BRITAIN’S LEADING PILOTS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19933, 18 October 1934, Page 4

BRITAIN’S LEADING PILOTS

DISTINGUISHED RECORDS IN THE AIR (From Our Own Correspondent) LONDON, September 12. Four of the pilots of Imperial Airways—Capts. Walters, Travers, Spafford and Alcock—have now succeeded in gaining certificates as master pilots. Some time ago the first two awards of the master pilot’s certificate were made to Capts. A. L. Walters and F. Dudley Travers. Then, more recently, an award of the certificate was made to Capt. J. Spaflord. And now a fourth award has just been made to Capt. E. S. Alcock.

The master pilot’s certificate, a new category for British commercial airmen, was instituted in 1929, but it was not until early this year that the first certificates were issued. The requirements are such that only pilots of exceptional flying experience, both by night and day, can hope to obtain one of these certificates. The qualifications necessary include the holding of a current licence issued to pilots entitled to fly for hire or reward; also a licence authorising the pilot to act as an aircraft navigator. Both these licenses must have been in force for at least five years. The applicant must also have flown at least 1000 hours as a pilot of civil aircraft during the five years prior to his application; and. in addition, a considerable amount of night flying experience is called for, Including a minimum of 20 night flights above land or sea, each to begin and end during the hours of darkness, and to last at least an hour.

The latest recipient of the certificate (Captain Alcock) is a younger brother of the late Sir John Alcock, who made the first non-stop Atlantic aeroplane flight in 1919. After a period of service in the Royal Air Force, Captain Alcock joined Imperial Airways in 1929, and is now piloting 4-engined aircraft of the "Hannibal” type on the Empire route between Egypt and India. Since he first learned to pilot an aeroplane, Captain Alcock has flown a total distance of more than 750,000 miles.

Captain Spaflord, the other recent recipient of a master pilot’s certificate, joined the Royal Air Force after the war, and had done over 1000 hours of service flying when he joined Imperial Airways in 1928. Captain Spaflord flew on the continental routes until the end of 1931, when he was posted to the Near East Division of Imperial Airways at Cairo. His hours spent in the air now total more than 6000.

Captain Travers, one of the two earlier recipients of the certificate, learned to fly in 1917, and saw war service in Macedonia, Egypt and South Russia. After the war he became a pilot on the Salonika-Constantinople air-mail. Subsequently he operated his own private air-taxi service, and then joined Imperial Airways in 1926. Captain Walters, who has the distinction of holding master pilot’s certificate No. 1, began flying in 1918, and prior to becoming an Imperial Airways pilot in 1924, had 1000 hours in the air to his credit. At the present time Captain Walters’ log-books show that he has spent nearly 8000 hours in the air.