NEW EMPIRE AIR LINK

Southland Times, Issue 25564, 6 January 1945, Page 5

NEW EMPIRE AIR LINK

Commander To Visit N.Z. (Rec. 9.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, January 5. Air Vice-Marshal R. L. Marix, officer commanding the R.A.F. Transport Command group operating the Pacific ferry service, has arrived in Sydney. He is visiting Australia and will later go to New Zealand to gain first-hand knowledge of the new Canada-New Zealand-Australia route, which is under his command. He also operates the Atlantic air ferries of the R.A.F. to Canada and the United States. Air Vice-Marshal Marix, who is 55, is accompanied by a staff of R.A.F. officers. He has been flying since 1912, and has an artificial leg as a result of an air accident in France during the last war. Air Vice-Marshal Marix said he believed the Air Transport Command would continue to operate for a long time after the war, and perhaps indefinitely. It would be necessary in the strategic linking up of parts of the Empire, and it could play a big part in the rehabilitation and feeding of Europe. . For a long time civil aviation would be unable to copa with the air traffic, and the existence of the command would be of great importance. He said he envisaged air transport commands in the various Dominions, each operating its own services in an interlocking network. He hoped this would be done with British aircraft.