FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1921
1921 - 0377.PDF
JUNE 2, 1921 CROYDON TERMINAL AERODROME Monday Evening, May 30 As a natural outcome of the rapid growth of air travel, last week's traffic between London and the Continent broke all existing records. If the passenger bookings continue to increase at the same rate, some of the fondest hopes of the air transport firms will be realised. Last week, for instance, over 370 passengers were carried, whilst the aeroplanes em- ployed flew a distance of over 21,000 miles. It is hoped to have two British services daily to Paris in the near future, and, as many would-be passengers have of late been disappointed, there appears every reason to believe that full loads will be forthcoming for the extra machines. The first of the Handley-Page 0-400's arrived at the aerodrome from Paris on Friday, and the two machines which left Cricklewood for Le Bourget on Saturday landed at Croydon from Paris this afternoon. The stores and offices of Handley Page Transport have been transferred here from Cricklewood. The Instone Air Line have been busy with special flights. Their four-seater B.A.T. has been in constant use, not only on special flights to the Continent, but also on inland flights. On Sunday this machine, piloted by Mr. Powell, left for Paris in order to bring a well-known sportsman to England for the Derby. The " Vimy " and the D.H. 18 have also been fully occupied in the regular service, which on some occasions has had to be duplicated. On Thursday next the Instone Air Line will run their first " excursion " to Paris. Leaving Croydon at 9 a.m. the air excursionists will reach Paris in time to spend three or four hours in that city before the hour scheduled for the return journey. The new D.H. 18 G-EAWO has been flown back to Stag Lane for slight alterations. The Anglo-American Oil Company have practically com- pleted their bulk storage petrol plant, and the underground tank has been filled with 3,000 gallons of aviation spirit. I understand that the Shell people also contemplate a similar installation here. The Grands Express have had a very successful week. They have surmounted the trouble with their engines, and have carried 92 passengers during the week. In spite of the busy times, Mr. Bouderie still manages to keep his garden in trim, and his carnations promise to be the envy of the aerodrome's amateur gardeners. The tarmac before the entrance to the Customs house has been marked out into mysterious squares. Mr. Shaw, of Basil S. Foster, Ltd., tells me that this arrangement is for speeding-up the departure of the passenger-cars to town. The cars will draw up, one in each numbered square, and passengers will be allotted to a certain car, and their baggage will then go straight to the car from the Customs. This will save the confusion which usually arises when a whole pile of luggage, and a mass of passengers, have to be sorted out. A large gang of men are busily digging holes in the old aerodrome, where the airship mooring-mast is to be, whilst another gang are just as busy filling them up with concrete. The foundation-work for the mast is now far enough advanced for the erection of the mast itself to begin, and, had it not beenm m Over the Andes with a Passenger FOR the first time the Andes have, it is reported, been flown by a pilot carrying a passenger. This is to the credit of two Chilian officers in a De Havilland, who started from Santiago in Chile, with the intention of making for Buenos Ay res. Owing to shortage of petrol, however, they had to finish at San Luis (Argentina), a flight of about 300 miles. A Monster Mother Ship for 'Planes U.S. SECRETARY DEABY asks for the immediate construc- tion of an aeroplane-carrying mother-ship as recommended by the Naval Committee of the American House of Repre- sentatives. A Bill authorising the construction has been drawn up, the carrier to have a capacity of about 80 'planes, and to cost, approximately, 5 millions. Australia Asking for Air-Tenders """" IN connection with the proposed Australian weekly aerial service between Geraldton and Derby, a. distance of about 1,200 miles, it is announced that the Federal Government is asking for tenders to run it. /25,00c is the maximum expenditure fixed upon per yearly contract. French Aeroplane Safety Prizes THE following awards 111 the French " bafet\ in Aero- planes " competition have been announced . tor <i stability for the inclement weather, a start would have been madetoday. Capt. Greig, of Messageries Aerienne, tells me that in addition to two-seater Spads, and the Breguets, his company have now seven of the new nve-seater Spads in commission. The 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. services of this Company are quite popular, and they certainly score by being able to offer passengers a chance to get to Paris before lunch, or to stay in London until the afternoon and still be in Paris the same evening. The new weather-hut is still unoccupied. It has been erected for months, and only awaits paint, light, and telephone. Occasionally a forlorn painter is to be seen applying paint to the window-frames, and then nothing more happens for days or weeks. Mr. Hay, the meteorologists-in-charge, has become quite resigned, and appears to have abandoned all hope of ever occupying the new hut. The annual grass-cutting is now in progress on the 'drome. It is amusing to see an up-to-date place like an aerodrome still employing an old horse-drawn mower for this purpose. Why the Air Ministry do not buy a motor-mower and keep the grass short all the time, instead of waiting until it is so long that it actually impedes the aeroplanes, is a mystery. From what I hear of the cost of the grass cutting, the price of the motor-mower would be saved in a couple of years ; and, anyway, the price would be ridiculously small compared with other expenditure on the aerodrome. The K.L.M. are still making progress, and I hear good reports of activities in Holland. Work on the aerodromes at Amsterdam and Rotterdam is being pushed forward. At both places an hotel is being erected, in addition to offices and sheds. At Amsterdam the K.L.M. have been permitted to erect a wooden booking office in the centre of one of the principal squares. It is difficult to imagine permission being granted to a British air traffic company to put a booking office in the middle of Trafalgar Square. On the Amsterdam and Rotterdam aerodromes there is quite a good innovation for indicating the destination of the various machines. A wooden arm is fastened to a stake, and can be stuck in the ground so as to point towards one of the aeroplanes, and the destination of the plane is painted on the arm. With several machines departing within a few minutes of each other, this appears a very sound idea. Several passengers have booked through from London to Hamburg during the week. Mr. Hopkins, who was ground engineer for Aircraft Transport and Travel, has now joined the Croydon staff of K.L.M. Joy-riding was very slack during the week-end, the gusty, showery weather keeping people away. Capt. Muir, of the Surrey Flying Services, who now have a monopoly of the joy-riding, is starting a school of flying. He intends to charge his pupils by the hour, and will use either 80 Le Rhone " Avros " or 130 Clerget " Avros." The cosmopolitan nature of the air-port was well illustrated the other evening, when a party of six sat down to dinner. The party consisted of a Dutchman, a Frenchman, a Belgian, a Russian, and two Britons. Their attempts to exchange aeronautical ideas were really rather funny. indicator, Courtois Suffit, 1 ,ooo francs ; for machine with variable camber and area, MM. Gastambide and Levavasseur, 10,000 francs ; for a parachute. Jean Ors, 1,000 francs. Yves Le Prieur has received three prizes : for luminous gyro inclinometer, 2,000 francs; for " Navigraph," 2,000 francs; and for a " Safety Sounder," 1,000 francs. Fatal Leap from Aeroplane AN unfortunate accident occurred at Grand Island, Neb., U.S.A., on May 15 last, in which Warren P. Kite was killed. Kite was putting up some stunt flying, before some thousands of spectators, on the small " Kite " biplane— illustrated in FLIGHT for April 21, last—when a second machine collided with him. The propeller of the other machine came into contact with the tail end of Kite's machine, and cut it off completely, just back of the cockpit. To those who were looking on from below, it looked as if Kite jumped from the machine, presumably deciding this safer than to remain with it in its certain fall, but perhaps overestimating the distance. He was, of course, instantly killed on striking the ground, having fallen some 800 ft. The pilot of the other machine, J. H. Smith, managed to make a safe descent. It is considered that this accident is the result of unnecessary " stunting," of which there is far too much taking place in the " States" just now. - s •»«•-,• 377
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
