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Aviation History
1921
1921 - 0702.PDF
OCTOBER 27, 1921 LONDON TERMINAL AERODROME ^ Monday Evening, October 24 ,?~ AFTER many vicissitudes, the Handley Page W. 8 left on her '..• • maiden passenger-carrying trip to Paris on Friday, and landed at Le Bourget in 2 hours 5 minutes, having had what wind there was behind her most of the way. Mr. Perry, who is "i piloting this machine, is very pleased with it, and the return journey was accomplished successfully on Saturday. The many different delays and difficulties which Handley Page • Transport have encountered in getting the machine on the _•_ service have earned for the W. 8 the title of the " Aerial ':'. Jonah." Now, however, it certainly seems to have risen ^ superior to its troubles, and is running " O.K." Mr. Hall, ".• for one, is quite proud of the smooth operation of its two .~ , Napier " Lion " engines. •tr Mr. Macintosh made a very fine effort on Thursday, when ir. he brought an H.P. 0-400 with eight passengers on board through to Croydon in spite of a very thick mist. Rockets '••„• and star-shells were fired, and even these were invisible " -r to those on the ground a few hundred yards away. Mr. Macin- tosh circled round for about 20 minutes, and, though the droning of his engines could be distinctly heard, the machine itself was invisible behind the mist. Eventually, however, the pilot found a rift, and landed safely on the aerodrome. ' No other machine arrived at Croydon that day, though two got away before the mist developed. The mist was quite local. At Lympne, for instance, the visibility was 20 miles, and the machines from the Continent landed there and at Penshurst. An aerodrome change is the provision of a special office . •: for the examination of aliens entering or leaving the country .j'; by air. The aeroplane crate in which Mr. Sidney Cotton ^v* brought his ill-fated Airco 14 from Naples—after his un- successful attempt to reach Cairo in the flight through ^ : Africa—is to be used for this purpose. It has, fora long time .._• past, been outside the Customs House, the idea being to use ... it as a passengers' waiting-room. But this idea was never carried out, and now a doorway between this hut and the Customs House is being provided. British passengers will go straight through the Customs, but all aliens will have to pass through the new " Aliens Office " in addition to going through Customs. This new department will be worked by the C.A.T.O. Mr. Barnard is back at work again, and assures me that he is feeling fairly fit. Mr. Shaw is now flying the wireless experimental D.H.6 for the Marconi Company, and, at intervals, is ferrying D.H.4's to Brussels for the Aircraft Disposal Company. Captain Muir has been demonstrating an F.4 at Brussels for the benefit of various foreign delegations—and, it is hoped, to the ultimate advantage of the Aircraft Disposal Company. •• Airway " Pilot's 250,000 Miles of Flying MR. OLLEY is leaving the K.L.M. at the end of the month. Since joining this company, six months ago, he has spent 450 hours in the air and crossed the Channel 150 times. Incidentally, he has recently completed 3,000 hours of flying, which means a distance of about 250,000 miles. Previous to joining the K.L.M. Mr. Olley was with Handley Page . - Transport, piloting 0-400's. Antibes to Ajaccio in 3 hrs. 10 mins. FRANCE is gradually turning the port of Antibes into an important air station, and it is hoped to establish air lines running to Corsica, Sardinia and Tunis, using Antibes as the French terminus. On October 18 a seaplane flew from Antibes to Corsica (Ajaccio) in 3 hours 10 minutes, which is a very great saving of time as compared with the time taken by steamer. . • . • — America Buys Fokkers ~ ' ' - FROM New York it is reported that the United States Army Air Service has purchased two twelve-passenger Fokker monoplanes. The machines have Liberty engines, and the total capacity is twelve people, so that it is scarcely correct to call them twelve-passenger machines, the actual number of passengers for which there is accommodation being ten. The two machines are said to have been shipped already, and are stated to be intended for McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio. One of this type, which is presumably the F-4, is reported to have made a non-stop flight of 600 miles, although it is not stated what load, if any, was carried. Dropping a 4,300 lb. Bomb THE Americans are continuing their bombing tests with large bombs. Recently, it is