Sir Kingsley Wood's Statement.

Part of Orders of the Day — Supply. – in the House of Commons at on 9 March 1939.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mr John Rathbone Mr John Rathbone , Bodmin

I want to support what the Mover and Seconder of the Amendment have said with regard to the design of aircraft for civil air routes. Reference has already been made by the hon. Member for Ipswich (Mr. Stokes) to a trip in an Imperial Airways machine. I had a similar trip at almost exactly the same time, and my experience was that those people who had never done such a trip before were surprised at the conditions, while those who had done such a trip before regtetted their inability to travel by some other line. There is a good deal of progress to be made, if we are to preserve and, if possible, increase whatever reputation we have in civil aviation. At present, these Empire flying boats are neither passenger-carrying nor mail-carrying boats. They are a mixture of both with a preference for mails rather than passengers.

On the occasion to which I refer, we started out from Southampton on an extremely cold morning. The engines had not been warmed up and it was only with some difficulty that they were started. There was some sort of backfiring explosion which effectually wrecked what was left of the hearing apparatus and incidentally poured about a gallon of burning petrol on to the water below. I did not mind that because I knew that it was an all-metal machine, but it was not a confidence-inspiring trick. Owing to wind and weather and other conditions we had to fly at a considerable height and as the heating apparatus was out of order, in order to see out one had to scrape—not wipe— one's breath off the window. We arrived, more or less on time, at Marseilles only to be informed that we were ordered—both the machine in which I was travelling and another machine which was going eastwards to India and Australia—to wait at Marseilles for mails, which were to be flown out from Croydon. They were flown out in a very obsolete aircraft which eventually decided on its way to Marseilles to spend the night in Paris. We were, therefore, kept waiting in Marseilles for the whole of the morning, the afternoon, the evening and the night, during which time I must say to the credit of Imperial Airways, they got right down to the job of transferring all the passengers and luggage to one plane in order to send them on next morning.

This, of course, entirely altered the schedule. It meant that we could not spend the night in Rome where some of us had planned to spend it. We were thus deprived of an interesting experience, because that was the night on which the Prime Minister left Rome, and it would have been extremely interesting to have had an opportunity of studying the reactions of the Italian public on that occasion. We arrived at Cairo some 30 hours late. Those who had arranged to meet us there had given up hope of our arrival, not having been given any intimation by the local representatives of Imperial Airways as to what plane we were travelling in or when we were likely to arrive. Next, in spite of the fact that one may strike a match or light a petrol-lighter in the after-compartment of one of these machines, and that is considered entirely safe, yet there is no apparatus on board whereby the steward can even heat up a cup of tea. All the food has to be brought on board at the various stopping-places and put into thermoses. I do not know how many hon. Members have ever seen a sausage or a piece of bacon taken out of a thermos, but I assure them that it is not a particularly agreeable sight.

It seems ridiculous, if these planes are to be used chiefly for mails as they were during Christmas time and for some time afterwards, that so much space should be occupied by chairs for passengers who are not there. One finds it extremely difficult to get in between the table which is provided and the chair in which one is to sit, the space being cramped owing to the fact that an effort is made to get in as many chairs as possible. I suppose the original intention was to carry more passengers than mails. I found that the little details which count for so much in travelling were missing. Any passenger likes to know the names of the pilot and the other members of the crew of the plane, and in the case of any other air line by which I have travelled in any other country in the world, the names are always available. Even in the case of Imperial Airways there were blank spaces all ready for the names to be inserted. One would imagine that each member of the crew might have the obligation of carrying with him a name plate, and that it would be easy for him to slip it into the slot when he came on board for a voyage and to take it out when he was leaving.

Another point as regards the comfort of the passengers, was that I noticed that the automatic pilot which is, obviously, a very desirable instrument and relieves the pilot very much onlong journeys, was of a very "snatchy" kind, if I may use that expression. The result was that it was over-correcting the rudder and in the after-compartment one had the full benefit of a swing from side to side as soon as the flying boat had been put on its course and the pilot had "handed over" to the automatic pilot. I understand from people who have flown in Royal Air Force machines, that these are matters which can easily be put right. I suggest that they are all matters which ought to be watched very carefully if Imperial Airways is to continue as a firm with a reputation for studying the comfort of passengers. If, on the other hand, it is to be used largely for the carrying of mails then such advertisements as are now exhibited by Imperial Airways should not be exhibited by them any longer. They should not be allowed to state on their posters that Empire flying boats have a speed of approximately 200 miles an hour when, in fact, the average speed of the machine in which I flew was 95 to 105 miles an hour.

I ask my hon. and gallant Friend the Under-Secretary to give us some indication of what is to be the policy of Imperial Airways. Is it to be a preference for mails with a gracious permission to passengers to travel with the mails when there happens to be room, with the expectation of being jettisoned—I believe that is the term that was used—in the middle of the trip and with no knowledge beforehand of whether or not after taking one's ticket one will be able to leave on a particular day or not, whether the heating apparatus will be working and so forth? I hope that some policy will be decided upon, whereby this overlapping between passengers and mails will be avoided so that the mails will be punctual and people who desire important letters to be conveyed long distances in a short time will be able to rely on the service. In that connection I would suggest a reversion to the old arrangement whereby the addition of an air-mail stamp ensured that a letter would, at any rate, reach its destination sooner by air than by the ordinary route over land. These things must be considered if the reputation of our air lines is to be preserved, and I hope that we shall have a reassuring statement on those lines from my hon. and gallant Friend.