IMPERIAL AIRWAYS - PART ONE - THE BEGINNINGS скачать в хорошем качестве

IMPERIAL AIRWAYS - PART ONE - THE BEGINNINGS

Britain 's Imperial Airways was formed on 31 st March 1924 and charged with developing air routes to British colonies and interests in Africa, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, the Far East, and Australia (Veale 1945; Porter 1991). Operating as a privately owned monopoly, albeit one subsidised by the British Government, Imperial expanded quickly. By 1938, the company was flying nearly 25,000 route miles and offering eight flights a week to Egypt, five to India, three each to East Africa, Malaya, and Australia, and two each to South Africa and Hong Kong (Finch 1938). Yet despite Imperial Airways' leading role in the formation of early global air routes, the British were initially quite reluctant aviators and though Wilbur and Orville Wright had performed the world's first heavier-than-air powered flight at Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in December 1903, the British Government and scientific establishments were sceptical of their claims and dismissed the existence and future potential of powered flight (Grant 2003).