AVIATION IN 1931

Evening Star, Issue 20996, 9 January 1932, Page 18

AVIATION IN 1931

REVIEW OF THE YEAR COMMERCIAL EFFORT 1 NEW ZEALAND'S ACTIVITIES 11. [By H. L. Chisholm.] Sneer at long-distance flights and record-breaking efforts as u stunts,” if you will, but commercial aviation is the child of the “ stunt ” flight. Early in the year, K.L.M., the Dutch air line, running from Holland to the Dutch East Indies, which are linked by K.N.1.L.M., a subsidiary company, announced plans for trial flights to Australia, and Imperial Airways, not to be outdone, thereupon ran two experimental services from England to Australia, but a crash at Keeaon the first outward flight i their effort. 'lmperial Airways then applied for a subsidy for the Australian service, but the Federal Government refused, and the Dutch, whose flights succeeded, offered to conduct a Britain-Australh service free of subsidy if the Australian Government would allow them to charge a higher airmail rate than Imperial Airways had. This, too, was refused. The Australian Government apparently intended reserving the route for British enterprise. Kingsford Smith’s company, Australian National Airways, undertook a two-way flight with passengers in November, but disaster attended both trips. Imperial Airways have _ speeded up their English-India service, and in March opened the route to Cape Town by inaugurating a service to Mwanza,, at the foot, of Lake Victoria Nyanza, and hope, within, a few weeks, to extend the service through to Cape Town. But for technical difficulties which have arisen, the line would have been in operation by now. TROUBLED INDIA.

India has been a thorn in the side of those planning the Empire air route. Its Government spoilt Imperial Airways’ idea of a through service in intimating that an Indian State Air Seryice would cover the Indian section of the route. Imperial Airways could turn over passengers and mails to the Indian service at /Karachi, and pick them up again at Singapore. For the purpose of. their service the Government purchased a fleet of Avro Tens to carry eight passengers besides pilot and luggage. A Retrenchment Com- . mittee recommended the cutting down of the civil aviation expenses, and its report fvas adopted. The Avro Tens are not wanted now. The charter of an Imperial Airways machine by_ the Indian Post'Office to take the air mails from Karachi to Delhi was to cease at the end of the year, The Delhi Flying Club have, however, concluded an arrangement whereby it will fly the mail to Delhi ' in a Moth, at no charge to the. Government, Negotiations have also been taking place between the Government and Messrs Tata, Bombay, for a Moth ■air line connecting Karachi with Bombay and possibly Madras without cost to the Government, If the actions of the Indian Government in regard to the Imperial airway 'to Australia can bt, taken as a criterion of the ability and statesmanlike vision of the Government there, can it be wondered at that there is trouble in India? England has not been the only country that has been active in extending its air services, and the Dutch company, which operated a fortnightly service to Java, now has a weekly one. The schedule was formerly twelve days, but a pilot cut out the distance in eight and a-half days, with the result that the schedule was cut to ten days. Another pilot has since made the trip in a week. This is the longest air line in the world.

AIRSHIPS. Britain has fallen out of the airship raco. RIOO has been sold and broken up; the great 5,000,000 ft dirigible, that flew from England to Canada and back is going to be ash trays and other things. The millions spent 1 in her construction and maintenance have been wasted. The great grandiose vision of an Empire linked by gigantic airships riding on the trade winds upon which 1 the Empire was built is but a dream. America, on the other hand, has launched the Akron, _ otherwise the ZRS-4,, the largest airship in the world, and is building a sister snip. Germany is going ahead building more Zeppelins, and Dr Eckener has plans for an _ Atlantic service—the project for which RIOO was built—and.be, hopes to obtain Cardington to further his scheme. By 1933 he anticipates that the service will be in operation, four giant craft carrying fifty passengers and ten or fifteen tons of mails on •ach trip. Dr Eckener has been busy with his

Graf Zeppelin, and besides his Arctic trip and a number of minor expeditions has made two return trips from Friedrichshaven to Brazil. NEW ZEALAND YEAR. So far as New Zealand is concerned, the year opened auspiciously with the solo flight of Menzies in the Southern Cross Junior across the Tasman Sea in just over twelve hours. But all thoughts of Menzies’s effort were forgotten when the Hawke’s Bay earthquake occurred, and the aviators were called to the aid of tho stricken and isolated area. How the New Zealand Air Force and civilian pilots co-operated in rendering service on that great occasion will never be forgotten by those whom they served; nor will it he forgotten by the aviators themselves, because they flew from early morning unti| after dark, carrying doctors, medical supplies, food, clothing, and mails from Wellington and Auckland to Hawke’s Bay. By tho crash at Wairoa in February the scheme of Dominion Airlines Ltd. for service throughout the country came to an end, and the company has gone into voluntary liquidation. Very soon afterwards the Gisborne Air Transport Company was formed, and flew the Gishorne-Hastings service, formerly operated by Dominion Airlines, and the service between Christchurch and Dunedin, run by Air Travel Ltd., also ceased. Then came Chichester’s wonderful journey across the Tasman Sea via Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands, a markpost in New Zealand aviation. Although the aero clubs have felt the effect of prevailing economic conditions, they have been very active, and trained 149 pupils to the A license during the year, as against 118 during 1930. At present there are 227 A licenses and 28 B licenses in operation. _ The machines on the current registration list total 63, all being British except _ one machine imported from America. Of this number 32 are being used by the aero clubs, as against 28, 16 have private owners, and 15 are registered' in the names of aviation companies or agents. A census of the total shows that the various types of machines now operating are:—Moth, 36; Spartan, 7; Puss Moth, 4; Avian, 4; Avro 504 K, 4: De Soutter, 3; Bluebird, Swift, Heath t Parasol, Austin Whippet, and Autogiro, 1. Financial conditions have imposed great restrictions upon the Government grants. The 1932 appropriation crippled the Air Force, and the subsidy on pilots trained, upon which the clubs were founded, has been cut by 60 per cent.

During the year, also, the New Zealand Air League was formed, and has been active in organising aerial mail services to Inyercargill-Auckland, and Auckland-Wellington flights were arrangedl to connect with the steamers for the Australian-London Christmas flights. _ This was the first occasion on which it was possible to post a letter in Invercargill and have it flown all the way to London, with the exception of the Tasman crossing. Trial flights between Auckland and Gisborne were run in December, and a special series of Christmas airmails received great patronage. GLIDING MOVEMENT.

The gliding movement grew apace during the year, and there are now glider clubs established throughout the dominion, from Kaitaia to Timaru. A New Zealand Gliding Association has also been formed as a controlling body for the, sport. Another interesting feature of the year is that the first autogiro in the Southern Hemisphere is in New Zealand, and made its first flight during the year. Altogether, 1931 has been a year of progress for New Zealand aviation, and, the hardships it has had to endure, aviation in the dominion has proved itself a thriving infant.