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Empire Air Mail Scheme

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92:, South Africa commenced the following year. However, the service to Australia did not begin until July 1938, owing to difficulties in building alighting stations in the difficult geographic and climatic conditions in northern Australia. The Short C Class Empire flying boats were easily damaged. In December 1938, the Scheme was in crisis, as some Shorts flying boats were out of service due to accidents, while the cheap subsidised mail rates offered to the public attracted a flood of letters that the British Air Ministry never expected. To shift this huge quantity of mail while their own fleet steadily diminished, Imperial Airways scoured Europe for aircraft on short term leases, including American Douglas airliners from Swissair. An official review of the Scheme in early 1939 then concluded that the amount of mail to be carried at peak times like the Christmas season could never be lifted without an uneconomic number of 'reserve' aircraft that would then be idle for the rest of the year. The outbreak of the war in September 1939 brought the Scheme to an end; by then, British officials had concluded the original selection of flying boats was a mistake, and British aviation needed to shift back to landplanes. However, the demands of war prevented British industry from building new prototype landplanes for which orders had been placed, the 38:, EAMS sought to greatly expand British civil aviation by shifting all 'first class' mail within the British Empire by air. Imperial Airways was a private company, but like most airlines of the era, relied on public subsidies (in this case, from the Air Ministry) to support its operations. A critical driving force behind EAMS was 71:
Political agreement from within the Empire was finally reached in early 1937, after the Australians held out for a better financial deal. Australian aviation experts were deeply sceptical about the Scheme from the start, and were especially concerned that Imperial Airways had decided on the use of
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EAMS was a hugely expensive plan, and to make it financially acceptable to the British Government, subsidies were required to support it from the dominions (especially South Africa, India and Australia) and colonies of the Empire. In this way, EAMS served another of Geddes' aims, namely to prevent
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to operate the new services, even before final agreement was reached. Geddes preferred flying boats because he thought the cost of expanding airfields throughout the Empire would be too great, and the cost of fuel would be lower along the coastline in comparison with inland airfields.
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Findlay, Michael; Barton, Gerry (2015). "The Final Link in the Empire Route: New Zealand and the TEAL Short Solent Flying Boat". In Cooper, Annabel; Paterson, Lachy;
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The use of flying boats quickly exposed the frailties of the Scheme once it became operational. The first service from
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Ewer, Peter (2007). "A Gentlemen's Club in the Clouds: Re-assessing the Empire Air Mail Scheme 1933–1939".
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Ewer, Peter (2007). "A Gentlemen's Club in the Clouds: Re-assessing the Empire Air Mail Scheme 1933–1939".
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Smith, Richard (1983). "The Intercontinental Airliner and the Essence of Airplane Performance 1929–1939".
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Smith, Richard (1983). "The Intercontinental Airliner and the Essence of Airplane Performance 1929–1939".
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local Indian, South African and Australian operators from opening up international air routes.
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to regain leadership of world civil aviation in the late 1930s following the establishment of
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from 1931 to 1936. Appointed at the age of 38, he remains one of the youngest
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Wounded Eagle: The Bombing of Darwin and Australia's Air Defence Scandal
