Air Mail Service
It was about two years after the First World War that the
Stamford Hill Aerodrome was begun. Strangely enough, the airport
was started more for the protection of the health of Durban
citizens than as an airport. There had been several malaria
epidemics which tended to keep visitors away from Durban, and the
Eastern Vlei, on which the 'drome now stands, was a breeding ground
for mosquitos [sic]. On May 7, 1920, the City [Actually Town, at
this point. Ed.] Council passed a resolution accepting the tender
of Messrs. Michaux and Delfonte for the reclamation and levelling
of the ground comprising the Eastern Vlei, giving the firm 35 weeks
to complete the job. This was not done in the specified period.
however, but was completed some time in 1921, a few months after
the time given for the job. One of the main advantages of the
reclaimed Eastern Vlei as an airport was its short distance from
the centre of the city, only two miles.
In 1925, the section which had been reclaimed was used by the
South African Air Force to run an experimental air mail service,
the first of its kind in South Africa, along the coast between
Durban and Cape Town. Recommended by the Civil Air Board and
sponsored by Senator the Hon. Thomas Boydell, Minister of Posts and
Telegraphs, the service was authorised by Parliament. A sum of
£9,000 was voted for this service by the Government and under Sir
Pierre van Ryneveld it operated both ways weekly. Eleven old
wartime D.H. 9's were used and the service connected up with the
Union Castle mail steamers at Cape Town. It was run for six months
with remarkable efficiency and was then discontinued as it was not
an unqualified success. Valuable data, however, was obtained of
which Major A. M. Miller, a member of the Civil Air Board at that
time, was later able to make good use. The Government called for
proposals for the establishment of a service but some years elapsed
before a small subsidy was granted for a regular service.
Courtesy
http://www.fad.co.za