DRAMAS OF SPEED.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20221, 3 February 1934, Page 23 (Supplement)

DRAMAS OF SPEED.

Three Week* Reduced to Three Hours. THE FLYING •'SPECIAL.” LONDON, January 12. J£VERY DAY, now, there are fresh instances of the speed of modern travel, not only in cases where airliners or “ air specials ” arc employed, but also in journeys in which ocean liners and aircraft both play their part. A new record in the speed of longdistance transport was established the other day, by a passenger from New York to Calcutta. Mr L. Jones. Embarking at New York in the liner Conte di Savoia. which set up a fresh record on her voyage to Genoa, he went on at once by train to Brindisi, where he caught an Indian-bound aircraft of Imperial Airways; the result being that he succeeded in making the complete journey from New York to Calcutta in fourteen days. A striking example of the speed of air transport was forthcoming in the case of a District Commissioner who had to make a journev up the Zambesi River. In three hours, by aeroplane, he accomplished a journey which would have taken him three by river barge. “ One of the recent features of transport,” explained an Imperial Airways official, “ has been the increase in the use of specially-chartered aircraft, not only to destinations in this country, or on the Continent, but also in long-distance flights along the Empire routes.

“ Officials of Our special-charter department pick up their telephones to hear urgent requests for a plane to rush a passenger to the sick-bed of some relative on the Continent; to fly an invalid to Switzerland; to take a jockey to a race meeting in Belgium; or to carry an explorer to the heart of Africa. One of our machines not long ago flew a party of big-game hunters out to the African jungle Here they camped for seventeen days, the wings of the aeroplane forming the top of their tent. Although this party were hundreds of miles from -the nearest village, they managed to keep in daily touch with Nairobi by wireless. “ Doctors are making a growing use of taxiplanes. The other day a London surgeon dashed up to Scotland in one of our machines to perform an urgent operation. Such a use of airtaxis not only saves time, but also, in many cases, is the means of saving human life. There is a growing demand, for machines equipped as flying ambulances, with spring-mounted beds io their saloons on which invalids and sick people can make rapid journeys with a comfort impossible by any other means.

“ Our special-charter records show how frequently cases arise in which the time-factor is important. Here, as an example, is the instance of a French judge who, missing his train at Victoria, had to fly in one of our machines from Croydon in order to be in time for a court-opening ceremony in France. Here, too, is the case of a school boy whose father chartered an air-taxi for him so that he might fly from London to sit for an examination down in the country, a connection having been missed which would have got him there in time by train. And here is the case of a holidav-maker who met with an accident while cliff climbing, and whose relativc-s dashed by aeroplane to the hospital where ihe patient lay. “ Often air taxis are chartered to enable people to catch ocean liners after boat-trains have been misled at London railway stations. The other day we had the instance of a French business man who was in haste to reach Montreal. He found on inquiry at the steamship offices in London that a vessel was leaving almost immediatelv. But he was just too late to catch the boat-train which connected with this sailing. A quicklv chartered taxi plane, however, got him to Liverpool in time. “ Recently, as an instance of the business use of ‘ air specials,’ we had the dash by the chief of a big business firm to the Continent. He left Croydon early, and# had breakfast in the machine w r hile flying to Brussels. After a rapid interview there, he flew on to Paris, had another talk there, and after that —all in the same day—flew back to London to report to his fellowdirectors.

“ Fresh uses are constantly being found for ‘ air specials.’ One big machine was engaged to fly a party of critics from London to see a new play in the provinces. On another occasion a saloon plane was chartered by a managing director to take a party of guests to the opening of a new branch of his business in the Midlands. Football teams go by air nowadays. Pleasure parties charter big machines, complete with stewards and catering arrangements, to enjoy aerial excursions, and ‘ specials ’ are often booked by newly-wedded couples, who begin their honeymoon cn the Continent with an air trip from London to Paris.”