B.O.A.C Earns Nation's Gratitude
Last week there took place an airline flight which was not only of profound personal significance to every loyal citizen throughout the British Commonwealth, but which will also live in the history of the Nation. We refer, of course, to the journey of the B.O.A.C. Argonaut Atalanta which brought Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II so speedily and safely back to this country when the sudden death of her father the King called for her immediate accession to the throne.
The journey itself - a model of precision flying and a striking example of a first-class airline at work - constituted a magnificent demonstration of the efficiency of B.O A.C.'s ground organization as well as of the unsurpassed skill of its flying crews. The aircraft was at Mombasa when the King died, yet within a few hours it had flown to Entebbe and was airborne for London with the Queen and her consort on board. The service, which involved immense responsibility for the Corporation, was laid on in an hour or two in all its complex aspects of flight-planning, refuelling, arrangements, airport clearance, weather forecasting and crew changes - matters which called for vital decisions to be made instantaneously and cabled to many different stations in a matter of minutes.
Polar Landing Attempt
Two aircraft, of unstated type, left the U.S.N air station at Patuxent River, Maryland, last Sunday, bound for the John Hopkins University Arctic Laboratory at Point barrow, Alaska. Another was due to follow during the week. With 34 persons on board - including one woman - the three are to fly on to the North Pole, where it is hoped to make the first polar landing. Among research objectives of the flight are the measurement of depth and salinity of the water under the ice, while it is also hoped to find whether homing pigeons can operate under polar conditions; a number of these birds are already in Alaska for acclimatization.
Source: Flight International
