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Aviation History
1922
1922 - 0673.PDF
NOVEMBER 16, 1922 LONDON TERMINAL AERODROME Monday evening, November 6. A WONDERFUL mixture of weather during the past week has interfered with the regularity of all the services, but on no day has it managed to hold up flying completely. On Wednesday one of the worst gales experienced on the " airways " for some considerable time was responsible for the cancelling of the Paris and Cologne services ; but the K.L.M. and Daimler Airway ran certain of their services on the Manchester-London-Amsterdam route. From Manchester, a Daimler 34, piloted by Mr. Robertson, and carrying six passengers, had a three-hours' fight with the gale before finally alighting at Croydon, while Mr. Heme, piloting another Daimler 34 from Amsterdam to Croydon, had to land no fewer than three times in order to fill up with petrol. His total flying time was over five hours, but, despite the head wind and the buffeting, he succeeded in reaching Croydon. From Croydon to Amsterdam one of the K.L.M. Fokkers, piloted by Mr. Schmernoff, and carrying one passenger and a load of goods, managed to complete the journey. After leaving Croydon the gale drifted it over in the direction of the Thames estuary, so Mr. Schmernoif headed his machine into wind, and was last seen making in the direction of Southampton, with the evident intention of getting well to the south-west before allowing the gale to carry him in the direction of Lympne. Mr. Robertson's-Adventure in Rain, Mist and Smoke ON Friday rain and mist made flying difficult, especially on the Manchester route, and one of the Daimler machines, flying from Manchester to Croydon with six passengers, encountered rain all the way until, north of London, the rain and mist, combined with the usual " smoke screen " from London, made it impossible for the machine to get through. I understand, in fact, that the weather was so bad that the machine actually passed over Stag Lane aero drome, but the pilot was evidently unable to see the Very lights which were fired from there, and eventually made a forced-landing in a field near Harrow. Owing to the small size of the fields in the neighbourhood, Mr. Robertson, the pilot, was unable to get his 'plane down undamaged, and, after an encounter with a tree, the machine came down heavily and was badly damaged. None of the passengers were hurt, however, and were able to continue their journey to town by ordinary land transport. The machine was taken over to Stag Lane to be rebuilt. The Instone Air Line have been making extensive altera tions to their offices on the aerodrome, and these are more like a rabbit-warren than ever. To the uninitiated, the difficulty of finding any particular office has to be overcome by the provision of a guide, but the inhabitants of the office seem to be able to find their way about ; and no doubt the whole scheme may be conducive, in the end, to business efficiency. Maj. Greer has certainly made alterations in the working of the Instone Air Line since he took over the reins of management. Another Record Air-Taxi Flight MR. ALAN J. COBHAM, of the De Havilland air-taxi service, left Croydon on Tuesday en route for Cairo, and probably Bombay. He is flying by way of Nice, Rome, and Athens to Cairo, and will then follow the R.A.F. route to Bagdad, and thence on to Karachi and Bombay. He was accom panied as far as Nice by his wife and mother, and will pick up his "fare" for this record trip at Nice. Mr. Cobham expects to be away about six weeks. Mr. Barnard, also of De Havilland's, left for Holland on Saturday with a newspaper photographer to get pictures of the ex-Kaiser's wedding, but I understand that he was not allowed to leave with them yesterday by the Dutch military authorities. I learn that the German Government have now given official sanction for the running of the London-Berlin air service by the Daimler Airway, and have also extended the concession of running to Cologne, which they had granted to the Instone Air Line for the month of October. There is, however, no definite news as yet as to the date of the opening of the next section of the Berlin line. Handley Page Transport continue to get practically full loads for their machines, but on several days this past week they have "washed out" their services in both directions, which has pulled their weekly total down considerably. Passenger traffic on the Cologne line has shown rather a falling off, while that on London-Amsterdam has been about normal. It is on the Manchester service that the most surprising results have been attained. Passengers have increased by 25 per cent. over last week's total, no fewer than 50 air travellers booking tickets during the week. Judging by today, there promises to be an increase on the figure this week, eight passengers travelling from Manchester in the 9.30 a.m. machine. Some quick journeys have been made on the Manchester line. On Saturday one of the Daimler 34's flew from Man chester to London in 1 hour 25 minutes, while during the week a machine which left Croydon for Manchester in the early morning completed a return journey in a flying time of only 3I hours, or actually less time than is taken by the train for the single journev. I understand that Messrs. D. Napier and Sons are shutting up their Croydon depdt at the end of the month. This is due to the fact that engine orders have—for the time being, at any rate—fallen off to such an extent that rigid economies have to be made in working expenses. Tonight (Monday) at the Greyhound Hotel, Croydon, was held the annual aerodrome dinner, our Director of Civil Aviation, Maj.-Gen. Brancker, having promised to take the chair, and the occasion being further graced by the attendance of various foreign air attaches. Monday evening, November 13 NOVEMBER fogs have set in and are dislocating the various air services. One of the outstanding features, however, has been the regularity of the inland service between London and Man chester. This has, in^fact, confounded the critics. It has been said ever since commercial flying began that air services in England would be difficult to run to schedule owing to inland mist and the smoke which is sent up from the great industrial centres in the Midlands. But up to the present a much greater regularity has been maintained on this London- Manchester service than on the Continental services. Another striking feature of this inland service is that not only are the number of passengers travelling by this line exceeding all expectations, but the total is growing week by week. Up to the present 143 passengers have travelled by this line, and last week's total of 53 was higher than any week since the service began. On Saturday, although only six passengers had booked for the flight from London to Man chester, when the car arrived at the Grand Hotel to pick up the passengers, it was found that there were 11 people waiting with their handbags—the extra five having arrived on the off-chance of there being vacant seats. Air " Specials " Defy the Fog ON Friday the weather was so bad—a mixture of fog on the Continent and gales in England—that all the services with the exception of the Manchester route and one K.L.M. Fokker (which got through from London to Rotterdam) were suspended. Saturday was little better, but some of the services ran, and, in addition, several " specials " flew between London and France. Capt. Muir, piloting the Surrey Flying Service's new D.H. g, flew to St. Inglevert to fetch a man who had telephoned through from there for an " air-taxi," and several machines went to France for various newspapers in order to bring back photographs of Armistice Day happenings. Owing to the condition of Brussels aerodrome, the Instone Air Line have been compelled to suspend their service to this air-station. Levelling operations are being carried out, and the ground has become a quagmire in consequence. The Instone Air Line are now endeavouring to carry out the London-Cologne service with two D.H. 18's, these being the only two machines with sufficient petrol capacity for the non-stop flight from Lympne to Cologne Machines now leave Croydon and stop at Lympne for petrol, afterwards making a non-stop flight from there to Cologne. General Festing, Controller of Aerodrome Licences in Great Britain, flew over to Brussels on the Instone D.H. 4A piloted by Mr. Powell, on Thursday, in order to inspect the aerodrome there, and consult with the Belgian authorities as to the state of affairs. He returned by air on Saturday. Mr. Alan J. Cobham returned to Croydon from Cairo on Wednesday. He stated that his " fare " had been taken ill, and that when he (Mr. Cobham) arrived at Monte Carlo his " fare " had been moved to a nursing-home, and was unable to make the projected flight. It was, however, arranged that the flight should be made at some future date. Among the passengers on the north-bound " air express " to Manchester during the week was the wife of one of the candidates for a Cheshire division, who was flying to Man chester in order to be in time to attend an election meeting in the constituency the same evening. For the past two days fog has disorganised the services, although the Manchester-London route has been maintained. 673
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