STRANGE CARGOES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25306, 17 August 1943, Page 2

STRANGE CARGOES

TRANSPORT SQUADRON! OVER 200,000 MILES FLOWN (Special) AUCKLAND, Aug. 16. Out of a battle area north of New Zealand some time ago came an»urgent request for a concrete mixer. Within a few days the unwieldy gear had been delivered by transport aircraft. Strange cargoes are no novelty to the transport squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force that was responsible for the delivery of the machine. Operating from an Auckland air station, the squadron carried a weird selection of freight, mail and passengers almost 250,000 miles by the end | of July. The shortest route on the weekly schedule is more than 1000 miles over the featureless South-west Pacific. Special emphasis is naturally placed on navigation. Pilots ■ were chosen, for their experience and most of them have flown thousands of miles with more lethal loads than the fowls and food, the mail, and essential stores they now ferry to and from this country. Reliability, and Efficiency The commanding officer has completed 6000 hours’ flying, the second in command 2000, while another flight lieutenant, a commercial pilot before the war, has 3000. At least two other pilots have flown over 1000 hours. Most of the time was put up on operational flying over Europe, the North Atlantic, and Mediterranean, Malaya, and the Solomons area. Reliability and efficiency are essentials in aircraft and crews flying over long stretches of water, and the squadron has o specialist group for maintenance. The pilots are full of praise for the work of the ground crews. The machines used in the service are the Douglas Dakota and the Lockheed Lodestar. The Dakota is the larger machine, and can carry a load of nearly three tons over 1400-mile ranges. The smaller and faster Lodestar has a longer range with a smaller load. Some use is also made of the Hudson, a tried type which has been on service with the Allied forces in every theatre of war. Stretcher cases have been carried among the many service and civilian passengers handled by the squadron, and the speedy transit afforded has shortened the suffering of about 50 servicemen since the flights began in April. The youngest passenger carried was a seven-year-old girl who made a flight with one of the pilots in the cabin and was delighted with the experience. Many passengers are flown on duty tours between the various Pacific islands, and the squadron co-operates with the Pacific Ferry Command in flying pilots northward to bring back aircraft. 3704 Miles in 24 ■ Hours Among the many flights accepted as routine, but which would have drawn world-wide attention before the war, was one of 3704 miles in just under 24 hours by one of the squadron’s aircraft. The machine flew from Hawaii to the New Hebrides group, crossing the equator, the international date line, and artificially lengthening the day by two hours and a-quarter as it travelled west. Over two tor>s of mail were carried on the flight, which covered three times the distance between Sydney and Dunedin. The whoie of the squadron’s activities pass through the one small office, which is one of the busiest on the station. Crews there receive their cargo manifests and schedules before going to the operations room for briefing, the weather forecasts on the route they are to follow, and any other flight information available.

From its first flights in April with one machine and a mileage of 11,000 in the month the transport squadron has literally travelled far. Distances and loads are increasing rapidly.