reported from Baltimore, a Handley Page machine was used in dropping a bomb weighing In order to fill Mr. Olley's place a Dutch pilot, Mr. Geysen- doffer, who has been flying for the K.L.M. on the Amsterdam- Hamburg route during the, summer, is now getting used to the London-Amsterdam " airway," and landed at the aero- drome for the second time today. The Grands Express are making quite a habit of dispatching a " Goliath " on Sundays, and one left for Paris at 12.20 p.m. yesterday. More Bristols have been departing " Spain wards " during the week. A Very Interesting Plan I HEAR that Mr. Frank Searle intends to overcome the shed shortage to some extent by using the engine repair-shops of the Daimler Hire Company at Knightsbridge for repairs and overhauls to the engines of his new air-line. This will save duplication of engine lepair-staffs, and, as there is a fully- equipped machine shop in the overhaul department of the Daimler Hire, much better facilities will be at the command of the engineers than would be possible at the aerodrome without an excessive outlay of capital. It would appear that this combining of the work of the Daimler car service and air service is to be the policy of Mr. Searle, and there is little doubt but that the airline will benefit enormously by the splendid organisation of the parent company. There is now a perfect battery of petrol pumps in the Customs' enclosure. The new Anglo-American pump is in position and working, while alterations are being made to the old one. Shell are now regularly " delivering the goods," and Mr. Shaw is quite busy. In the Meteorological Office the thunderstorm detector is now in full working order, and during the week the weather- staff have been using it assiduously, as thunderstorms have been expected almost hourly. The instrument seems, how- ever, too near the aerodrome wireless station to permit of really satisfactory working, though electrical disturbances in the atmosphere can be heard quite plainly. I am told that the weather staff can, when they desire, " cut out " Eiffel Tower, which is of course a most powerful station ; but the nearness of the aerodrome wireless defeats them at times. A peculiar situation has arisen with the flying licences of the K.L.M. pilots. Most of them, as British subjects, hold British pilots' licences ; but, at the same time, they have taken the precaution of obtaining Dutch licences as well. One of them found during the course of the week that he was due for a British medical examination. After he had been before the doctor he was told he should take a fort- night's holiday, and then come for examination again before his licence could be renewed. As, however, this particular pilot has a Dutch licence, and is flying for a Dutch firm, and in spite of the fact that the British doctor will not renew his British licence, they have no power to stop him flying. I am told that this position does not arise out of any slackness in the Dutch medical examination. They do all the tests as used here, and have added a few of their own. Inciden- tally, it must be a great ordeal for a British pilot to have to say " 99 " in Dutch ! E I? 4,300 lb. on a ground target at the Aberdeen proving grounds. The bomb was released from a height of about 4,000 ft., and fell within the area marked off, leaving a crater 100 ft. in diameter and 30 ft. deep. The bomb was originally intended for the bombing of the " Alabama," but owing to delay in finishing the special racks required it could not be used for its original purpose. The pilot of the machine was Captain Carolin, who has dropped all the large bombs constructed by the Ordnance Department. The Pescara Helicopter v ~": — AFSER numerous trials, and after having rebuilt his transmission and other details of his helicopter, M. Patcras * Pescara is now reported to be satisfied with the behaviour of the machine, and to have succeeded not only in making it rise on several occasions, but also in lifting at will one end or the other, in turning, and in descending slowly. No attempt has yet been made at high flights, nor at completing a circuit, as the garden in which the machine is being tried is too small to allow of this. We understand, however, that the machine is being dismantled, and will be exhibited at the forthcoming Paris Aero Show. After the closing of the show it is to be thoroughly tested in France, at Villa- coublay, before the French Service Technique, when pro- longed nights will, presumably, be attempted. 702
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