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Wounded Eagle: The Bombing of Darwin and Australia's Air Defence Scandal
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from Cairo to Bagdad in the early 1920s. Conceived in 1934 by
166:"Memorial Service for Sir Christopher Bullock K.C.B., C.B.E." 85: 430: 64:to have headed a British Government department. 368: 377:. Otago University Press. pp. 304–309. 198: 196: 259: 257: 180: 178: 16:Air mail program by the British government 193: 110: 211: 254: 175: 138: 431: 311: 302: 202: 123: 116: 391: 217: 163: 22:(EAMS) was an attempt by the British 454:British Overseas Airways Corporation 349: 320: 263: 184: 88:began in December 1936, and that to 141:Ethics in the British Civil Service 13: 316:. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 128:. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 121:. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 14: 475: 314:A History of the World's Airlines 126:A History of the World's Airlines 119:A History of the World's Airlines 40:Sir Christopher Llewellyn Bullock 164:Lloyd, Geoffrey (15 June 1972). 296: 157: 132: 1: 375:The Lives of Colonial Objects 103: 323:Journal of Transport History 303:Barnes, Christopher (1989). 266:Journal of Transport History 203:Barnes, Christopher (1989). 7: 139:Chapman, Richard A (1988). 10: 480: 305:Shorts Aircraft Since 1900 205:Shorts Aircraft Since 1900 143:. Routledge. p. 142. 54:Permanent Under-Secretary 354:. Sydney: New Holland. 394:Technology and Culture 312:Davies, R E G (1964). 220:Technology and Culture 189:. Sydney: New Holland. 124:Davies, R E G (1964). 117:Davies, R E G (1964). 20:Empire Air Mail Scheme 350:Ewer, Peter (2009). 185:Ewer, Peter (2009). 58:British Air Ministry 335:10.7227/TJTH.28.1.6 278:10.7227/TJTH.28.1.6 28:The Air Mail Route 307:. London: Putnam. 207:. London: Putnam. 471: 449:Imperial Airways 425: 388: 371:Wanhalla, Angela 365: 346: 317: 308: 290: 289: 261: 252: 251: 215: 209: 208: 200: 191: 190: 182: 173: 172: 170: 161: 155: 154: 136: 130: 129: 122: 114: 51: 36:Imperial Airways 479: 478: 474: 473: 472: 470: 469: 468: 464:Air New Zealand 429: 428: 406:10.2307/3104760 385: 362: 299: 294: 293: 262: 255: 232:10.2307/3104760 216: 212: 201: 194: 183: 176: 168: 162: 158: 151: 137: 133: 115: 111: 106: 43: 32:Sir Eric Geddes 17: 12: 11: 5: 477: 467: 466: 461: 456: 451: 446: 444:Airline routes 441: 427: 426: 400:(3): 428–449. 389: 383: 366: 360: 347: 318: 309: 298: 295: 292: 291: 253: 226:(3): 428–449. 210: 192: 174: 156: 149: 131: 108: 107: 105: 102: 62:civil servants 34:, chairman of 15: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 476: 465: 462: 460: 457: 455: 452: 450: 447: 445: 442: 440: 437: 436: 434: 423: 419: 415: 411: 407: 403: 399: 395: 390: 386: 384:9781927322024 380: 376: 372: 367: 363: 361:9781741108255 357: 353: 348: 344: 340: 336: 332: 328: 324: 319: 315: 310: 306: 301: 300: 287: 283: 279: 275: 271: 267: 260: 258: 249: 245: 241: 237: 233: 229: 225: 221: 214: 206: 199: 197: 188: 181: 179: 167: 160: 152: 150:9780415003346 146: 142: 135: 127: 120: 113: 109: 101: 99: 95: 91: 87: 83: 78: 75: 69: 65: 63: 59: 55: 50: 46: 41: 37: 33: 29: 25: 21: 397: 393: 374: 351: 326: 322: 313: 304: 297:Bibliography 269: 265: 223: 219: 213: 204: 186: 159: 140: 134: 125: 118: 112: 79: 74:flying boats 70: 66: 24:Air Ministry 19: 18: 433:Categories 104:References 98:Short S.32 94:Fairey FC1 82:Alexandria 422:111745609 343:144016759 286:144016759 248:111745609 373:(eds.). 96:and the 439:Airmail 414:3104760 240:3104760 56:at the 459:Qantas 420:  412:  381:  358:  341:  284:  246:  238:  147:  90:Durban 418:S2CID 410:JSTOR 339:S2CID 329:(1). 282:S2CID 272:(1). 244:S2CID 236:JSTOR 169:(PDF) 86:Egypt 47: 379:ISBN 356:ISBN 145:ISBN 402:doi 331:doi 274:doi 228:doi 49:CBE 45:KCB 435:: 416:. 408:. 398:24 396:. 337:. 327:28 325:. 280:. 270:28 268:. 256:^ 242:. 234:. 224:24 222:. 195:^ 177:^ 100:. 84:, 52:, 42:, 424:. 404:: 387:. 364:. 345:. 333:: 288:. 276:: 250:. 230:: 171:. 153:.

Index

Air Ministry
The Air Mail Route
Sir Eric Geddes
Imperial Airways
Sir Christopher Llewellyn Bullock
KCB
CBE
Permanent Under-Secretary
British Air Ministry
civil servants
flying boats
Alexandria
Egypt
Durban
Fairey FC1
Short S.32
ISBN
9780415003346
"Memorial Service for Sir Christopher Bullock K.C.B., C.B.E."




doi
10.2307/3104760
JSTOR
3104760
S2CID
111745609

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