[?]Ommunity Service

Rom

Anto's Aero Club

THEN, on October 9, the call of ] the Malaita at Santo, New Hebrides, coincided with the al Aero Club ball, I found the nmittee smarting under some ticism that had been published PIM, some months previously, t was reported that unauthorised fits had taken place at Vila, hout any supervision by the De •tment. of Civil Aviation, as there no such authority in the New brides Condominium. In the first ce, there is no serviceable land strip at Vila, and the only activ s of the Club have taken place Santo. n the second place, although re is no Civil Aviation authority the New Hebrires, there is noth to prevent the necessary super on being extended from the Civil ation controls of New Caledonia Australia. The Qantas flying ts which run a weekly service to i and Santo from Sydney use Aviation Meteorological and io facilities in the New Hebrides, le their mooring buoys and ding facilities are supervised by itralian Civil Aviation, he Santo Club has its own land strip on the property of M. n Wright, who is a patron and nber of the club himself. This p has been surveyed and

>roved b y e Direction I’Aeronauti- Civile de ivelle Cale ni e. The p measures

10 metres,

i a grass face, and is refore more 11 ab 1 e for .t aircraft a the big iber strip at to, which is in service i condition. field for ed landing :tice has i prepared M. Burgess, 3 u r u n d a, plans are hand for making of able strips other ids in the 0u p. The ; one has 1 made at sup, and a lond is med for

t Sandwich, both these places g on the island of Malekula. he aera club has received ncial support from many of the

local planters, who hope to see a network of services developed, both for commercial purposes and for emergencies, such as Flying Doctor services. The club has applied for recognition from the French Gov ernment, which usually gives sup port to aero clubs by the gift of a light plane. In the meantime the club has imported its own plane from Australia, a Tiger Moth with Gipsy Major engine, which sits proudly in its own little hangar be side the landing strip.

There are about 30 members in the club, of whom 14 have com menced their flying training. One of them, Raymond Delaveuve, has reached the solo stage. The main tenance of the plane and engine is in the hands of two engineers with aero qualifications, Messrs. Tunica y Casas and Witt.

The President of the Club, Auguste Francois Mallet, is also the flying in structor, and a pilot of long experi ence. His log book starts from 1933.

He graduated as an army pilot in 1934, and as a seaplane pilot in 1935.

He obtained his civil licences for both land and seaplanes in 1937 During the war he served in the French Resistance, and in Indo china for 5 years afterwards.

He was awarded the Croix de Guerre and Madaille Coloniale, and holds the rank of Lieutenant of Reserve in the Armee de I’Air. His civil licence was last renewed in June, 1954, and his flying hours total 3,685 hours.

In 1947, M. Mallet carried out

a notable flight in a single engined Noralpha, solo and without radio, from Paris to Saigon, a distanoe of 7,500 miles. Before he left Indo-Chma he was the man ager of the Air Taxi Company, and received high commendation from the Provincial Prefecture for his pioneering work there. He has now settled at Santo, where he has opened a roadside cafe, called “Bar de I’Aviation.”

Among the enthusiastic members of the club is the Vice-President, M. Miguel Leroy, who is interested in the acquisition of a seaplane, probably a Cesna on floats, which would have the advantage of being able to land at the various anchor ages in the Group, without the necessity of landing strips. There seems to be plenty of interest in the aims of the club by the plant ers of the Group, especially the French, and there is no reason why the club should not develop into a very useful service among the islands of the New Hebrides.—

Brett Hilder.

(PlM’s story was not intended as criticism. When we commented, “What, no Dept, of Civil Aviation!” we were not suggesting that there should be; but that the Con dominium was to be congratulated.

The item was published in Tropical ities, so was to be treated rather as a “good story” than as news.

Impossible now to track it to its source but it came from NZ and presumably was based on local gossip there. There was no need for members of Santo’s Aero Club to smart for five months. At any time since that tropicality appeared (July) we would have been happy to hear from any member of the Club and to print the facts).

A. F. Mallet.

The Club s Moth, with M. LeRoy and M. Delaveuve and his son.