ITS REAL UTILITY

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 4, 5 July 1928, Page 5

ITS REAL UTILITY

COMFORT OF BIG MACHINE YOUTH'S OPPORTUNITY (From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 2nd July. Sir Alau and. Lady Cobham have returned to England after a journey of 20,000 miles in the same aircraft and 3000 miles, in another. During their flight from Bordeaux to Plymouth they ■ were delayed for sis hours by fog. Explaining the delay, Sir Alau said:— "I think that we ■; experienced the! worst weather conditions of our whole trip. This goes to prove that flying conditions in England and N.W. Europe are far'more difficult than in any other parts of the world. It shows that Britain 's great opportunity for flying lies in the Empire here. . Generally speaking, one can fly any day of the year." "I am convinced," says Sir Alan Cobham, in an article written for the "Daily Mail," "that in Africa there exists the finest opportunity 'in the world to-day to open air routes that will be of rerl benefit to the countries through which the air line passes. I feel definitely the urgent need of our country to realise that on the African continent there exists our finest opportunity to inaugurate an All-Bed air route, which will not only help to bind together thi countries through which it runs, but be a unique. and practical opportunity and outlet for the development of British aviation. GEEAT UTILITY FLIGHT. "Although there was much speculation as to the success of this journey, I am glad we have done it, for among the hundreds:of things we discovered the most important was that the West Coast route from a commercial and practical point of.view is not the cor-.

rect air route from South . Africa to England. • •..,.' ..; •■'■■■■' "I consider my flight through and round Africa the greatest utility flight I have accomplished; and although not so spectacular as some 'of my previous voyages, I have done more sound work in the cause of British aviation,than on any of my previous efforts. "The most elaborate report ever' made on the running of an engine on a long flight has been compiled regarding the. running of our Kolls-Eoyce Condor engine. ■ "We have negotiated with every Government frpm the Mediterranean to South Africa-regarding the possibilities of inaugurating the through air route. Without exception, we have had their wholehearted support, and-they have guaranteed to "help us financially to the limit of their resources, provided the. Imperial Government comes forward in a like manner. ' ' ... '■■.'. "Although aviation is new to the people of Africa,' I feel convinced that they will be more ready to take flying for granted than Britons at home. Air routes mean so.much to them. Letters take a month from Kenya to England at present, or two months for a reply. With the coming of the through air route, Kenya will be five days away from England, meaning that a reply to letters can be had in less than a fortnight. Rhodesia will be but.seven days away and South Africa eight. "Aviation development in 'Africa and other parts of the Empire, apart from the good it will do from its natur: al.uMifcy, will help to build up another industry.1 We have the men, for.the youth of Britain to-day is only too ready to leap at the' opportunity of entering aviation and'go] into, the world; and help to make Britain-supreme in the' air." . j .. • LADY COBHAM'S IMPRESSIONS. Lady Cobham also supplies an article to the same'issue of,the. "Daily Mail." In this she says:— "Our flying.boat was a service machine built for Air Force requirements,

and not for passengers; therefore, it would not be fair to criticise her from a passenger's comfort point of view. But, even so, I was very happy on board, for I slept many hours during flight in one of the four bunks available, and typed many thousands of words at my desk in the air. "Apart from feeling the cold a little when flying in Europe, tho atmosphere was always delightful in the hull of the flying boat when flying in tuo tropics. But it was on coming down from an altitude and landing that we felt the heat, for the cabin soon warmed up and bec.xme unbearable. I suggest that electric fans should bo provided in the cabins_ for the uso of passengers on alighting. "I soon appreciated the size of the craft. For comfortable air travel one must.really have a big machine with a largo* roomy cabin so that there is ample space to walk about and stretch one's legs.. At the same time, I would suggest-that one's chair should be large enough or so constructed , Lhat it .could be converted into a couch on which one could sleep, for there is no reason why passengers should not travel eight: or ten'hours a day if every comfort is provided. But the real advantage of the big craft is that it helps to get over the bumpy passage question. Our flying boat was so big that on the whole journey I cannot remember ; experiencing any really violent bump, although we went through a great deal of bad weather at various times. "I-was always able to write at my desk and type with ea3e, and my spirit stove,• with a kettle balanced,on top, stood on a metal base unfastened and never toppled over. "It occurred to me on many parts of the, journey how many lonely women there- were in tho. outposts of the Empire, and how possibly women were .afraid to go to thes* out-of-the-way places because there was no quick communication. All this could be altered by flying, for a journey that ordinarily took two days could be accomplished in three hours. "THis brings me to the question of an' aerial ambulance, A sick person could easily be taken 100 miles or so

by car or carrier across the jungle track: to the nearest air route station, and he could-thcn.be transported in a few'hours to the capital of the country, where specialists and first-class medical aid woiild be available for an urgerit operation." '■ THE MACHINE USED. The journey (says "The Times." in a leading article) was not undertaken as a spectacle or to break records, but for a sober and businesslike survey.of. a vast area over which, it is hoped, flying may eventually become profitable and indispensable to commercial enterprise. As our aeronautical correspondent said, it has been one of the most "useful" of,flights, for utility, and nothing else, was the reason fpr.it.; It has occupied Sir Alan Cobham more than six months; he left England in the fogs of November and returns, at the end of May; but this is only because he has taken, his own timo and neglected none of those researches and inquiries which.he had to make wherever he stopped. Nevertheless a journey of 20,000 miles in the sam^ craft (not counting, in some'3ooo more .11 another) is in itself no mean achievement, ana* -is a high testimonial to th^ British allmetal flying-boat, which may now; be said 'to have definitely emerged from the obscurity which overtook it after the, war. -.•■'■ This particular Short Singapore, the product of a pioneer Empire firm.of aircraft builders, and made/for military service, is, as it happens, the only one of its kind' in existence, being the one in which Sir Samuel .Hoare cruised over the Baltic last year; but it is the parent, so to speak, of the civilian Short Calcutta^ flying-boat .which is intended to be worked by Imperial Airways on part'of .the route from London to India. Of'the .'airworthiness and seaworthiness of tho.'Short Singapore there can be ho question; for it had not left. England long 011 tho way out when it stood.an exceptionally severe test in rough water on landing at Malta, and came off unscathed. ...','