The Third Route

by Philip Sassoon

The book is a 1929 memoir written by the British Under Secretary of State of Air, Sir Philip Sassoon, about his multi-segment flight along the newly established air route to India. Using Royal Air Force flying boats and land aircraft, Sassoon travels through France, Italy and Greece to Egypt. From there he conducts an inspection of Royal Air Force stations at Aboukir, Egypt and Khartoum, and (the then) Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Returning to Cairo, he joins another expedition travelling east across Mesopotamia (Iraq), Persia (Iran), over Baluchistan (modern day Pakistan) to India. Here he inspects numerous formations and units of the RAF in India, travels to the Northwest Frontier near Afghanistan, rests in the summer residence of the Viceroy at Simla, and finally makes the long and often frustrating journey back to Egypt. A stop in Malta concludes the travelogue, having described many of the sights and scenes that were particular to the period. Sassoon meets a number of contemporary leaders, including his Italian counterpart, Italo Balbo, and provides humorous anecdotes about his travelling companion, Arthur Longmore, a future Chief of the Air Staff. His descriptions of the flights themselves provide a good deal of detail of the hazards of low-level flying in the late 1920s, from sandstorms, to fog, wind, and haze, and the risks of flying without electronic aids to navigation. The author seeks to extol the virtues of flight, the new 'third route' (after land and sea), particularly in regards to the speed and comfort of travel along routes connecting the British Empire, through the use of aircraft.

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1929