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Aviation History
1922
1922 - 0215.PDF
APRIL 13, 1922 LONDON TERMINAL AERODROME Monday Evening, April 10, 1922. New British " Expresses " Scheduled HANDLEY PAGE TRANSPORT began their new service to Paris on Tuesday. A machine is now timed to leave Croydon each morning at 10 a.m. and return from Paris at 3 p.m. The Instone Air Line have also put on a 10 a.m. service, and have altered the time of their midday service to 3 p.m. The Instone Air Line start' operations on the London-Brussels service route on May 1, when they intend to run one machine in each direction daily, and I understand that the fare will be the same as last year—that is to say, £5 55. On Thursday tests with a new life-saving parachute were held above the aerodrome. The idea was to provide a parachute which would actually lift a pilot out of his seat in a aeroplane without his having to jump and fall some distance before the parachute opened. To attain this object a small parachute is first of all flung out, and this, opening in the rush of wind, drags the full-sized parachute from its housing. This in its turn opens, and lifts the pilot out of his seat. Captain Muir, flying one of the Royal Aero Club " Avros," took up this apparatus, which was tried initially with a dummy. In order to prevent any fouling of the controls, should the apparatus fail to work, the dummy was placed on the wing rather than in the back seat of the machine. Two ascents were made, but, although it was shown that the idea would work, details of the release-gear require alteration before the dummy is replaced.by a human being. The Early-Morning Newspaper Service THE Messageries Aeriennes have been putting up an extremely good show with their aerial newspaper service, which is now scheduled for early each morning. Considering the state of the weather, the regularity obtained by this service has been reminiscent of the days of Aircraft Transport and Travel, and I understand that the various newspaper firms who are sending consignments have been very pleased indeed with results up to date. Mr. Grosfils, by the way, expects to have his Haymarket office open*this week, and flew over to Paris on Tuesday in order to complete arrange ments for certain schemes which the Messageries have in hand. One of these projects is, I understand, to be an arrangement whereby a party of three or five people can, by paying the ordinary air-fare and giving a day or so's notice, have a special machine to leave at any time convenient to themselves. It is expected that there should be quite a demand for this facility, especially as there have already been several inquiries from ladies who wish to fly over to Paris and do a day's shopping, returning to London the same evening. On Wednesday night tests were carried out on the lighting of the British section of the London-Paris airway. Tem porary lights had been installed at the lighthouses at Tatsfield and Cranbrook, and the full lighting was in operation at the aerodromes of Croydon and Lympne. A Handley Page 0-400, belonging to the R.A.F., flew over from Biggin Hill, and, after making a landing at Croydon down the beam of a searchlight, ascended again and flew along the airway at Lympne. The " cone " light at Lympne was picked up long before the lighthouse at Cranbrook was lost sight of. The people on board remarked, in fact, that it was easier with these lights to follow the route at night than by day. After crossing the Channel the machine returned to Croydon, circled round the aerodrome, and then returned to Biggin Hill. 1 understand, incidentally, that the wireless on this parti cular Service Handley Page was so much below the civil aviation standard that the wireless operator at Croydon was unable to get into satisfactory communication with the machine. Night-Flight with a " Goliath " from Paris THE Grands Express " Goliath," equipped for night flying is, weather premitting, to make an attempt at a night flight from Paris to London tomorrow (Tuesday) night. M. Labouchere will pilot the machine. This " air express " is the only foreign machine employed on the " airways " which is fitted with wireless, but its installation has, so far, been unsatisfactory. There seems to be some mysterious reason why foreign companies are unable to obtain the same apparatus the British companies use, and which is most satisfactory. While on the subject of wireless, it is interesting to hear that a private message, sent from a passenger in an " air express " over the Channel to his office in the City, was actually received in that office only one minute after if had been dispatched from the " air express " by wireless. On Tuesday Mr. Alan J. Cobham arrived from Stag Lane to take the Instone D.H. 34 back for finishing touches and minor adjustments. Mr. Cobham tells me that the De Havilland Aircraft Com pany have now a fleet of six D.H. 9 c's, which are available for " taxi " work, and that they are also prepared to accept pupils for training as pilots. Already they have had a number of ex-Service pilots to take " refresher " courses, which consist of an hour's " dual " on a D.H. 6, followed by " dual " and " solo " on a D.H. 9. The Cup which Messrs. Napier presented for competition for inter-section football was received on the aerodrome on Saturday, and is now on view in the Post Office. The Instone team won this trophy last year. Mr. Saul, who has been navigation officer on the aerodrome for some time, has left to join a new service which Daimler Hire, Ltd., are commencing. They intend to run a fleet of motor-yachts in a similar manner to their fleet of cars—their motto, apparently, being, " Land, sea, or air, Daimler Hire will get you there." The Schoolboys and their Air Trip THE 24 Harrogate schoolboys who were to have travelled by air to Paris on Saturday were prevented from flying by bad weather, and had to go by train and boat. They were so disappointed that, after a hasty consultation, it was arranged that on their way back from their Continental tour on April 25, they should fly from Paris to London. On Tuesday, when the new 10 a.m. services of Handley Page and Instone were started, two D.H. 18s, one operated by each firm, left the aerodrome within two minutes of one another, and, aided by a following wind, sped at a great pace to Paris. They were reported over Lympne only 35 minutes after leaving Croydon, and less fhan 10 minutes later a wire less message from one of them reported passing Boulogne. The last machine to start actually gained on its rival, arriving at Le Bourget only one minute behind it, having accomplished the journey in 1 hour 59 minutes. E m m B LONDON-PARIS MACHINES COLLIDE ON Friday of last week an extremely regrettable and most unusual accident marred the running of the London Conti nental Air Service, which has hitherto been remarkably free from serious disasters. It is an accident, also, all the more unfortunate in that it involved the recently inaugurated Daimler Hire Service. A Goliath belonging to Grands Express—F-GEAD—piloted by M. Mire and carrying a mechanic and three passengers had left Le Bourget at 12.6 p.m. for Croydon. The weather was very misty and visi bility bad, and when flying over Thieuloy, near Grandvilliers, at a height of only a few hundred feet, a D.H. 18, from Croydon—G-EAWO—of the Daimler Service, piloted by R. E. Duke and carrying a boy steward and mails, suddenly loomed out of the mist. Before either pilot could turn, the machines collided, and then crashed to earth in flames. The D.H. 18, it is stated, had its wing and tail broken off by the impact and fell immediately, whilst the Goliath swooped to earth a little further off. Assistance was at once rushed to the wrecked machines, but with the exception of the boy steward —Hesterman—who was terribly injured, all were found to be dead. The boy was taken immediately to the village, but died from his injuries some time later. R. E. Duke was a well-known pilot of the Continental services, and had a distinguished war record in the R.A.F. He was formerly, before joining the Daimler service, with the Aircraft Transport and Travel Co. and the Royal Dutch Aviation Co. M. Mire, the French pilot, was also well known as a Continental Air Service pilot, and had been flying for Grands Express for over a year. The following message of condolence has been sent by the Secretary of State for Air to M. Laurent Eynac, French Under-Secretary of State for Air, and to the Chairman of Daimler Hire, Ltd. :— " In my own name and that of the Air Council I offer you my deep sympathy on the fatal air collision which occurred yesterday, the only accident of this kind in the history of air transport between Great Britain and France. (Signed) FREDERICK GUEST, Secretary of State for Air. 215
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