EMPIRE AIR CHAIN

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 21 October 1925, Page 11

EMPIRE AIR CHAIN

FORGING THE LINKS. POSSIBILITIES OF AVIATION. TG MELBOURNE IN 13 DAYS. BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. Received Oct. 21, 2.15 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 20. Sir Samuel Hoare, Air Minister, in a speech at Norwich, dwelling on the immense possibilities of aviation in the British Empire, declared that there was no technical reason why Bombay should not be reached from .London in four days, Calcutta and Colombo in six and seven, Singapore in eight, and Melbourne in thirteen days. A provisional agreement had already been initialled for taking the first step in securing an aeroplane route to India. The route was already surveyed, and he hoped to make a beginning next year. He hoped eventually to see the Cape to Cairo route, which Cobham was going to fly this winter, and which a service showing the British flag in Trans-Africa would cover next spring.—Reuter.

The first link in the 10,000 miles Empire air chain is about to be forged. Regular services of mail and passenger ’planes from England to Australia are the ultimate aim. The 2400 miles span from Egypt to Karachi, India, is about to be surveyed, and a new type of aeroplane to carry heavy loads at 100 miles an hour is to he constructed in an. effort to save a week in the journey from London to India. The next stage of the Imperial line will be a route across India to Calcutta, and for the link after this, between Calcutta and Rangoon, a special type of metal air-boat is already in design. From Rangoon mails, will be airborne in relays to Singapore, and on to Port Darwin -in Anstrlia —thence to be delivered by the Australian airways. While these links in the vast air chain are being forged, steps will, be ctaken to extend the present Continental air lines, until mails consigned to India and Australia are air-borne across Europe to join up with the trans-Empire route in Egypt.