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Aviation History
1922
1922 - 0010.PDF
THE NEW ROYAL DURING the War Lord Cowdray promised to give to the R.A.F. a Club-house, furnished and equipped complete, and that promise has been more than fulfilled in a magnificent building known as No. 128, Piccadilly, which was opened as the Royal Air Force Club on Monday, and which, including leases, represents a gift of £345.°°°- A preliminary view of the buildings was accorded to representatives of the Press on Saturday last, and at the following luncheon Brig.-Gen. More, Chairman of Committee, read a telegram from Lord Cowdray regretting his inability to be present, and con- eluding : "I shall be gravely disappointed if you do not find it in every way worthy of the Air Force, to which it is dedicated as a tribute. I have given it with thankfulness and pride." The Club-house consists of the two houses lately occupied by the Ladies' Lyceum Club, and also a large new building on Milton's Yard. The Lyceum Club building has been largely remodelled and an additional floor of bedrooms added to it, while the building on Milton's Yard used as a riding-school was demolished to make room for the new building, which has been designed as an extension of the Piccadilly building. It is interesting in this connection to note that during the building operations several pewter * tankards of the eighteenth century were dug up bearing the inscription " The Running Horse "—probably one of the old coaching houses—and these are now on view in the hall of the new Club today. Building operations commenced on September 8, 1919, and were confined at first to reconstructing the Piccadilly building with a view to its occupation in the summer of 192Q, but in the meantime the negotiations for a long lease of Milton's Yard matured, and Lord Cowdray decided to complete the whole building forthwith. The work was continued as far as possible on the portion that had been started, while final plans were prepared for the new additions on Milton's Yard. After many difficulties of rights-of-light, strikes, high prices and other troubles on that account, the new buildings were begun in the early part of 1921, and under the contract are due to finish on January 31, 1922. If the planning of these buildings differs from that of other club buildings, it is in an attempt to meet the modern require ments of club members, who, in addition to the ordinary privileges of a London club, desire some of the additional Monday Evening, January 2, 1922. THE aerodrome presented a busy scene—almost, indeed, like the height of summer—when a delegation of Japanese trade representatives paid us a visit on Saturday. A dozen cars were drawn up on the tarmac outside the Customs' House, and the Air Ministry was strongly represented. General Sykes, General Festing, and members of the various branches of the Civil Department at the Ministry were present, pointing out to the visitors the many features of the aerodrome. Great interest was shown in the control tower, and a temporary ladder had been erected for the visitors to ascend into the hut on top. The ordinary cat- ladder was apparently considered too precarious, though the Japanese are always reckoned an agile race. The various Air Ministry machines were lined up for inspection, and the Handley Page W.8, and the Instone Air Line's Vickers-Vimy, were busy taking members of the' delegation for joy-rides. The ease with which the W.8 gets off, and the machine's rapid climb, were the subject of much comment. The staffs of the French firms are taking advantage of the winter dearth of business to visit their native land. M. Didier, for instance, has just returned from France, and assures me he has had a thoroughly good time. London to Algiers by Air M. DIDIER was able, incidentally, to give me some new details as to the Messageries Aerienne's proposed service from London to Marseilles. The company intends to use the new four-engined Spads on this service. The usual summer 9.30 a.m. Messageries machine from London to Paris will carry passengers for Marseilles over this section of the route, arriving in Paris at 11 a.m. A halt will be made at Le Bourget for lunch, after which the voyagers will embark in a new 16-seater Spad and fly to Lyons, where they will be timed to arrive at 3 p.m. Then,- continuing to Marseilles, they will alight there at 5.30 p.m. It is hoped to arrange for the new airship seryice, running between Marseilles and Algiers, to connect at Marseilles with 'the aeroplane from London, thus making it possible to travel from London to Algiers in less than 24 hours. AIR FORCE CLUB advantages of an hotel, and also some facilities for taking exercise. To this end the Piccadilly portion of the building is entirely devoted to club life, with access from the main entrance in Piccadilly to the large dining, smoking, writing, billiard, card and other club rooms. The large dining- room on the Piccadilly front, extending over the whole length of the building, with a magnificent view over the park, is one of the attractions of this paTt of the Club. In Park Lane there is a separate entrance for the use of members living in the Club or arriving with luggage, and close to this is a bureau, telephones, secretary's office, etc., where the business work of the Club is carried on. From this entrance a large ballroom on the first floor, the ladies' section of the Club, and two squash racquets courts are reached, so arranged that they may be used without inter fering in any way with the members' ekib-rooms in the front of the building, but connected on the principal floors for convenience of access by the main corridors, which have been treated by the architects—Sir Aston Webb and Sons— to form an architectural feature of the building. On the upper floors, in addition to 70 members' bedrooms, with a full complement of bathrooms, a suite of rooms for private dinner parties, a barber's shop and men-servants' accom modation have been provided, reached by electric lifts and staircases from both the Piccadilly and Park Lane sections of the building. Great care has been bestowed on the kitchen and service arrangements generally, which are very complete and up to date, as the successful working of a club of this kind depends very largely on the care and thought' given to the service arrangements ; and also the comfort of the Club's servants, who here have their proper share of comfortable recreation rooms, dining-rooms and sleeping accommodation. The new parts of the building are fireproof throughout, and the whole is equipped with low-pressure heating, electric light and power, electric clocks, lifts, vacuum cleaners, and a complete telephone installation. Refrigerating plant for ice-making and storage is also included in the equipment. Messrs. Trollope and Colls are the general contractors, and they have also made the furniture for the public rooms. The subscription to the Club is ten 'guineas for town members, seven guineas for country members and two guineas for foreign members. H E On Tuesday last Handley Page Transport, in conjunction i with the Victoria Hotel, put up a good advertising " stunt." A Christmas-tree was fitted in the fore-part of the cabin of i one of their machines, and gaily decorated. A hamper, containing a full-course Christmas dinner, including turkey, was sent down to the aerodrome on the passenger-car from : the Victoria Hotel, and a waiter in evening-dress—who was, by the way, a former Handley Page observer—travelled in i the machine and served dinner to the passengers and pilot 1 while en route. " Air Expresses " in a Gale ON Friday last, with a terrific gale raging, Mr. R. H. 1 Macintosh made another of his wonderful bad-weather 3 flights. Two machines, both Handley Page 0-400's, left e Paris together, and made good time with the wind behind them as far as the French coast. Here they were caught _• by the full force of the Channel gale, which was blowing at ' a speed of somewhere in the eighties at the height the machines were flying, pit. Wilcockson managed to land at the Berck e aerodrome, but, after his passengers had alighted, and before _• anything could be done to the machine in the way of pro- i tecting it from the gale, it was caught broadside-on and lifted up on to one wing and then on to the other, being wrecked badly. v Mr. Macintosh, who was just about to land, saw the e accident, and decided it would be safer to carry on to Croydon, e where there would be a proper staff to handle his machine. I Although quite low down, and within a few hundred feet of o the houses in the village of Berck, he put his engines full on n and the machine rose straight into the air for about 3,000 ft. e He had a tremendous fight to get across the Channel. At k times both he and his mechanic had to hang on to the con- II trols, and when he finally landed at Croydon, only managing >, fo escape a crash by fine piloting, he had been 4 hours 35 e minutes on the journey from Paris. d The Instone Air Lijle are erecting a new office in front of n their original small office. This is, I understand, to be used o as a parcels depfit, and is being got ready for the time when the new " goods only " machines begin running. LONDON TERMINAL AERODROME 10
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