PACIFIC FERRY SERVICE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21605, 6 January 1945, Page 4

PACIFIC FERRY SERVICE

O.C. TO VISIT DOMINION FUTURE AIR TRANSPORT SYDNEY, Jan. 5. Air Vice-Marshal R. L. Marix, officer commanding the R.A.F. Transport Command Group operating the Pacific ferry service, has arrived at Sydney. He is visiting Australia and later will go to New Zealand to gain firsthand knowledge of the new CanadaNew Zealand-Australia route' under his command. He also operates the Atlantic air ferries of the R.A.F. to Canada and the United States. Air Vice-Marshal Marix, who is is accompanied by a staff of R.A.F. officers. He has been flying since 1912 and has an artificial leg as the result of an air accident in France during the last war. Air Vice-Marshal Marix said he believed the Air Transport Command would continue to operate for a long time after the war, perhaps indefinitely. It would, be necessary in the strategic linking up of parts of tiie Empire and it could play a big part in the rehabilitation and feeding of Europe. For a long time civil aviation would be unable to c-ope with tiie air traffic and the existence, of ihe command would be of great importance.

Air Vice-Marshal Marix said he envisaged air transport commands in die various Dominions,, each operating its own services in an interlocking network. He hoped this would be done with British aircraft.