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Aviation History
1921
1921 - 0620.PDF
SEPTEMBER 15, £921 LONDON TERMINAL AERODROME Monday Evening, September 12 THE aerodrome has shared in the general excitement as to the arrival of Charlie Chaplin. On Friday night the entire place was illuminated for night-flying, as an aeroplane was expected with pictures of Chaplin's arrival at Cherbourg. Mr. Ortweiler, flying one of the De Havilland Aircraft Com- pany's g's, had left for St. Inglevert in the morning. At St. Inglevert he was to wait for a French machine which was bringing the photographs from Cherbourg, and he was not expected to arrive at Croydon until after dark. For the first time, apart from tests, the cone-light was working, and it looked extremely effective from a distance on the ground ; but, owing to the non-arrival of the French machine at St. Inglevert, Mr. Ortweiler did not return to Croydon that night, and therefore the officials in charge of the lights did not get the interesting data that they were hoping for, and at 11.15p.m. the order was given to " close down." Night-Lighting Control PRACTICALLY all this night-lithting is now controlled from the observation tower. Telephones have been run out to the searchlights, and the switches for the obstacle lights are concentrated in the tower. A wind-vane with an indicating dial has been installed so that the electiic landing " T," sunk in the aerodrcme, can be altered to conform to sudden changes in the wind. Tt is doubtful if any other aerodrome in the world is so well-equipped for night-flying. On Saturday morning, Capt. Muir was off to Southampton as early as 7 a.m. in one of the Surrey Flying Service " Avros," and was back at Croydon, with photographs of Chaplin's arrival at Southampton, soon after 10 o'clock. The Instone Line are in future to do their own parcels' collection and delivery. They are running a Ford van, which, in addition to handling the land end of the parcels' traffic, is also a good advertisement for the air line. The D.H. 18's operated by the Instone Air Line have been flying on the Paris route w'th their usual regularity. G-E.A.R.O., which was one of the Aircraft Transport and Travel machines, must have flown more hours than any other machine on the " airways." Mr. Hall, of Napier's, to whom much of the credit for the fine running of the D.H. 18's is due, has now got his own office on the aerodrome. He has rented an office in the hut belonging to Basil S. Foster's ; but if there is a Napier engine anywhere about the 'drome, it is no use looking for Mr. Hall in his office. Where the engine is, there Mr. Hall is. He will have quite a busy time when the new D.H. i8's, the Bristol 10-seater, and the fleet of new D.H. monoplanes —all engined with the " Lion "—are housed at Croydbn next spring. Attempt on Paris-London Record I HEAR that the Napier-engined "Mars I," the winner of the Aerial Derby, is to attempt to beat all records for the Paris to London Flight after competing for the Deutsch De La Meurthe Cup. With her pilot, Mr. James, she is to wait at Le Bourget for a strong favouring wind, and is then to attempt to do the Paris-London trip in under an hour. The best time, hitherto, between Le Bourget and Croydon is 1 hr. 27 mins. on a Napier-engined D.H. 16, while the DrH. 18 has done the journey, with a strong following wind, in 1 hr. 47 mins. It should be comparatively easy for a machine with the speed of the " Mars I " to do the journey in less than an hour if the right wind can be found. The only trouble is that Mr. James may have to wait a long time for that wind. Handley Page Transport have not yet got the W. 8 on the service, but are still expecting to do so any day now. The airship mooring mast is being dismantled spasmodically. This week the water-ballast pipes to the top of the mast have been taken down ; but little else appears to have been removed. The mooring head is still supported by sheer- legs, although after last night's storm it was fully expected that it would have been blown down. -••••. - -„ Aeroplanes for Spain QUITE a number of machines are being flown to Spain, both from the Disposal Company and from the Bristol Aeroplane Works. I understand that the Disposal Company alone have orders from the Spaniards for upwards of 100 machines, chiefly Bristol fighters and D.H. 4's. Mr. Tait- Seaplane Dock Finished THE seaplane floating dock laid down in November, 1920,has now been finished. Built in Sheerness Dockyard, it has a length of 143 ft. overall, and a width of 51 ft., with alifting capacity of about 200 tons. The dock should