NEW AIRCRAFT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22116, 3 September 1946, Page 6

NEW AIRCRAFT

GISBORNE SERVICES

ELECTRA TO BE USED

REPLACEMENT OF D.H.86

The beginning: of a new era in transport to and from Gisborne commences to-day when Lockheed Electra 10A aircraft will replace the Be Havilland Bfi machine which has grown so familiar on the East Coast.

The first Lockheed Electra machine left Palmerston North this morning for Gisborne, being due here about midday. Passengers were to be taken on board and the aircraft was to leave immediately for Auckland. Another load of passengers were to be embarked at .Auckland and the aircraft was to return to Gisborne late this afternoon. This will bring the services operated bv Union Airways back to their normal schedule, as the usual machine from Palmerston North did not come to Gisborne yesterday afternoon. With the new aircraft, one additional service will be run each week to Auckland. which has proved to be the more heavily booked run operating from Gisborne. The aircraft will fly return ■trips from Gisborne to Auckland on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays now in place of only Tuesday and Thursday previously.

Flying Times Reduced

The flying times from Darton Field to Mangere will be reduced from two hours to one hour 40 minutes, while the scheduled time for the_southward journey will be one hour 35 minutes. The scheduled times from Gisborne to Napier and Palmerston North will not be changed, but passengers will be able to travel through to Wellington on Wednesdays and Fridays, leaving Gisborne at 7.45 a.m. and arriving at Rongotai at 10.30 a.m. This service has been in operation for some time, but passengers had to transfer from the D.H. 86 to the Electra machine. at Palmerston North, arriving at Wellington at 11 a.m. On Mondays the aircraft will fly from Gisborne to Palmerston North, returning on Tuesday morning to carry out the Gisborne-Auckland service. The Electra has provision for two pilots and 10 passengers, compared with the 12 passengers carried by the De Havilland, but as there is one extra * trip each week the number of passengers transported will be the same. Top Speed of 208 m.p.h. The Electra machine has a cruising speed of 170 miles per hour and a top speed of 208 miles per hour. She has twin engines developing 450 horse-power at take-off and is a lowwing monoplane with twin tails and a retractable undercarriage. In the air she appears similar to the Hudson bombers which were used by the R.N.Z.A.F. during the war. She will carry 8001 b of freight compared with the 750 carried by the De Havillands. The De Havilland 86 machine commenced the service to and from Gisborne on March 26, 1945, when she was returned to Union Airways after war service. - Contemporary models of the aircraft were first put into operation by the company in . 1936, when they were used on the main trunk lines ana eventually replaced the De Havilland 84’s with which East Coast Airways first ODerated the Napier-Gisborne run in 1935. Electra machines have been used by Union Airways on the main trunk lines for some time.