Editing Imperial Airways (section)

===Route proving===
Between 16 November 1925 and 13 March 1926, [[Alan Cobham]] made an Imperial Airways' route survey flight from the UK to Cape Town and back in the [[Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar]]–powered [[de Havilland DH.50|de Havilland DH.50J]] floatplane ''G-EBFO''. The outward route was [[London]]–[[Paris]]–[[Marseille]]–[[Pisa]]–[[Taranto]]–[[Athens]]–[[Sallum|Sollum]]–[[Cairo]]–[[Luxor]]–[[Aswan]]–[[Wadi Halfa]]–[[Atbarah|Atbara]]–[[Khartoum]]–[[Malakal]]–[[Mongalla, South Sudan|Mongalla]]–[[Jinja, Uganda|Jinja]]–[[Kisumu]]–[[Tabora]]–[[Mbala, Zambia|Abercorn]]–[[Ndola]]–[[Kabwe|Broken Hill]]–[[Livingstone, Zambia|Livingstone]]–[[Bulawayo]]–[[Pretoria]]–[[Johannesburg]]–[[Kimberley, Northern Cape|Kimberley]]–[[Bloemfontein]]–[[Cape Town]]. On his return Cobham was awarded the [[Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)|Air Force Cross]] for his services to aviation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sir Alan Cobham; A Life of a Pioneering Aviator |url=https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/online-exhibitions/sir-alan-cobham-a-pioneering-aviator/south-africa-flight/ |access-date=2023-04-01 |website=RAF Museum |language=en-GB}}</ref>

On 30 June 1926, Cobham took off from the [[River Medway]] at [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]] in ''G-EBFO'' to make an Imperial Airways route survey for a service to Melbourne, arriving on 15 August 1926. He left Melbourne on 29 August 1926, and, after completing {{convert|28000|nmi|mi km}} in 320 hours flying time over 78 days, he alighted on the Thames at Westminster on 1 October 1926. Cobham was met by the [[Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood|Secretary of State for Air, Sir Samuel Hoare]], and was subsequently knighted by HM [[King George V]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sir Alan Cobham; A Life of a Pioneering Aviator |url=https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/online-exhibitions/sir-alan-cobham-a-pioneering-aviator/australia-flight/ |access-date=2023-04-01 |website=RAF Museum |language=en-GB}}</ref>

On 27 December 1926, Imperial Airways [[de Havilland DH.66 Hercules]] ''G-EBMX City of Delhi'' left Croydon for a survey flight to India. The flight reached Karachi on 6 January 1927 and Delhi on 8 January 1927. The aircraft was named by Lady Irwin, wife of the Viceroy, on 10 January 1927. The return flight left on 1 February 1927 and arrived at Heliopolis, Cairo on 7 February 1927. The flying time from Croydon to Delhi was 62 hours 27 minutes and Delhi to Heliopolis 32 hours 50 minutes.<ref name=DH66>Stroud, Nov 1986, pp. 609–14</ref>