TRANS-PACIFIC AIR SERVICE

Southland Times, Issue 25537, 4 December 1944, Page 5

TRANS-PACIFIC AIR SERVICE

Mail Freight And Passengers (8.0.W.) RUGBY, December 2. The Royal Air Force trans-Paci-fic service—one of 11,250 miles over the largest single air route in the world—will henceforth be operated twice weekly in each direction by the R.A.F. Transport Command formation in Canada. Connections with the United Kingdom, East and West Africa and South America will be made by services already operating by the R.A.F. Transport Command. It will be recalled that Air Commodore Griffith Powell captained the famous “Commando” Liberator with the inauguration of the first R.A.F. Pacific service between Montreal, San Francisco, Honolulu, Canton, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and return. ROLE OF R.N.Z.A.F. The United States Air Transport Command is providing the facilities over United States territory and west to the jointly-owned Canton Island, while the Royal New Zealand Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force is acting similarly in New Zealand and Australia. The two Dominions are taking all the responsibilities of which they are capable and while the R.A.F. will operate the service, the R.N.Z.A.F. and the R.AA.F. will join in providing the crews. The service is intended to provide for a combination load of passengers, mail and freight necessary to the war effort. At the personal request of the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, the aircraft operating the first service was escorted into Auckland by a fighter squadron of the R.N.Z.A.F. and on the return journey the crew and passengers were the guests of the New Zealand Government in Wellington.