the Imperial chain of communications which it is hoped will one day run across India, all the way to Australia. To start with, anyone ignorant of flying conditions in that part of the country might well ask, “What is an Air Route?” Aeroplanes sail through the air and are not forced to bother about the ground - as long as they do not come to a lofty mountain range that they cannot easily climb over. All the business of having a broad, paved track with brightly-coloured petrol pumps and frequent hotels is unnecessary. That is true for flying over normal types of reasonably-developed country, and a pilot could, as far as pure flying is concerned, fly the 450 odd miles from Amman to Ramadi by means of his compass. If he were flying in an easterly direction and made a mistake of a few degrees in his navigation he would just have to go on until he hit the Euphrates. But at the time that the route was opened, aerox engines were not anything like so reliable as they are nowadays, and there was always the chance of an aeroplane being forced to land en route, due to engine failure. Now, if

this happened to an aeroplane, even when fitted with wireless, it would be as easy to find in the vast uncharted spaces as a needle in a haystack; meanwhile the unfortunate pilot would be exposed to a lingering death, the horrors of which it is advisable not to think about.

The men who set out into the unknown to mark the track had no light task before them. Before the summer of 1921, no European, so far as is known, had been right across the plateau in an easterly or westerly direction, except along the well-known caravan route from Damascus to the Euphrates, which lay a long way north g of the proposed crossing. It was- found that the track most visible from the air was that made by the wheels of observation ears as they followed one another across the desert. Over certain portions of the route a Fordson tractor was used with a plough attached, which made a plough track as well. Where the track twisted, for example, to negotiate an obstinate wadi, an arrow would be ploughed for extra guidance. Landing-grounds were marked at intervals of 15 to 30 miles all the way. along the track. All that the ground parties did in marking the landing-grounds on the mail route was to plough a circle about 20 yards in diameter in the desert, and inside the circle plough a letter or number. At the end of 1922 and the beginning of 1923 other car convoys went out from each end and re-marked the track, straightening it out and improving it in places, and reploughing the furrow. The plough track is now complete along the whole route. The winter rains were apt to obliterate the track in places, so re-marking was necessary. It became necessary to install special desert refuelling points on the track because the aircraft were frequently unable against an adverse wind to fly from Ramadi to Amman, or vice versa, without taking in some petrol en route.'

Even though the route is so well marked, after the autumn rains, and in the strange elusive lighting of the desert, which has been described as “full of things that are not there,” it was by no means impossible to lose touch with the track, especially in the low cloud and rain of the winter months.

In a flight across the mail route east of Amman, unless the weather is perfect, the track is the beginning and the end, the pilot’s present, his past, and his future.