BRITISH AIRWAYS

Taranaki Daily News, 19 December 1933, Page 2

BRITISH AIRWAYS

INTERNAL SERVICES RAILWAYS CHALLENGED. NOTABLE PERFORMANCES. General opinion, up to the past two years, had it that a country like Great Britain, small in area and possessing a highly developed railway system, offered little or no scope for the operation of internal airways. The argument ran that the saving of time possible with use of the flying machine was insufficient to side-track traffic from the express trains, many of which average 50 miles an hour over long distances—for example, over the four hundred miles of railroad between London and Edinburgh. Further, the weather prevailing over a great part of the British Isles during several months of the year was held to militate against the regular running of air services. Realisation that the modem transport aeroplane can compete on many routes with surface vehicles, given . intelligent choice of routes and efficient organisation, has opened up within the past twelve months an important new field for aerial enterprise. During the recent summer no' fewer than eleven routes inside the British Isles were regularly operated by air; in 1934 the number is expected to be increased to twenty. MANY SUCCESSFUL SERVICES. Aeroplanes have operated summer ferry services over the Thames, the Humber and the Bristol Channel, accomplishing in a few minutes journeys which may involve hours of travel on the surface. Spithead and the Solent, separating the Isle of Wight from the mainland, are in similar case; this year’s air ferry service, making the return trip in less than half the time taken by the ferry boat for a single journey, has transported up to nearly a thousand passengers a week. An extension of this idea provided a daily service between London and the Isle of Wight. Cross-country journeys, perhaps involving a change from one railway system to another and inevitably slow, proved another fruitful source of enterprise. Thus the Great Western Railway embarked on the experiment of a service linking Birmingham with Cardiff and Plymouth. Mr. Edward Hillman, whose inauguration of an unsubsidised air service between London and Paris is still the most audacious step yet taken in this new field, ran his airliners between London and points on the east coast. In the north of Scotland aeroplanes began regular services between the mainland and the Orkney Islands. The Isle of Man had its daily services. An air link was established between Glasgow and Belfast. ALONGSIDE EXPRESS TRAINS. Finally, the aeroplane was set to compete with the express train along the main lines. A line between London and Plymouth, meeting the competition of one of the, fastest long-distance trains in the world, ran for a few days and was then suspended for reasons totally unconnected with the efficiency of the flying material; it will probably be re-organised for future operation. And ambitious plans have been prepared for next year. Flying at speeds in excess of 100 miles an hour the aeroplane becomes a formidable rival over long distances with the train. With every practical increase in aeroplane speed the advantage becomes more marked. Thus, 1934 is expected to see the opening of lines linking London with Newcastle and Leeds, perhaps with Edinburgh, Glasgow and the north of Scotland, and cross-country routes Will also be extended. Doubts based on the weather have proved equally, fallacious. Experience has shown that bad weather obliges cancellation of the London-Paris services on not more than two or three days a year; the weather over many routes inside Britain is on the whole rather better than prevails over the cross-Channel lines. Much of this new enterprise owes its inception to the emergence of new types of British transport aeroplane which are inexpensive in first cost, low in cost of maintenance and notably efficient, especially in ratio of useful load air-borne to horse-power expended. An outstanding example of the new transport machines is the de Havilland Dragon twin-engined biplane. No fewer than 58 of these craft have been sold in ten months. To a cruising speed of 110 miles an hour, these comfortable craft add utter dependability and ample safety margin. SERVICES ON OTHER ROUTES. Two routes were served by Westland Wessex three-engined monoplanes, which are the oldest type of small transport craft employed to-day. Two companies employed Monospar twinengined machines—small, but comfortable craft, to carry four people. Threeengined Spartan Cruiser monoplanes flew between London and the Isle of Wight. Twin-engined Blackbum Segrave monoplanes assured the Humber Ferry service, and a three-engined Avro “Ten” liner plied regularly over routes in the south-west of Scotland and northwest of England. Less important routes were operated with single-engined light aeroplanes. Aeroplanes which are now coming into use, and others that will emerge from the factories within the next few months, will assure operators the use of economical cruising speeds of up to 150 miles an hour. The result is bound to be an intensification of aerial competition with the railways. Not even the fastest express train can hope to rival a vehicle which moves at three times its speed.