Show transi CEAN TRAVEL IS STILL POPULAR R atlantic and pacific spanned by regular service washington D C although the hindenburg Hm denburg has been erased from the timetables and the graf lin has been grounded air travel continues to be a popular method of ocean crossing both the atlantic and the pacific are still spanned by scheduled air services says the national geo graphic society and the indian ocean is skirted most of the world s important seas especially the med and the caribbean are crisscross ed and outlined by air lines air commuters across the at lantic alantic may be without wings tern tem pora po rily but the mail still goes through on planes that hop the south atlantic weekly for regular delivery the french mail line has cut the travel time between pans paris and brazil to three days touching three continents and crossing parts of seven countries A german line shares cespon sivility lity with the french tor for weekly transatlantic air mail routes of course vary somewhat from trip to trip in order to avoid areas made stormy by weather or politics spectacular service youngest and most spectacular of the boating by air services is the pan american clipper line from california to china the new orient express since april 1937 has been dodging monotony over the non pacific pacific by cleaving the clouds and reaching hong kong one week after departure from san francisco this jaunt from hemi sphere to hemisphere requires a jagged southwesterly course to the philippines on the eastern rim of asia A s 1 a then a jump northwest to china with five stops between the american terminus and the asiatic terminus the bases are in three cases tropical inlands in which the airplane contrasts with the usual transportation tempo hawaii guam and manila in the philip pines airlines are prominent among the east west lifelines which keep great britain in touch with her in dies and france with her indo china instead of progressing by broad ocean hops these air routes usually follow coast coastline linea with port to port overland jumps through dan berous and in hospitable country and overwater flights to islands the french line to the orient hugs the northern shores of the med and the indian ocean then darts overland above india and siam to french indo china s me tro polis saigon the route from the netherlands follows the same tactics except that it turns south from bangkok in siam and hops over the dense forests and rich plan lations of the malay states su matra java and borneo with ex ot otic lc sounding stops scattered along both oth sides of the equator singa pore Pa lembang batavia ban boeng and Bahk Balik papan busy over mediterranean possibly the most flown over ea is the mediterranean with a dozen or so airlines radiating from mar ailles rome and athens most of them find their way southward by way of cyprus crete sicily ay corsica or the balearic islands to eu colonies in northern africa and egypt the english channel is likewise a much flown stretch of water at one time a dozen airlines crossed it eleven of them darting fanlike from london toward other european capitals even the ice locked bal tic has its aerial shortcuts linking finland denmark and norway with sweden heavy air traffic encircles the gulf of mexico and the caribbean sea linking north america with coastal service on the sister conti nent to the south one in tin jump travels the peninsula island land isthmus route to the west Is coas coast t of south america flying over florida cuba jamaica and then making a long overwater hop to colombia and the panama canal zone another arc are of air travel fol lows the crescent of the west in dieb to south americas east coast from miami to nuevitas Nue vitas in cuba port au prince in haiti san juan in puerto rico then southeast over the lesser antilles those sainted specks of british and french tern terri tory festooned around the bean A complete air base has been erected on bermuda for a projected trans transatlantic atlant c service between lon don and new york this new route will also touch portugal and the azores A more northern route by way of newfoundland has also been surveyed |