TASMAN AIRWAYS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23887, 15 August 1939, Page 6

TASMAN AIRWAYS

CRAFT FOR SERVICE DELIVERY FLIGHT TO START TO-DAY DETAILS OF ORGANISATION The modified Empire type flyingboat Aotearoa, with Captain J. W Burgess in command, is scheduled to leave Southampton for New Zealand to-day, and is expected to arrive at Auckland on or about Sunday. August 27. New Zealand has hoped for a trans-Tasman service with fluctuating confidence for a good 10 years, but often in that time the hopes fell low. The visit of the Centaurus, under command of Captain Burgess, at the end of 1937, brought the service within ultimate certainty, and the building of the preliminary organisation and the completing of tests of the flying-boats went ahead. This preliminary organisation has been a far wider task than the building of bases and the gathering of staff and flying and base personnel, for hot until radio and meteorological services were developed to the special and exacting needs of regular flying of the Tasman—vastly more difficult than flights that wait on the weather and end in good fortunewas commencement of the service to be considered; The' Tasman has been flown now about 20 times; but most of those flights—and all the earlier crossings —had about them the flair and thr air of the stunt or the record dash, but that stage, essential as an introduction, is gone for all time The Tasman air line, when the service settles down, will be simply another matter of fact and quicker way of carrying people and mails. Survey Flights and Training Even now the despatch of the Aotearoa from the Imperial Airways base at Hythe will not mean an immediate commencement of mail and passenger service, for present plans provide for a period of some weeks of survey and route test flights about New Zealand, and at least two or three return flights over the Tasman, and, equally important, for the training of officers and base staff, and for the co-ordina-tion of the whole intricate system of control before the first schedule flight is mate. The other flying boats, the Australia and Awarua, will not arrive in New Zealand until possibly October, and in the meantime, they are being flown on other sections of the Empire air services. Stages on Flight The Aotearc is to make easy travel of the delivery flight, and the longest stage of the 14,199 miles to be covered will be well inside her 2100 miles of cruising range. The tentative stages, not necessarily to be adhered to as there is no question of maintaining a schedule, are these:— August 15: Depart Hythe-Athens. 1646 miles. August 16: Athens-Basra, 1742 miles. August 17: Basra-Karachi, 1384 miles. August 18: Karachi-Calcutta. 1397 miles. August 19: Calcutta - Bangkok, 1032 miles. August 20: Bangkok-Singapore, 957 miles, and check-over of engines, etc. '.. August 22: Singapore-Sourabay . 973 miles. August 23: Sourabaya - Darwin. 1304 miles August 24. Darwin-Townsville. 1204 miles. August 25: Townsville-Sydney. 1200 miles. '■ August 27: Sydney - Auckland. 1360 miles. The Tasman crossing will occupy about 10 hours, which will be the usual -»ning time on regular service flights. New Zealand Personnel It will be the general policy of Tasman Empire Airways to staff the fleet and the organisation with New Zealand and Australian officers and men. Captain J W Burgess, of the Aotearoa, is an ex-Wellingtonian. and Captain Oscar Garden who will command the Awarua, is a New Zealander, but the third commander. Captain G C- Butler, of the Australia, is an Englishman, on loan from Imperial Airways First Officer. W J Craig, with Captain Burgess on the Aotearoa, is another New Zealander; his home is at Wanganui First Officer F B Chapman, who will fly with Captain Butler in the Australia, is already in New Zealand as a pilot with Union Airways, on the Auckland-Gisborne run First Officer C Griffiths will be second in command on the Awarua All six flying officers hold first-class navigators' licences, and all hold, moreover the full qualifications of aircraft engineers, gained in the standard course of training for posts of command The full flight personnel on regular runs wilJ be the commander and first officer second officer, radio officer, and flight steward Second officers will be appointed locally

Long Range r Pay-load The three flying boats are outwardly similar to *he Centaurus and the long line of standard Empire flying boats, but differ in important respects, particularly in their considerably greater pay-load and longer range, and they are powered by four Perseus sleeve-valve engines of 710 h.p (900 for take-off) of a type which was still in the testing stage when the Centaurus came out The greater payload and range, essential for the Tasman crossing of 1360 miles and to allow for Tasman winds have been achieved by redesigning and strengthening of the hull in various respects, the new nower plant., and other refinements. The sum total of the advance is that whereas the Centaurus had a payload certificate which permitted one or two passengers above her officers and extra engineers for the Tasman crossing, and did not carry more than 12 or 13 on her short flights round New Zealand the Tasman flying-boats will have seating capacity for up to 17 passengers will carry a ton or so of mail, and will have an all-up flying weight of nearly 22 tons, as compared with 18 tons of the standard Empire boat. On the World Air Route The date of resumption of the Pan-American Airways transPacific service has not been announced, and from references in the American press it appears likely that there may be a furthei delay of a week or two, as though the main runway in the great enclosed lagoon at Canton Island has been cleared by the blasting away of coral, a second runway is being prepared, The indications are that the

Pan-American service will be running on regular time table, at fortnightly intervals, before the end of next month, for, apart from the final work at Canton Island, base preparations and radio and meteorological services are ready The Boeing Clipper has been available for the South Pacific service for some months.