Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 18, 2019 13:17:59 GMT 12
FIRST AIR TRAIN
ATLANTIC CROSSED
TEST FLIGHT BY R.A.F.
Rec. 12.30 p.m. RUGBY, July 4.
The first air train to cross the Atlantic has been brought over by the R.A.F. Transport Command. Three thousand five hundred miles were covered in 28 flying hours. The train consisted of a glider, fully loaded and towed by a twin-engined Dakota. The glider carried vaccines for Russia, and radio, aircraft, and motor parts. This was the first time such a trip had been made across the Atlantic or any other ocean and was the result of many months of experiment during which several other records were established, including one flight of 1177 miles.
The flight had its origin, in the conception of the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Sir Frederick Bowhill, who, while commanding the North and South Atlantic bomber ferry from Canada, instituted cautious experiments with a view to collecting exact information as to the ultimate possibility of an Atlantic air train service. He lays no special emphasis oh what the flight accomplished. The test was made as the foundation for further work to be carried out by the technical research branch of his command.
NEW ZEALANDER IN GLIDER.
Squadron Leader R. G. Seys, D.F.C.. R.A.F., was selected as captain of the glider with Squadron Leader F. M. Godeil, R.C.A.F., as co-pilot. Both belong to the Atlantic group of the Transport Command. In the towplane were Flight Lieutenant W. S. Longhurst (captain), a Canadian with the R.A.F., and Flight Lieutenant C. W. H. Thomson, a New Zealander also with the R.A.F., both also of the Transport Command.
The radio officer was H. G. Wightman and flight engineer Pilot Officer R. H. Wormington.
The glider is the 84-foot wingspan type CG 4A designed by the Waco Aircraft firm, and built by a piano manufacturer in New York. The freight load was 14 tons.—B.O.W.
EVENING POST, 5 JULY 1943
ATLANTIC CROSSED
TEST FLIGHT BY R.A.F.
Rec. 12.30 p.m. RUGBY, July 4.
The first air train to cross the Atlantic has been brought over by the R.A.F. Transport Command. Three thousand five hundred miles were covered in 28 flying hours. The train consisted of a glider, fully loaded and towed by a twin-engined Dakota. The glider carried vaccines for Russia, and radio, aircraft, and motor parts. This was the first time such a trip had been made across the Atlantic or any other ocean and was the result of many months of experiment during which several other records were established, including one flight of 1177 miles.
The flight had its origin, in the conception of the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Sir Frederick Bowhill, who, while commanding the North and South Atlantic bomber ferry from Canada, instituted cautious experiments with a view to collecting exact information as to the ultimate possibility of an Atlantic air train service. He lays no special emphasis oh what the flight accomplished. The test was made as the foundation for further work to be carried out by the technical research branch of his command.
NEW ZEALANDER IN GLIDER.
Squadron Leader R. G. Seys, D.F.C.. R.A.F., was selected as captain of the glider with Squadron Leader F. M. Godeil, R.C.A.F., as co-pilot. Both belong to the Atlantic group of the Transport Command. In the towplane were Flight Lieutenant W. S. Longhurst (captain), a Canadian with the R.A.F., and Flight Lieutenant C. W. H. Thomson, a New Zealander also with the R.A.F., both also of the Transport Command.
The radio officer was H. G. Wightman and flight engineer Pilot Officer R. H. Wormington.
The glider is the 84-foot wingspan type CG 4A designed by the Waco Aircraft firm, and built by a piano manufacturer in New York. The freight load was 14 tons.—B.O.W.
EVENING POST, 5 JULY 1943
