BETTER AERODROMES

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 99, 21 January 1935, Page 9

BETTER AERODROMES

Australia to Spend £35,000 on Mail Route DARWIN IMPROVEMENTS By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. (Received January 20, 6.30 p.m.) Sydney, January 19. The Minister of Defence, Mr. R. A. Parkhill, announced to-day that £35,000 has been made available by the Commonwealth Government for the improvement of aerodromes and airways on the Australian portion of the England-Australian ?.ir service. £5OOO of this will be spent on the Darwin aerodrome and £2500 on the Mascot aerodrome. Twenty-four hours behind time, Imperial Airways mail plane Athena took off from Darwin at 7 a.m. to-day for Koepang, When taking off at Darwin aerodrome for Koepang at seven a.m. on Friday with Empire air mails, the Athena was bogged to a depth of three feet and the starboard wing damaged. Workmen immediately began digging the plane out. Captain Wilson, the pilot, expressed the opinion that the mishap might necessitate suspension of the air mail service until the Darwin aerodrome was made lit for heavy aircraft. Captain Johnson, director of Civil Aviation, when informed at Melbourne of the Athena’s mishap, said he would obtain a report without delay on the condition of the Darwin aerodrome. He added that apparently the summer rains had been particularly heavy. He had no knowledge of this aerodrome giving similar trouble before. AVIATION RISKS New Insurance Company Formed in Britain (British Official Wireloss.) (Received January 20, 5.5 p.m.) Rugby, January 18. A company which will specialise in aviation risks and be entitled the Aviation and General Insurance Company, Limited, has now been formed by 12 leading British insurance companies and two firms of brokers, with a capital of £5,000,000. . . . The scheme is an indication of the growing importance of the aviation industry and of the determination of British insurance companies to maintain the position of London as the leading market for the insurance of various risks associated with civil aviation. LONDON AND PARIS Plans For Speedy Service (Received January 20, 6.30 p.m.) London, January 19. Mr. Anthony Fokker and Parmentier are arriving to-day in a Douglas air liner of the typo used in the Melbourne race to demonstrate the possibility of an hourly service between Gatwick, Surrey, and Le Bourget, enabling a passenger to journey from the centre of London to the centre of Baris in 140 minutes. A new company, London and Continental Air Lines, is planning to start a service in the summer with four Douglas machines fitted with British engines, making 10 trips each way daily. FLIGHT ACROSS PACIFIC Colonel Lindbergh’s Plans New York, January 18. Associates of Colonel Lindbergh announce that he is expected to fly the Pacific shortly, preliminary to the establishment of an air transport service between California and China.