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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 1114.PDF
FLIGHT, OCTOBER 16, 1931 Real Commercial Aviation FIRM which has realised that there is a future in commercial aviation, and to whom the long- sighted policy appeals as pre-eminently the sensible one, is the Ford Motor Co., Ltd., ot Regent Street, London, W.I. They are undoubtedly right. Aviation is bound togrow as a means of transport, and the aircraft manufac- turers who will ultimately reap the harvest are those whoprepare themselves to meet the demand for real commer- cial aircraft. I am not suggesting that there will not bevery nice pickings, for many years, for those who cater for the Air Ministry's wants ; of course there will, but ifone is to judge by the trend of international affairs, those pickings will steadily decrease. Then will come a time—it has almost arrived already—when there will be a surplus of firms in that particular branch of the aeronauticaltrade, and some of them are bound to go to the wall. The long-sighted ones will have prepared themselves bypreviously having obtained a footing in the commercial market, but many will not have done so, and they willfade out or be absorbed by other firms. One of the very long-sighted ones is the Ford Motor Co.,which has established itself in comparative peace and quiet at Ford Aerodrome, Ford, near Yapton, Sussex.Here they are laying plans for great development. De- velopment which will benefit the country in which theyare working and not merely make money out of it, as so man ' firms of foreign origin have done. It is already asine qua non that, whenever possible, everything at that aerodrome is to be British, and Mr. Higgs, the AviationManager, labours to that end. So far he has been able to obtain all he has wanted in this country, with theexception of one thing, and that is a particular form of lever jack (known as the Joyce jack in the U.S.A.) forlifting the fuselages of his machines. The aerodrome itself is one of the war-time ones, andhas, therefore, a large assortment of hangars and out- buildings adjoining it. The landing area has been put inorder, and now, although not yet as good as could be wished, is yet quite suitable for all ordinary purposes. Itwill be improved during the winter, and should then be exceptionally good. Two hangars have been put intothorough order, re-roofed and painted, while the rooms on the sides of them have been fitted out as offices, lava-tories, workshops and stores. They have been equipped with a range of machine tools such as likely to be requiredin maintaining and repairing Ford aircraft, and it is the firm's intention to increase these tools as the demand forthem becomes apparent. One of the demonstrating air- craft was largely built in this country. The whole of thecentre-section was built up from parts supplied by our own aircraft manufacturers, and this, together with therest of the machine, was assembled at Ford. The fuse- lage, for example, was completely covered there and theengines were installed, All the hands employed are British, and before long there will be no part of the Fordaircraft as turned out at Ford which is not a British pro- duct, built by British mechanics and financed by Britishcapital. The thoroughness with which the whole place at Fordhas been brought into a fit home for Ford aircraft is imme- diately apparen! when one sees the tastefully decoratedwaiting rooms for visitors, the attractively laid-out flower beds and the Ford colour scheme of blue and silver per-meating everything about the place. It is not overdone, nor is it elaborate, but it has just that solid well-to-dolook about it which attracts customers, because they at once get the feeling that " here is a solid firm with whomwe are safe and from whom we shall receive a fair deal." In fact, everything is of the best without being extra-vagant. Not the least important part of the enterprise is theroom that is available for expansion. Here the Ford Co. is lucky, because there are some six more hangars andmany, many other buildings all ready to be taken over when required. On the west side of the occupied hangarsthere is already one building which has been put in order, and is now utilised as an engine overhaul shop and general THEIR SUSSEX HOME: An aerial photograph of Ford Aerodrome, situated, most appropriately, at Ford neatYapton, Sussex, England. The hangars at present in use are the two on the left of the picture where another aeroplane is on the tarmac. The other hangars available for expansion are those to the northward. Several of the small buildingsare already in use and others will be taken in as necessary. (FLIGHT Photo.) '• 1044
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