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Aviation History
1933
1933 - 0875.PDF
FLIGHT, OCTOBER 26, 1033 Qirporl Hews CROYDON Is> AST week's most important event at the Airport of London was a meeting on Traffic Control called by the Air Ministry, and held in the Airport Board-room at 11.0 a.m. on October 19. Maj. Mealing was in the chair, and other Air Ministry represen tatives were Wing Com. Allen, Maj. Richard (Chief Aero drome Officer) and Capt. Markham, of the Control Tower Staff. Mr. Sweeney attended as wireless adviser. All the air traffic companies were represented: Imperial Air ways by Maj. Brackley and Mr. Wolley-Dod, Luft Hansa by Herr Schmidt-Rex, K.L.M. by Capt. Leverton and Mr. Aler, Air-France by M. Bajac, and Sabena by M. van den Eynde. Satisfactory progress was made along the lines indi cated in Maj. Mealing's recent lecture on the subject before the Royal Aeronautical Society, and, whilst full details of the discussion are not yet available, it is per mitted to say that all companies agreed to the necessity of a Traffic Zone around Croydon within which aircraft in foggy weather should come under the strict control of the traffic officer on duty in the Croydon Control Tower. A notable feature of this meeting, which marked a step forward since a similar discussion two years ago, was the helpful attitude of the Royal Air Force, whose representa tive promised close co-operation from Service aircraft flying on the Croydon-Continental air routes. Last Sunday was one of the days when early fog made visibility almost nil at Croydon, but when the rest of the routes were quite fiyable. Machines which left early took off along the white chalk line and, although we at the air port are accustomed to this practice, it must be a curious experience for passengers to rush along the ground and take off with no view from the windows but swirling clouds of grey vapour. Some ill-advised newspaper man took the opportunity to write a scare article under the heading " Fog Dis organises Cross-Channel Air Traffic " merely because some pilots wisely put in at alternative ports, and even operated services outwards again from those ports. Actually, Sunday was an example of good and safe air traffic organi sation on a day when the Airport of London itself was very difficult to get into. Capt. W. A. Rollason, who is well known at Croydon, has formed a company known as " Rollason Aircraft Ser vices." This is not a flying concern, but has as its objects the service, repair and maintenance of all types of aero engine and aircraft, the stocking of spares, equipment, and accessories, the sale of aeroplanes and engines, and the purchase and shipping of aircraft and engines to customers abroad. The company has recently been appointed Croydon Agent for De Havilland aircraft and engines, and it is felt that a service depot of this sort has been badly needed at the Airport of London, especially for foreign visitors. The well-known French airwoman, Mile. Maryse Hilsz, arrived at Croydon from Le Bourget on October 17, flying a Farman type 190, F-ALUI, with three passengers. Mile. Hilsz, it is understood, holds a commercial licence. During last week Air-France was commissioned to supply an aerial " family cab " for M. Bracke from London to Paris. The party consisted of father, mother, nine children and a ton of luggage. M. Bracke is Dominican Minister in London. Other notable Air-France passengers included Len, Harvey, the boxer, the Austrian Ice Hockey Team last Monday, Borotra, the Tennis Star, and a Spanish gentle man named Primo de Rivera, believed to be son of the late Premier of Spain. All companies report remarkably heavy bookings of passengers for the time of year. Sabena has had to dupli cate many services on the Brussels-Cologne line, and last Friday Air-France was fully booked up all day. Royal Dutch Air Lines planes have been fully loaded, and Imperial Airways, Ltd., as is usual with that company, have run to capacity all the week. October, 1933, bids fair to beat all previous records for that month. I forgot to mention that Mr. Aler, of the K.L.M., came across from Holland by one of the company's services and landed a few minutes before the 11.0 a.m. meeting on Traffic Control on Thursday, October 19. He left again by the service leaving Croydon for Holland at 1.15 p.m., and was in his own office in Amsterdam once more by 4.0 p.m. A. VIATOR. FROM HESTON T HE Airwork School of Flying, with ten more days to run, is 38 per cent, up on the flying time recorded for last October. Baron von Wangenheim, an experi enced pilot, is having a check-over on light aeroplanes, having flown only heavy aircraft. He is also taking advanced navigational instruction with Capt. Ferguson, to qualify for a " B " licence. Billy Bennett, of Alexander and •lose on the B.B.C., left Heston on the 16th to fulfil an engagement in Dublin. The British Air Navigation Co. flew jjim in a " Gull," and fetched -im back on Sunday, the 22nd, despite the weather. Dr- E. H. Thierry and Mr. C. W. Bonniksen, who have shared an aeroplane for five years, left Heston on *ctober 18 for Morocco, via Gibraltar and Tangier. THE ALTERNATIVE AIRPORT : Weather conditions were too bad on Sunday for this Imperial Airways machine to land at Croydon, and so it made Heston its port of call. The volume of traffic at Heston is shown by a recent census taken on a normal week day, when 90 machines were counted on the aerodrome at one time, and 61 of these were garaged for the night. S S S S A New Venture MRS. A. L. PATTERSON, a director of Patterson Air raders, Ltd., who uses a Miles " Hawk " (" Cirrus III ") terests of Wainwrights, for flying clothing, and the Wil liamson Manufacturing Co. for the Williamson Pistol Camera. Mrs. Patterson, who learnt to fly at the Phillips i,r,r her business, has been appointed representative for and Powis School at Reading, operates from Lympne -'lvertown Lubricants. She will also represent the in- aerodrome. 1075
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