FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1920
1920 - 0302.PDF
MARCH II, 1920 SIDE-WINDS ALTHOUGH the fire which occurred at the works at Willesden in which G.A.C., Ltd., were carrying on their post-War operations as wood-working and constructional engineers, completely gutted the premises and destroyed the mill, with all its machines, the work in all stages of progress, working drawings, etc., Mr. H. Bayley, the manager, with his usual business acumen, at once tackled the problem of " carrying on," The reconstruction and equipment of the old factory, at the best, would have taken many months, and, had the resumption of their business been dependent upon it, the effect would have been very serious. Fortunately, however, the British Aerial Transport Co., Ltd., were on the point of relinquishing that portion of their works which is situated at Willesden, and came to the rescue of the G.A.C. with an offer of the commodious premises, including the mill fully equipped with modern plant, the buildings covering a con- siderable area of ground and constituting a wood-working factory available for instant occupation and immediate re- sumption of G.A.C. operations. Within eight days of the fire, the purchase of the works was completed, and occupation was entered into ten days after the outbreak. The effects of the fire will be further minimised by the fact that the capacity of the new works very greatly exceeds that of the old factory, so that considerable expansion of G.A.C. productivity may be looked for. Although conditions in the aircraft industry at the present time have necessarily compelled Messrs. G.A.C., Ltd., to direct their energies outside the aeroplane industry, as pioneers since 1911 they will always be ready to re-arrange their programme to embrace aircraft work whenever there is justification for so doing. NEARLY 20,000 entries were made for the Rolls-Royce ^1,000 competition, which, as announced in our last issue, was won by Mrs. Alice Waters. The task set was to condense a paragraph, consisting of three sentences, referring to the successes of the Rolls-Royce engine in the Atlantic and Australian flights, to a single sentence, retaining all the facts and wording the suggestion suitably for advertising. The committee of advertising men, who were entrusted by Messrs. Rolls-Royce, Ltd., with the task of adjudication, have had anything but an easy time during the past few weeks. His many friends in England and Scotland were shocked to hear that Mr. Fred Norman had died of heart failure at Nairobi, British East Africa, on February 1. Mr. Norman, who was one of the pioneers, will be remembered by many for his enthusiastic work as Secretary of the Aquatic Sports at Shepperton a year or so back, which provided sub- stantial aid to the R.A.F. hospitals. He had gone out to East Africa in connection with some extensive building operations. WE have received a copy of a letter which has been ad- dressed to the President of the Board of Trade by Mr. H. W. A. Deterding, on behalf of the Shell Royal Dutch Group. The letter reads as follows :— " I have discussed with those of my colleagues of the Shell Royal Dutch Group who are now in London the published report of the Sub-Committee on petrol prices, and we feel it our duty to place before you the facts as they are known to us. " On the main issue as to the controlling influence on the price in the United Kingdom of the f.o.b. price of petrol in New York we agree with the report. It is not, however, a fact that we, or any other concern, fix or control this price. In view of the general impression abroad as to the existence of a world-wide petrol ring, we desire to make the statement deliberately and emphatically that no such ring exists. No one is in a position to dictate any reduction to the thousands of oil producers in the United States who sell in the open market in which we buy. These producers try to get the best price they can secure in competition with one another, and we have to pay this price for the very large quantities of American petrol necessary to satisfy the requirements of our clients over and above Eastern production. We cannot, as a matter of fact, buy petrol in the United States at less than ^25 at Atlantic ports instead of the £j 10s. sug- gested by the Committee. "It is unquestionable that the world-demand for petrol, even at the present time, exceeds the supply, and the great shortage already existing in other European countries is evidence of this fact. We entirely agree with the Com- mittee that every endeavour should be made to foster the production of power alcohol and other motor fuels of all kinds both in the British Empire and throughout the world. " For the present, so far as we can judge, the only possible remedy for existing high prices is a drastic reduction in the consumption of petrol. This is our opinion, but we desire to state that our group places itself unreservedly at the disposal of the Governments of the chief European countries for consulation as to the position and the steps to be taken." Lieut.-Col. Loraine's Adventure WISHING to get home from Switzerland in quick time- Lieut.-Col. Robert Loraine on March 4 left St. Moritz in a Condor machine, piloted by Comte. Unfortunately, owing to heavy mist and low clouds and the use of a very poor map, the pilot lost his way after leaving Zurich and landed at Marburg, in Prussia, where their reception was none too cordial. On the next day another stop was necessary at Elsenborn, and finally the machine reached Antwerp, where as the weather jvas too bad for flying, Col. Loraine decided to complete his journey to London by boat and train. Col. Loraine says in flying over Germany he was very much impressed by the extreme activity that was everywhere noticeable. At all the manufacturing towns chimneys were belching forth smoke and quarries were being worked very actively. Nice to London in 9£ hours A FINE performance was made by the Airco 4 (Rolls-Royce) belonging to Messrs. Instone and Co. on March 4. Leaving Nice at 6.20 a.m. (G.M.T.), the machine, pilotedby Mr. F. L. Barnard, with Mr. H. W. Chattaway and Mr. Alfred du Cros as passengers, flew to Lyonsin 2 hours 35 mins.,the direct route being taken over the Alpes Maritimes. After a stop of about an hour, the machine completed the stageto Paris in 2 hours 25 mins., while the third portion of the journey to London took 2 hours 7 mins., the machine landingat Hounslow at 3.50 p.m. The flying time for the 900 miles was 7 hours 7 mins. London to Nice in 15| Hours. ALTHOUGH there is no regular air service from London to Nice, we understand that by taking advantage of the air lines already in existence something like 12 hours of the most tedious travelling may be saved. The Lep Aerial Travel Bureau of Piccadilly Circus have completed arrange- ments for this j.ourney. The journey to Paris is made by Airco aeroplane and from Paris is continued by sleeping car express to Avignon, here the change is again made to the aeroplane—a machine of the Compagnie Aerienne Francaise making the flight from Avignon to Nice in ij hours, saving about six hours on this section of the journey alone. Leaving London by this route at 3 p.m. the passengers arrive in Nice before 10 a.m. the next day. The fare, which is subject to the variation of the French exchange, is roughly ,£34. A H.P. in Scandinavia THE Handley-Page aeroplane, piloted by Capt. Stewart and Capt. Gran, which flew from London to Denmark last summer, recently concluded a number of demonstration flights in Scandinavia. The weather conditions met with were somewhat trying for aviation, as the country abounds with mountains and lakes, which filled the atmosphere with " bumps " and cross currents, apart from the difficulties such landscape presented in the event of forced landings. On one occasion two snow-ploughs had to be utilised to clear the ground before the machine could " take off," and when it did commence to run across the ground the slip stream of the propellers sent great showers of snow 7 ft. high. The machine gave exhibition flights at Copenhagen, Arrhus and Christiania, where 454 passengers were given flights in the aeroplane, by the inhabitants and the flying officers stationed near Denmark. They were astonished when Capt. Stewart carried out a few mild " stunts " ; on landing after a flight during which he mildly pulled the Handley-Page to a very steep climbing angle, he was congratulated on his excellent " loop." Fast Flying in Italy FLYING at the Mirafiori aerodrome, Turin, on March 3, with a passenger, Lieut. Brak Papa on his A.R.F. biplane with Fiat motor, attained an officially recorded average speed of 273 kilometres (169^ miles) an hour. The highest speed reached was 277 kilometres (172J miles). On the following day Lieut. Brak Papa, with two passengers, flew from Turin to Rome, a distance of 623 kilometres, in 2J hours, his average speed being 276-888 k.p.h. 302
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
