BENEATH THE WINDSOCK

Evening Star, Issue 22541, 8 January 1937, Page 13

BENEATH THE WINDSOCK

by gypsy inoth

'AUSTRALIAN AIR ROUTE. Bringing London within 12 J days of Brisbane, the Imperial Airways’ service to Australia completed two years of operation recently. Just 92 years ago the first regular mail service between England and Australia was inaugurated, and the sailing ships took from 70 to 100 days to do the journey. It cost a shilling a half-ounce to send a letter by sailing ship; to-day it costs Is 3d to send a similar one by aeroplane. But the shilling of 1844 had four times the purchasing power of the shilling of to-day. The Australian section of the route, from Singapore, is operated by Qantas Empire Airways, which during the past two years completed all 275 scheduled flights, entailing 1,199,275 miles of flying on a 4,361-mile air route that passes from the temperate zone of Australia, over the Equator, and into the heart of the tropics. Soon after the commencement of the original weekly service in 1934 it was realised that such frequency was quite inadequate to cope with, the volume of mail, passenger, and freight traffic offering, and in May last duplication was approved by the Federal Government, and thereafter two services weekly in each direction have been regularly maintained. Some indication of the wide appeal of the Brisbane-Singapore air service is supplied by the fact that representatives of 22 nations, drawn from 71 different callings, have entered and left Australia by Qantas air liners since passenger carrying was inaugurated in April, 1935. Passenger lists include the names of Lady Louis Mountbatten, Sir Keith Smith, Lord and Lady Hartington, Lord Balfour of Burleigh, Sir Geoffrey and Lady Whiskard, Charlie Chaplin, Mr Noel Coward, Mr K. M. Lindsay (Civil Lord of the Admiralty), Prince Purachatra of Siam and his daughter (Princess Valmachatra), aiid many other notables. AERIAL AID TO SURVEY. When the term “ flying survey ” was first applied years ago by civil engineers to the rapid preliminary reconnaissance of the route of a proposed road or railway, there was probably no thought then that surveying would be done later by actual flying over the country, and that a “ flying survey ” would one day become a reality and not merely a convenient description of a process far more laborious (states tho Wellington ‘Post’). The aeroplane had not then been invented. It was the Great War, however, that effectively demonstrated the possibility of aerial photography by the production of acurate maps of “ no man’s land ” and the terra incognita behind tho enemy’s lines. Since then aerial surveying has developed into a special art, revealing the surface of the earth for the purposes of the map maker,' the the engineer, and even the archaeologist, at a fraction of the cost in time and money entailed by the older methods of geodetic survey. In Africa and America, particularly Canada, aerial survey has been applied on a large scale. New Zealand, therefore, is falling into line with modern progress in securing a survey aeroplane for the use of the Public Works Department in its extensive operations. With their new machine the .engineers will be able to execute “ flying surveys ” and the Minister to make rapid tours of inspection of the works in progress. Fejv countries in the world are so difficult for tho engineer as New Zealand, and it is often a marvel to the visitor that the work of furnishing communication by _ road and rail throughout the Dominion has been so well done. How much easier it would all have been, with far less liability to error, if only the pioneer pathfinders had had the use of the aeroplane. It is by a survey from the air that the modern engineer can best appreciate the magnitude of the achievements of his predecessors. RONGOTAI’S NEW HANGAR. Construction of a new steel hangar, with a frontage of 80ft, was to begin at Rongotai aerodrome immediately after Christmas. The new structure is being built to house aeroplanes that will he used on the projected Auckland-Wel-lington air service, and also the fleet of the Wellington Aero Club (states the ‘ Dominion ’). The first step toward the new building will be the moving of the clubhouse 30ft toward the tennis court. The new hangar will be erected on the area between Cook Strait Airways’ building and the clubhouse. It will have a frontage of 80ft, witli a depth of 35ft, and an all-over height of Soft. A 20ft lean-to will be provided at tho rear. The new building will replace tho dingy, leaky, lop-sided iron shed which has served as a hangar since its erection in 1929. which has been for so long a reproach to the city’s aerodrome. The erection of the hangar will he undertaken by the city engineer’s department, which has also been responisblo for the design. It will be built over the present shed, which will continue to be used while the constructional work is in progress and will he demolished after the completion of its successor. A temporary office for the use of the aero club during the time their building is out of commission has already been rigged. REDUCED FLYING FEES. Flying fees were reduced by the Wellington Aero Club on January T, when a new scale came into operation. ' Dual _ instruction and solo flying to the A license will continue to he £2 10s an hour, the dual charge having been reduced from £3 about a year ago, but solo flying in the club’s Gipsy Moths will henceforward bo available at £1 16s an hour instead of £2. The charges for the hire of machines to club pilots making cross-country flights will also he placed on a sliding scale corresponding with the variation in cruising speeds of the various machines in the club’s fleet. The rate for Gipsy Moths will be the same as for casual flights. £1 16s an hour. The charge for the Moth Major, which has a faster cruising speed and about 35 more horse-power, will he £2 an hour, and for the new Miles Hawk Trainer, the speediest of all, £2 5s an hour. Tho new scale is frankly an experimental one, and will be in force until the end of June, the idea being to encourage the club pilots to put in more flying time than they would normally do. At the end of that period the scale will lip reconsidered, when the results arc examinable.