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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0123.PDF
FLIGHT, FEBRUARY 6, 1931 CROYDON WEEKLY NOTES Ti-IE week under review has had very little of interest torelate, the weather having been reasonably good, withthe sole exception of Friday afteroon when it turned ;kw"idedlv bad. and Croydon was out of bounds in so far asincoming machines were concerned. It was one of those beautiful yellow-hued afternoons when the whole aerodromelooked as if it was suffering from a severe attack of bilious- ness Actually the ground visibility was sufficient for landing,but apparently all the approaches to the aerodrome were closed in. Everyone expected to see some snow, but this didnot materialise, luckily appearances were deceptive. The best place for snow is on picture postcards. Penshurst againreceived practically all the incoming traffic on this day, and the outgoing Sabena aircraft lost his bearings and landed onthe Lewes racecourse. I can entirely sympathise with him because his eventual take-off must be very limited. The Air Union have two new " Liore et Olivier's " in com-mission, and there will undoubtedly be others, so apropos to one's remarks last week, unless Imperial Airways look to theiriaurels they will be left to face wholesale competition this summer. With all the misfortunes of the Air Union in thepast, it must be admitted that, since the introduction of the " Liore " type, they have inaintained a very efficient service.Safety, comfort and speed is a term well applied. Forced landings have been very few and far between. On an averagethey are faster than an " Argosy " by at least 15 min. on the London-Paris route. If a forced landing does occur, and thereis likely to be a long delay, this company do not hold their passengers up, they immediately send a spare machine fromthe nearest home station and transfer loads, and there is seldom a delay of much more than one hour. Consequentlytheir passengers are quite happy about things. After all, this is the correct way to operate an air line, passengers are thefast consideration every time ; they quite realise things can- not always go on without a little trouble, but so long as thecompany makes a genuine endeavour to see them through, they are prepared to take the rough with the smooth. It iswrong in the case of a forced landing to try and convince your passengers that you will get them to their destination,and then in the end turn round and apologise for letting them down after it is too late to catch trains, boats, or any othertransport. Relief machines are the only sure and practical way. Passengers themselves can be heard to remark whenthey have forced landed, and perhaps have lost about 16 hours or so on a journey : " Why on earth wasn't anothermachine sent to pick us vip ? " Fortunately, forced landings are few and far between, but even so, passengers who at anytime are involved, talk about it, and their conversation spreads, and it is sure to keep away potential passengers fromthe air lines, if they think there is a chance of their being let down. We have had half the FJstree colon - here during the weekshooting scenes for the new film the " Flying Fool." We have seen more cinema cameras and microphones than have beenseen for a. long time. The hero of this film is a certain gentle- man who did great service during the late war. When thefilm is released it will be appreciated how a film company can so easily go wrong—for instance, whoever has heardof fog horns bellowing forth their mournful note on a terminal aerodrome when air liners are expected ? Thedirector of the film was well advised to listen to a certain amount of technical advice before " shooting " quite anumber of his scenes—after all, Croydon Aerodrome is nomin- ally the Chief Civil Aerodrome, and its employees do knowsomething about the inner workings thereof. The Rollason Aviation Co. has now taken over a Desoutter Mk.II fortaxi work, in addition to their Gipsy I Moth, and we wish them the best of luck in the forthcoming season. Joynding at themoment seems very much at a standstill, but no doubt the weather is not at all favourable. The Robinson " Redwing " commenced a " show the flag "tour of the home counties this week, and it is understood that several orders will shortly be forthcoming.Saturday morning saw some successful first flights of Lieut. Comdr. Glen Kidston's Lockhead " Vega " flown bythe owner. The take-off was good, and the landing was excellent. I understand that the cruising speed is at least10 m.p.h. below the speed expected. Mr. Mayers, an undergraduate of Cambridge University,left Lympne at 16.35 hours for Heston on Monday, the 2nd instant, and although all the Croydon Aerodrome lights weredisplayed the pilot landed at Dagenham, having apparently lost his way. The aircraft eventually caught fire. What is wrong with 1931,? Judging by these first few weeks,it does not offer a very bright outlook, as there has been far too many nasty accidents already. Let's hope this is notgoing to last throughout the whole year, or the figures next December will be appalling. Unfortunately the accidentsto private aircraft do not help to instal confidence in the public to use the airlines, which are really safe. The traffic figures for the week were, passengers, 258 ;freight, 28 tons. P. B. .. Lt- Comdr. Glen Kidston (left) with his Lockhead " Vega " monoplane (450 h.p. Pratt and Whitney "wasp ") which he " tried out " at Croydon last week. Lt. Cathcart Jones also took a turn at the "stick." Note, from the two views on the right, the N.A.C.A. cowling and the very neat metal monocoque fuselage. (FLIGHT Photos.) 119
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