CIVIL AVIATION

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25055, 20 November 1944, Page 6

CIVIL AVIATION

POST-WAR FREEDOM TENTATIVE AGREEMENT AMERICAN PLAN SUCCEEDS <R«cil. 12.15 a.m.) ' NEW YORK, Nov. 10 The British delegation at the Chicago air conference has received advice that the British Cabinet has approved the principle of the American - British - Canadian agreement concerning the suggested powers of the international body for post-war commercial aviation. The British Government is drafting certain suggested amendments to the wording of tho tentative agreement. The British delegates, according to the Chicago correspondent of the New York Times, expect to receive these amendments immediately and submit them to the conference on Monday. Tho Americans consider this a major diplomatic victory, permitting after the war free world-wide competition subject to reciprocal agreements between nations. FAST AIR TRAVEL FOUR DAYS TO ENGLAND LONDON, Nov. 18 A foretaste of what to expect in post-war civil aviation was experienced this week by a man who breakfasted in New Zealand on Monday morning and had tea in Britain on Thursday evening—Mr E. S. Nicholas Higgs, general manager of the De Havilland Aircraft Co. of New Zealand. Mr Higgs was a passenger on the R.A.F. Transport Command Liberator Commando, which has just completed a round trip, Montreal to Sydney to Montreal, as an inaugural flight on the transpacific route. At Montreal he transferred to another aircraft for the transatlantic crossing, and so reached this country faster than any passenger from New Zealand had ever done before. Mr Higgs left the Dominion at 7 a.m. New Zealand time on Monday and was in London before 5 p.m. British time on Thursday. The longest stay on the ground was seven hours on the west coast of America. Mr Higgs went to New Zealand by ship just as war broke out. That journey took five weeks and a-half. NON-STOP TO CAIRO YORK'S RECORD FLICHT (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 18 A direct non-stop flight from London to Cairo in lOh 2om has been completed by a four-engined York aircraft of the Rojal Air Force Transport Command, with a crew of six. The average speed was 238 miles an hour for the 2480-mile journey. It is tho first time a York plane has made the trip non-stop. It is also probably tho fastest journey between the two capitnls made by any four-cngined aircraft. SOUTH AFRICAN SERVICE (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 18 South Africa and Britain have accepted the principle of a joint air service between the two countries, says Renter's Johannesburg correspondent, quoting the Johannesburg Star. The decisions reached at the Chicago conference, may, however, alter the plans. Under the original agreement South African planes were to fly to London and return, while British planes were to fly to South Africa and return. At a certain point along tho route South Afrii i was to assume ground control of the services, Britain maintaining the ground organisation elsewhere along the route. EMPIRE AIR TRAINING CLOSING CANADIAN FIELDS • LONDON. Nov. 18 The Secretary for Air, Sir Archibald Sinclair, informed the House of Commons that, after a careful review of the war situation and the air crew position, it had been decided that the joint air training plan in Canada should not continue after March 81 next, says the 'British official wireless. Skeleton training staffs and air fields would be retained in case expansion again became necessary. Simultaneously, training in South Africa and Southern Rhodesia had been considerably reduced. Sir Archibald paid a tribute to the Canadian Government as 'administrators of the scheme and to the Canadian Air Force.