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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0100.PDF
FEBRUARY 20, FAMBRIDGE FLIGHT GROUNDS.—The Club House (1); hotel (2); post and telegraph office (3); water tower and electric plant house (4), with bungalows, &c, in background. staff of men is to be kept on, under a responsible fore- man, for the common use of all experimenters, each of whom will be required to contribute a nominal sum of about 10s. a week to the wages fund. The actual number of men will, of course, be in proportion to the number of experimenters who are actively at work at any particular time. A moderate yearly rental—the sum at present suggested is ^50 per annum—will be charged for each lock-up shed; and this will also include the use of the main building, with such machinery and appliances as it contains. Aviators will have the further advantage of being able to reside in the immediate vicinity, for they will have the first call on the four - roomed bungalows which are to be made available at a rental of about 3^. per week. Among other facilities which this unique and ready-made aerodrome possesses is a post-office, which already has a telegraph, and is about to be put on the telephone. Combined with it is a general stores, and near by is an hotel, as well as a conveniently-situated club-house. Exclusive of these buildings, the bungalows number twenty, and the brick cottages account for twelve more. For all practical purposes, it may be taken that the actual limits of the flying rights are represented by the River Crouch on the north, from Fambridge right down to Foulness Island and Foulness Sands ; by Hockley on the south, and by a line about 9 or 10 miles from Fam- bridge on the west. The only stipulation which Mr. Billing desires to make with those who share the use of his property, is that they shall give evidence of a patriotic side to their work. And this they are to do by associating themselves with his general scheme, viz., that of founding the nucleus for an aerial fleet, which it is proposed to call the " Imperial Flying Squadron." It will be observed that Mr. Billing's proposals are of a very ambitious and praiseworthy nature; and that they are essentially intended to imbue the sporting side with a militant national aspect of a definite kind. As such, we hope that this " Colony of British Aerocraft" (as Mr. Billing proposes to call it) may meet with immediate success. The first machine which will probably be tried will be a Pischoff, fitted with a Dutheil-Chalmer engine. One of these aeroplanes was shown at the recent Paris Salon, and that which is to inaugurate flight at Fambridge is expected to be at the Olympia Exhibition prior to being taken down there. It is probable that the undertaking as a whole will have a commercial side, for we understand that aeroplanes will be built on the spot, and that Mr. C. E. Whittaker, who is also associated with the scheme, is in the meantime making arrangements whereby officers of the " Squadron " can obtain Belgian-built machines at cost price. FAMBRIDGE FLIGHT GROUNDS.—The row of 4-roomed bungalows available for the use of aviators. 102
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