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THE IMPERIAL ROUTES
India (1): The first stage of the Imperial Trunk Routes was the strategic Egypt-India route surveyed by Sir Alan Cobham in 1925. As Suez was vital to our sea communications, so this link between the Middle East and India (see map above) was regarded as of paramount importance to the Imperial air system. In spite of difficulties, delays and hazards, the first through-service from England to India was opened in 1934, and India was brought within one week's travel from England (17¼ hours. by l958) compared with three weeks by sea.
South Africa (2): The R.A. F. began pioneering the 5,000 mile route from Cairo to the Cape in 1919. They cleared jungle, drained swamps, blasted away rock and fought off elephants and insects. By 1931 5,000 miles of route were open between Britain and Lake Victoria. By 1932 there was a Britain-Cape Town service for passengers. The time taken for the journey of 7,885 miles was 10½ days, compared with 15 days by sea.
Australia (3): The Imperial tracks reached eastward from Karachi to Calcutta, to Rangoon, Singapore and finally Brisbane (1934). This was now the world's longest air route. The 12,722 miles were flown in 12 days.
New aeroplanes were brought into service to fly these Empire routes. Among them were the Handley Page 42's, of which Hannibal was one of the most famous. These aircraft, pioneer airliners, had kitchens, heating equipment and silent cabins - the first of a new generation of airliners.
EMPIRE AIR MAIL SERVICE
Empire Air Mail. A great achievement by British civil aviation was the Empire Air Mail Service (1937), which carried first-class mail to the countries of the Empire without surcharge-the greatest advance in the postal service since the penny post. A mail subsidy assured Imperial Airways of a revenue so that they could plan faster and more frequent services. By 1939 the Company and groups associated with it were flying 24,000 miles a day on European and trunk services.
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