Cobham Air Routes

A Cobham Air Routes Westland Wessex with a previous owner SABENA

Cobham Air Routes was a 1930s British airline that was formed in 1935 to operate a service between Croydon and the Channel Islands. Following the loss of an aircraft in a fatal accident the airline was sold to Olley Air Services.

History

Cobham Air Routes Limited was formed on 3 May 1935 by Sir Alan Cobham to operate services between Croydon and Guernsey. The twice daily service started on 6 May 1935, the first sector from Croydon to Bournemouth via Portsmouth was flown by an Airspeed Courier with the Bournemouth to Guernsey sector flown by a six-passenger Westland Wessex.[1] Following the loss of the Wessex aircraft on 3 July 1935 Cobham decided to withdraw from the airline business and sell the company to Olley Air Services.

Accidents and incidents

On the 3 July 1935 the three-engined Westland Wessex G-ADEW ditched in the English channel close to The Needles with the loss of the pilot, the passenger managed to escape.[2][3] The aircraft was carrying one passenger from Guernsey to Bournemouth, it had a failure of the starboard engine 25 to 30 minutes into the flight and carried on with two-engines, after half an hour one or more of the remaining engines failed and the aircraft crashed into the sea.[2] The passenger was picked up after two hours by the Stanmore but the pilot was never found.[3] An inquiry concluded that the pilot had taken an unnecessary but not wholly unjustifiable risk continuing with two-engines and he should have considered turning for the French coast.[2]

Fleet

Guernsey Post Office

In 1973 the Guernsey Post Office issued a 3d stamp depicting the Wessex G-ADEW to represent the three aircraft used by Cobham on services to the island, to commemorate 50 years of commercial flying to the island.[4]

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Cleutt/Nash/Learmonth 1980, p. 89
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Channel Flight On Two Engines." Times [London, England] 16 Oct. 1935: 8. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 20 Sept. 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "The Channel Tragedy". Flight. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
  4. ↑ "Stamps give air history of islands." Times [London, England] 22 May 1973: 18. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 20 Sept. 2013.
Bibliography