BRITISH AIR TRANSPORT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 26 January 1939, Page 3

BRITISH AIR TRANSPORT

A NEW ERA IN LONG-DISTANCE TRAVELLING ! REGULAR NORTH ATLANTIC I LYING ROUTE 1 I lie year 1939 will have the dislinc* j lion of being the twenty-first in the , development of British aviation on deli- | nitely commercial lines ; and one of its outstanding features—already promised for the spring—will be the opening-up ' o* a regular flying boat service to and fro across the North Atlantic. It was at just this time of the ycai, twenty years ago now. that final touches . were being put to a scheme which, iu February, 1919. led to the coming into being of a Civil Avjutiou Department m the British Ministry. And it was the institution of that Department, and (lie • bringing into law in the same month of the Air Navigation Acts (1911-19) that ushered in an air travel era of which \\e >liall be reaping further important fruit* , this year. For the impending North Atlantic . will be employing four new multi-eu- , gined Hying-noais of n, long-range—-‘‘Cabot”, “Caribou”, “( onnemara” and “Clyde ‘These new aim aft. though geneially similar iu design to the fafnous '‘Caledonia” and “Cambria'' which flew on the successful North Atlantic experimental ; flight# of 1937, are capable of carrying heavier loads on (ion-stop North Atltntio Another feature of these new flyingbeats is that they are equipped for re [fuelling while in the air: and filial ! trials will be carried out with a view to (he adoption of aerial refuelling in connection with this year's ocean ciosaiugs which aie expected to begin as soon as tlit bases on the other side of the Atlantic aie ice-free and ready for service. Apart from the establishment of a North Atlantic air line, another new sea 1 route of 1939 will be that crossing the ! Tasman between Sydney (Australia) and j Auckland (New Zealund), thus bringing New Zealand within the general net work of Impelial routes. Important developments air also iin pending iu Pacific /.ones, including surrey flights from New Zealand to investigate projected commercial services, one o f these being t-he establishment, in due course, of a trans-ocean route across U> Canada. Although all such development work iu long-distance air travel on Empire an ioutes promises to be the dominant feu lure of 1939. much valuable progress is also promised in other directions—one oi these being a general development of facilities on air'-lines between and the Continent ; on which routes pa seen gers will have the advantage of flying in the new Imperial express luxury-planes of the “E” and “K” classes.