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Aviation History
1922
1922 - 0687.PDF
NOVEMBER 23, 1922 LONDON TERMINAL AERODROME Monday evening, November 20. THE " airways " suffered this last week, as did the railways from the persistent visitations of the fog-fiend. For several days, in fact, the continental air routes had their services dislocated and interrupted. A typical instance of a swift advantage taken of a few hours' improvement in visibility occurred on Wednesday, the 15th. Mr. Robertson, piloting a Daimler 34, was fog bound at Manchester with five passengers, waiting for a chance to get through to London. Suddenly, soon after 12, a wind that sprang up began to roll away the fog ; where upon Mr. Robertson was quickly in the air and speeding towards London. In the neighbourhood of the Metropolis the visibility was too bad to attempt to reach Croydon ; so, doing what it has been found most convenient to do on several occasions lately, Mr. Robertson used the Stag Lane aerodrome, Edgware, as his London air-station, and, setting his five " fares " down there, a fast car soon brought them up into the heart of the city. The two Fokker monoplanes which—as I mentioned in my last, dispatch—were caught on the 12th in a sudden dense fog-belt and were compelled to get down on Epsom Downs, were completely fog-bound until the 17th, when their pilots—Smirnoff and Silliviers—managed in the morning to fly them across to Croydon. In this regard Capt. Leverton points out that, thanks to the wooden-wing construction of these machines, it was possible to put them straight on to the regular service, once they had reached Croydon, without their having suffered any harm at all through their days of standing out in the fog. He tells me, incidentally, that some of these wooden wings of the Fokker Amsterdam-London machines have just been taken to pieces and thoroughly examined after a couple of years of regular airway service, and it has been found that there is absolutely nothing the matter with them at all, and "that they are as good for flying service as they were on the day they were built. Fog-compelled inactivities have been relieved by discus sions as to the possibility of finding some new location for the London Terminal Aerodrome. Taking things all round, the feeling is that to make any sudden change might be like jumping out of the frying-pan into the fire. What those who have good words to say of Croydon insist upon is pressure being brought to bear in' the right quarter so as to get a railway connection direct, say, from Victoria down on to the edge of the aerodrome, using the siding which already connects the Brighton line with the Aircraft Disposal factory. With this convenience pro vided, and in full working order when the passenger traffic rush begins again in the spring, it is held that one would have a big job to find a London air-station more suitable than Croydon. Vagaries of the Fog TODAY (Monday) the fog has been playing us some odd tricks again. In the early part of the day, for instance, machines were in and out without experiencing any difficulty. Then later on, just as a Handley Page was due in from Paris, some trick of the wind brought a great bank of London smoke and mist drifting across the aerodrome and out to the country beyond. But, thanks to wireless and our other aids, the " Handley " managed to creep in to a perfectly safe landing. This foggy weather, and other bad conditions atmospheri cally, such as we have been wrestling with of late, draws particular and renewed attention to a matter I have mentioned in these notes before. That is the admirable confidence with which passengers now come forward to fly, even in weather which one might think would effectually deter them. Fogs, rainstorms, gales of wind—none of these prevent them from being on the spot ready to start, if the flying officials think it is good enough to go ; and I think a most encouraging lesson is to be drawn from this alacrity with which " air express " travellers, and more especially business men in haste, now face bad weather in the air without a qualm. It shows, better than anything else could, the growing faith there is in the inherent safety of aerial transport. H H a m THE FLIGHTS LONDON-CONTINENTAL SERVICES BETWEEN NOVEMBER 12 AND NOVEMBER 18, INCLUSIVE Route (including certain diverted journeys) ghts * fli No . 0 senger s pa s No . o f No. of flights carrying _ Mai l en Goo c urney s eted f S3, No . o f co m bo H * 4) 60.5 nj -w Ave r Fastest time made by Type and (in brackets) Number of each type flying Croy don-Paris ... Paris-Croydon ... Croydon-Brussels- Cologne Cologne- Brussels- Croydon Croydon-Rotterdam Rotterdam-Croydon .. Manchester-Croydon- Amsterdam Amsterdam-Croydon- Manchester Total for week 4 I I 2 A 4ii 41 7 9 1 5 1 2 20 8 53 10 4 3 14 h. m 2 9 3 3i 4 ° 2 29 3 °i 5 27 5 57 H.P.W.8BG-EBBG(2h. 9m.) H-P.W8B G-EBBH(3h.3im. D.H. 34 G-EBBR (4I1. om.) Fokker H-NABM (2I1. 22m.) Fokker H-NABS (3b.. om.) D.H 34 G-EBBQ (5I1. 27m.) D.H.34G-EBBY(5h. 57m.) B. (1), H.P.W.8B (1). B. (1), G. (2), H.P.W.8B. (1). D.H. 34 (i)- D.H. 34(1). F. (2). F. (4). D.H. 34 (2). D.H. 34 (2). t Including certain journeys when stops were made en route. t-3 to Lym^r^^lanrLympn^5- || Man.-si.L^.lroy.-A'dam. I , Stg. Lane-Man. z, Croy.-Man. x. J 3 to Lympne. s y H = De HavJUand 4> D.H-9 (etc). ,?&£?•*.-\Z3fe G.SSSS™.. H.P.-H»dleyP,S,4 M..Mart.„yde. SP. = Spx, Vi = Vickers Vimy. Vu. = Vickers Vulcan. W. - Westland. , ,. • „.;^= hpturcen London and Paris. Brussels, etc., etc.:—Co. des Grandes "SS^STS"^^-* • ^R s"^-and Capt stoken ,esting a simil"macl,ine "* •*"Av™5"" the Aircraft Disposal Co. at Croydon on 17th and 18th. 687
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