AERIAL TAXIS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22195, 23 February 1934, Page 2

AERIAL TAXIS

SPECIAL CHARTER MACHINES (Feom Oce Own ConnEsroNDEicr.) LONDON, January 12. Many and various are the task* allotted to the "special charter" aeroplane, the taxi-cab of the air. In emergency the speed and the mobility of the flying machine make it the chosen vehicle, of all who can afford to employ it, from the doctor hurrying to an urgent cast to the man who oversleeps in his hotel and misses the boat train. " Special charter " is the. work of on© department of Imperial Airways. The bulk of its flying is done by a fleet of three Westland "Wessex" threc-engined* cabin monoplanes, which have never failed to justify the trust placed in them on the most vital journeys. Deriving power from three Siddeley "Genet Major" 140 h.p. engines, these craft cruise at 105 m.p.h. and afford comfortable accommodation for up to five passengers and their luggage. Some of the recent "charter" flights done by "Wessex" craft; give an idea of the varied life of the aerial taxi-man. A kinema company hired one of them for an expedition to Palestine and Transjordania, where pictures were taken—from electrically-controlled camera* mounted on the struts—of scenes and landscapes needed to serve as "background " for an Arabian story. Four women chartered a "Wessex" for the first aerial tour of English seaside resorts, covering most of the English coast north of the Mersey and the Humber. Many were the special trips last season at the behest of sporting men. Several journeys were made to and from race meetings, with trainers and jockeys on. board. A party of sportsmen flew to Scotland for the" opening of the grouse season, and brought back the results of the first shoot to London. Another , party went up for the beginning of the j pheasant shooting. Scores of trips were made to Le Touquet and Deauville. And more than once the aeroplanes were called in to alleviate suffering; a typical example of this side of their work was the transport from London to a south, coast sanatorium of a patient who was too ill to travel by road. "Wessex" machines are also employed in the fleet of 5.A.8.E.N.A., the Belgian Air Transport Company. Four of them have flown about 1700 hours in the past three years in the service of the company. And they war* used in Great Britain last year for the successful ferry service between th* Isle of Wight and the mainland, and for the experimental service operated between Birmingham and Plymouth by the Great Western Railway. The Westland Company is now able to supply slightly modified "Wessex"' planes fitted to carry eight persons. A little strengthening of the structure enables the permissible laden weight to be increased by about 3001 b; this means that the extra payload can be carried without reducing fuel load, and the endurance of the machine remains the same as in the standard six-seater craft at four hours—42o miles.