PACIFIC FERRY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21550, 1 November 1944, Page 4

PACIFIC FERRY

R.A.F/S NEW PLANS TRANSPORT 7 SERVICES TROOPS AND SUPPLIES (9 a.m.) MONTREAL, Oct. 31. Approximately 25,000 aircraft have been flown across the Atlantic in four years in the snowballing development of an idea which at the outset was dubbed impractical, says the Canadian press. Nearly half the total were flown within the past year. The variety of planes ferried ranged from Mosquitoes, which make the New-foundland-Scotland hop in 6) hours, to Liberators, which fly regularly from Montreal to Souih Africa, 3800 miles, non-stop. The R.A.F. Transport Command has built up a tremendous ferry service so that the crews can be returned in the shortest possible time. As many as 100 trans-Atlantic delivering planes have been started from the Montreal base in a single day. An R.A.F. transport group is now turning its eyes westwards. Survey flights are being completed to get personnel and supplies into the Pacific quickly. Therefore aircraft from Montreal will soon be flying direct to California, thence to Australia, via Honolulu and New Zealand.

The R.A.F. squadrons’ new Pacific service will probably be in full swing next month, possibly on the fourth anniversary of the Atlantic ferry service. They will find little new in the Pacific jobs, because they pioneered the British route to Australia from Canada in 1941. flying bombers here for a year until the United States entered the war.