EMPIRE AIR SERVICES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18234, 1 November 1933, Page 7

EMPIRE AIR SERVICES

THE AUSTRALIAN LINK OPENING NEXT MONTH SIR E. GEODES’ REVIEW (British Official Wireless.) Roe. It) a.iii. RUGBY', Oct. 31. Presiding at a general meeting of Imperial Airways, Sir Erie Gcddos referred to the extension of the Enginiuli nil in route Ur Australia. lie said the service had been extended from Karachi to Rangoon, and by ihe end of December would be operating to Singapore. The Australian Government had assumed responsibility for establishing a line from Singapore t:> some point in Australia, and had decided to invite tenders for the carriage of air mails over that section. Imperial Airways had made a concordance with the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, Limited, of Brisbane, for ttie formation of a joint company, to tender for, and, if successful, to operate the Singapoi’C-Darwi’n-Brisbane, section . of. the England-Australia service. - A great deal of investigation was still being devoted to the North Atlantic project. “Canada was likely to be, by force of circumstances, the last of the great Dominions with whom we shall make contact by means of regular air services,’’ 'Sir Eric said. “ We can, however, look forward to developments on this trans-Atlantic project iii complete harmony with Britain and Canada.” They hoped to establish next year, in co-operation with the Pan-American Airways, a service between Bermuda and the United States. AN ATLANTIC SERVICE AMERICAN PROPOSALS FIVE FLOATING ’DROMES (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) NEW YORK, Oct. 50. The Aerodrome Ocean Dock Corporation, formed in New York, intends to install live floating landing fields for aeroplanes between New York and Ireland, and planes will transport passengers across the Atlantic in 24 hours. The first station will be 4CO miles off New York. Investors oner £BCO,OCO if the Government will subsidise the proposition with an additional £6,000,000. Each float or dock will contain an hotel besides refuelling facilities. Colonel Charles Lindbergh has been inquiring into the proposition while in Europe. GERMAN EXPERIMENT FIRST MACHINES READY LONDON, Oct. 23. A fresh chapter in the history of commercial aviation commenced to-day, when the first of two seaplanes destined to open the German trans-Atlantic air service arrived in Britain. The seaplanes will attack the longest sea-crossing ever attempted by machines working purely ou a commercial basis, and will be the first to use a floating aerodrome in mid-ocean. I hey are multiengined liners, luxuriously equipped, and capable of flying for at least 12 hours non-stop. They will fly from England to Cadiz, where they will he joined by two similar craft. The service will be operated from Cadiz to a half-way bouse in the middle of the Atlantic (the converted liner Westphalian), and thence to Pernambuco. The Westphalian is now on its station, midway between the Cape Verde Islands and the South American coast. At first the flights will be experimental, with the special purpose of testing the practicability of alighting alongside the ship. The possibility of landing on the steamer itself is not, of course, entertained. Consequently a great deal will depend on weather conditions. The machines will carry complete equipment and radio specially designed for the safe operation of the service. From the shore stations, and from the Westphalian, radio beams will he sent out to guide the planes along their route. Experts regard the project as feasible, and predict that the day is not far distant when floating landing stations will be devised.