(b) The Aeronautical Corps, when formed, will consist of 200 aviators. After the first 100 have been trained, additional aeroplanes of the newest type will be purchased for the training of the second hundred. All candidates will be selected from the 28th Division and the 1st Mukden Division. (c) One Aerodrome will be established at a spot N.W. of the Mukden Railway Station of the Peking-Mukden line, outside the small west gate of the city. A second Aerodrome will be constructed near the Military School outside the East Gate. (d) Subsidiary establishments will be formed in Kirin and Heilungchiang. Suitable sites are now in process of being selected. 29 APRIL 1921 COMMERCIALAIR ROUTE FOR NORTH WEST CHINA Plans for the development of a network of commercial aviation routes in China are progressing rapidly, the latest step in this direction being the despatch by the Bureau of Aviation of Lieutenant Colonel F.V. Holt, C.M.G., D.S.O., Advisor to the Bureau, to Honanfu, Kuanyintang and Sianfu, where he is to conduct investigations with a view to the early opening of a passenger and mail service between Kianyintung and Sianfu. Colonel Holt’s first step is at Honanfu, the headquarters of General Wu Pei-fu, and there he will discuss with the General the Aviation Bureau’s plans for the new commercial route and attempt to obtain his approval and support of it. From Honanfu, Colonel Holt will proceed to Kuanyintang, the present railhead of the line from Honanfu to Sianfu, to make final arrangements with Military Governor Chen Shu-fan and provide for adequate facilities for landing and housing the Government’s aeroplanes. If Colonel Holt’s negotiations with Generals Wu Pei-fu and Chen Chufan prove satisfactory to the Bureau of Aviation, work on the new aerodrome at Kuanyintang and Sianfu, with perhaps an intermediate station between these cities, will commence at once; and it is hoped to have them completed in time to start the new air service this Summer. The machines to be used for the service will be of the Vickers-Vimy type, with British pilots and mechanics assisted by Chinese studentaviators. They will carry mail, passengers and any freight that is valuable enough to justify its transportation by aeroplane. The present route from Kuanyintang to Sianfu is some 200 miles long and traverses a wild and hilly country, so that at least six days of hard marching are required to go from one city to the other. AVickers Vimy aeroplane can easily make the non-stop run in three hours thus bringing Sianfu, the capital of one of the richest provinces in the country, with its population of over half a million, closer to Peking, Hankow and the seacoast by nearly six days. If, furthermore, the Bureau of Aviation continue to show the interest in commercial aviation with which it is now inspired, it is reasonable to hope that the proposed Kuanyintang-Sianfu route will be merely the first lap of an all air route to Tibet by way of Lanchowfu. Plans for such a route have already been discussed at the Bureau, but unsettled conditions in the West and South-West, together with the present lack of funds for sufficient aeroplanes and other equipment, make them impracticable for the moment. It is believed here, however, that the time when Tibet will thus be opened up to the commerce of the outside world is
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUzMjY3MA==