have l diample accommodation for two of our largest modern seaplanes. Good pioneer work that. 620 Cox was back from Spain on Saturday morning to collect another machine. Both the Aircraft Disposal Company, and the Bristol people, are having difficulty in finding pilots to ferry these machines across to Spain—the trouble being that so few pilots have been able to keep their hands in during the last two years. Mr. Shaw, of Basil S, Foster's, has been testing some of these machines for Spain, and he is going to Liverpool by train to-night to fetch the first of a batch of D.H. 4's to Croydon for the Disposal Company. He tells me he is to fly a D.H. 4A in the races at Croydon on Saturday next. The promoters of the air-races here on Saturday, the 17th, are expecting big crowds, but it is difficult to see how they are to be accommodated. Several temporary enclosures are to be arranged for, but the main trouble will be the lack of entrances and exits to and from the enclosures to the main " foad, and also the congestion in Plough Lane. Balloon Shooting- The New Sport ONE of the most interesting items is to be the " balloon sniping " competition. It is proposed that three balloons should be liberated at ^-minute intervals, and as the last balloon is sent up one of the competitors will start from the ground, conveying as passenger a man with a shot-gun, who will endeavour to " shoot " the balloons as the pilot manoeuvres his machine round them. Capt. de Havilland was at Croydon with a D.H. 9 the other day trying to catch one of the balloons used by the Meteorological Office for upper wind observations. These rise at 500 feet a minute, and Capt. De Havilland found it •difficult to get near them. Gen. Brancker and Mr. Harold Perrin, who were watching this trial, were satisfied that the item would be exciting from a spectators' point of view. I understand that Capt. Muir has entered four Avros for the various races. Mr. Duke had trouble with one of the magnetos on an outward-bound Fokker monoplane on Friday and was forced to land at Lympne, where he had to stay until a mechanic was sent from Croydon to put the trouble right. There are no mechanics at Lympne, and the only services that can be obtained there are unskilled. This is a wonderful testimony to the freedom from engine trouble of the machines on the various services, seeing that the Air Ministry evidently consider the likelihood of mechanical trouble too small to warrant the stationing of skilled men at Lympne. Making More Use of Lympne IT has been suggested that a more extensive use could be made of Lympne during the winter months. At present, when a machine cannot get through to Croydon owing to bad weather, the pilot lands at Lympne and the passengers travel on to London by train ; but no attempt has been made as yet to get passengers away from Lympne, for the Continent, when the weather over the Surrey Hills has been too bad to warrant a start being made from Croydon. I understand that something of this sort is under consideration for this winter by certain firms. The new Fokker 10-seater monoplane has been tested at Schiphol and is, I hear, satisfactory. On one occasion, however, when only three passengers were aboard, the pilot appeared to have considerable difficulty in getting the mono- plane down within the limits of the aerodrome, owing to the machine's very small gliding angle. In appearance the new machine is much like the F. 111. During the week the traffic hands appeared in their new uniforms. These consist of jersey and slacks and a yachts- man's cap, the whole outfit being very neat. Unfortunately, the initials of the words " Civil Air Traffic Staff," which were embroidered in red letters on the chest of the jersey, were too mirth-provoking for the aerodrome humorists, and the " C.A.T.S." led a dog's life the first day. The powers-that- be, however, took pity on them, and allowed the offending letters to be removed the next morning, and now the uniform is adding to the general smartness of the aerodrome. Joy-riding was very poor over the week-end. Capt. Muir was bewailing the fact that on Sunday the only business he had was three ten-and-sixpenny joy-rides. An aerodrome cricket team beat the Directorate of Lands by one wicket on the aerodrome ground on Sunday. Good Work of an Avro THE Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, Ltd., have in use an Avro biplane, fitted with a Sunbeam " Dyak " engine. This machine has now flown 7,400 miles in in hours with 285 passengers at a cost of ^\d. per mile. Gd i k th
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