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Aviation History
1933
1933 - 1143.PDF
FLIGHT, DECEMBER 7, 193M PORTSMOUTH : In the foreground is the old farmhouse which has been converted to serve as the club house tot the Portsmouth Aero Club. Between it and the hangar can be seen the restaurant and control tojver. The large hangar holds the machines of the Portsmouth, Southsea 8C Isle of Wight Aviation Co. (FLIGHT Photo.) any form of ground marking, but it may be that a supple mentary list to the very full information in the " Air Pilot " will be compiled, which will, at a quick glance, enable any pilot to know which aerodrome is suitable for his machine. The advantage of the scheme is that, not only is it hoped it will be informative from the pilot's point of view, but also will set a hall-mark not only on those existing aerodromes which come into the highest category, but will give something for the smaller and younger aerodromes to aim at for the future. For example, there are municipalities or other authorities whose linance does not, at the moment, warrant the provision of a complete and fully equipped airport, but who realise, as we hope every municipal authority in this country will soon realise, that it is obviously essential to the welfare of their municipalities that they should establish an adequate landing ground in the very near future. In this case the landing ground would receive, provided it conformed to certain minimum requirements, the lowest classification. Then as traffic grew, and as the Town Council or Airport Committee began to see it had done the right thing, they would vote a little more money and obtain a slightly better classification. This would bring in its train further business and make their town a still more important one, and so on until in the end they could obtain the highest classification of Ala, or whatever it might be. It is diffi cult to find any snags in a scheme of this nature, and it is hoped that it will be instituted in the very near future. FAITH! By IVOR McCLURE I N Aviation, as in Religion, faith plays a very important part. Those who have believed in the future of flying have tried to spread the gospel among the incurious. It has been hard work, because, as in most religions, argu ments cannot be supported by statistics or balance sheets, and these carry weight with business men. Evangelists, religious and aeronautical, are alike hampered because their audiences realise that if once they believe, it will probably cost them something. If only local authorities would believe in flying! In a country with over two million motor-cars we have been able to point to a thousand British aeroplanes, of which 500 are privately owned. Until this year, one British air line crossed a small corner of England. In terms of transport this would not cut an ice cube. Yet sixteen cities and towns have believed in aviation, and it has cost them nearly half a million pounds. As there are over fifty more towns to be converted before even the principal centres in these islands can be connected by air, it is worth inquiring whether the first sixteen were wise or foolish virgins. By buying aerodromes, have those sixteen cities and towns started anything? Glasgow, Blackpool, Liverpool, Cardiff, Bristol, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Hull and Inverness have all been termini or points of call on regular scheduled air services for the first time this year. Most of these air lines competed with ferry steamers, not railway trains, and no one made a fortune. Nevertheless everything has to have a beginning, and it is no wild statement to say that had there been more municipal aerodromes there would have been more services, even if no more dividends. Present developments, therefore, show that something is happening as the result of municipal enterprise. When things move at all these days they move quickly. The next inquiry is of-the future, and although faith has once more to be invoked, we can adduce present-day world practice as an indication of what may happen to morrow in Great Britain. The most important development of the future is flying with regularity. This can be done now both by day and by night when the weather is fair. In future it will also have to be done when the pilot cannot see. The radio beacon tells the pilot by means of an indicator on the dash board whether he is flying on the right course or not. With this instrument lie can fly in cloud or fog and not have to see the ground. Beacons of this kind exist in 1213
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