PACIFIC AIR SERVICE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 95, 19 October 1938, Page 13

PACIFIC AIR SERVICE

New Zealanders will welcome very cordially the news from Auckland today that there is every prospect of the trans-Pacific air service from San Francisco to New Zealand being resumed in the near future,* possibly early next year. The tragic loss of the Samoan Clipper, with all her ■crew, some months ago postponed the

inauguration of the service and necessitated a recasting of the plans. The big Boeing Clipper, by far the largest flying-boat in the world, designed for a range of 5000 miles, developed in her initial trials difficulties which have now been surmounted, and rigorous tests have been successfully passed. The range of this, gigantic aircraft, weighing between 30 and 40 tons, renders unnecessary the shorter hops of the earlier flights. A new route will be followed across the Pacific with two "stepping stones" instead of three between San Francisco and Auckland. These "ports of call" on the way are Honolulu and Canton Island in the Phoenix group. Kingman.Reef and Pago Pago in American Samoa, the former stopping places, neither of them satisfactory, are accordingly superseded. The "hops" between the new airports, terminals, and "stepping stones" will be as long as 2700 miles, far the longest in the history of commercial aviation. They are easily within the compass of the new Boeing Clippers, archetypes of the ■ transoceanic aircraft of the future.

A trans-Pacific service on these lines has been rendered possible by the friendly co-operation of the British and American Governments in the joint ownership of Canton and Enderbury Islands in a strategic position on the route and it is believed that this co-operation will be extended to other islands in the Pacific which may be of use to commercial aviation either as airports or radio stations in the network of a widespread weather service essential for safe and regular flying. This news of Pan-American Airways progress in the Pacific service inevitably raises the question of the" Tasman air service about which little has been heard of late. The last information was that plans were being completed and a commencement of the service was expected early next year. The main question was the delivery of suitable aircraft, and this may have been delayed by the recent European crisis and the consequent acceleration in the demands on British aircraft production. It would be gratifying to New Zealand if both the Tasman and Pacific services were ready to begin simultaneously or as near to that as possible. New Zealand would then become a sort of half-way house in a round-the-world service; for there is every prospect of the Atlantic being flown regularly next year. In this latest development of air transport Wellington should be well in the picture, for the claims of Wellington Harbour as a terminal have been definitely recognised by the Government.