AIR CONNECTION WITH LONDON

Southland Times, Issue 25513, 6 November 1944, Page 4

AIR CONNECTION WITH LONDON

OPENING OF SERVICE ACROSS PACIFIC

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, November 5. The plane belonging to the first British military air service - connecting London, via Montreal, with Auckland and Sydney by way of the Pacific arrived at Whenuapai airfield, Auckland, on Saturday after a six-hour stopover at Nandi, Fiji. The aircraft was escorted for the last part of its long journey into Auckland by a flight of Royal New Zealand Air Force fighters. For strictly military purposes, the service, -which is operated by the Royal Air Force Transport Command, will be flown twice weekly in each direction between Sydney and Montreal, where it will connect with the daily North Atlantic service which has been operating for the past three years. Thq service will accommodate war priority passengers, troop mail and freight required for the war effort. The service will call at Auckland and Fiji in both directions under a schedule being discussed. The first aircraft to make the trip is a converted Liberator of the R-3 type, which is notable for its very long fuselage and long cruising range. The pilot is Air Commodore Griffith Powell, C.8.E., R.A.F., who will have the general direction of the service from Montreal. He is accompanied by Group Captain W. W. Deane, R.A.F. and Mr R. B. Jackson, who is in charge of priorities and traffic problems. Other members of the crew are: Flight Lieutenant G. Wright, R.C.A.F., co-pilot; Flight Lieutenant K. Shea, R.A.A.F., navigator; J. R. Burton, wireless operator; J. W. Affleck, first flight engineer; M. Andrews, second flight engineer; Leading Aircraftman W. Stagg, flight clerk. PREPARATION OF SERVICE Air Commodore Powell said the first service had not been operated to any fixed schedule, as the object had been to make all the necessary arrangements en route and to station operations and maintenance staffs. For this reason the mail and freight loads from England and elsewhere had not been great.

After a short stay in Auckland the aircraft flew to Sydney today. Air Commodore Powell expects to start the return journey within three or four days. As a number of the staff have to be located and some operating arrangements completed the service will probably not be twice weekly for three weeks or so, but it should be in regular operation by the middle of December.

PLANE AIRCRAFT USED BY MR CHURCHILL (P.A.) WELLINGTON, November 5. ■The service which the Royal Air Force Transport Command has established between Canada and Sydney is to be a regular four-day return ferry service. The route is:—Montreal to San Francisco, 2660 miles; to Honolulu, 2420; to Canton Island, 1910; to Fiji, 1280; to Auckland, 1330; to Sydney, 1380; total, 10,980 miles. Converted Merlin bombers capable of carrying 30 tons, all-up load, will be used.

The aircraft which inaugurated the service is a famous one. It is Merlin No. Al-504 and is one of the earliest ever built. For three years it was on ordinary passenger and freighting duties over the north Atlantic between Canada and Britain. It became known as “Commando” when it carried Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten on a recordbreaking special flight when he was developing the commando forces. Since then it has taken part in the most historic political missions of the war, including conveying Mr Churchill twice to Moscow and also taking him and other statesmen to United Nations conferences in Washington, Casablanca and Teheran.

The present flight actually started in Moscow, bringing Mr Churchill back to England. From London the Commando carried Lord Swinton, the Minister of Civil Aviation, and his delegation to the International Civil Air Conference in Chicago last week. Then it set out again with 20 passengers, cargo and mail after a few hours for Australia.

The Commando is unique in appearance. A standard Liberator, its doubletail fins were removed and the largest single tail (31 feet high) of any aircraft in the world, was substituted and seven feet added to its length. This aircraft has flown over 400,000 miles on special war flights.