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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0030.PDF
FLIGHT, JANUARY 11, 1934 AIRPORT NEWS CROYDON HE New Year was ushered in full gloomily forcommercial flying, for so thick was the fog on the air routes that not one of the many servicesscheduled in and out of the Airport of London for January 1 was able to operate. One machine made thetrip from Paris to Lympne only, and the pilot was very glad to be on the ground before the weather closed downon him. The D.L.H. night mail pilot made a gallant effort to begin the year well when he left Croydon at11 p.m., an hour later than his scheduled departure time. He had to return, however, after a few minutes' flying.An event of no small importance took place on January 3, when Mr. W. Rogers completed 20 years' fly-ing service. He joined the R.F.C. on January 3, 1914, as a mechanic, and obtained his flying ticket in 1916.Only a week elapsed after his demobilisation before he joined Handley-Page Transport, Ltd. He has been cross-ing the Channel almost daily ever since and has 8,300 hours to his credit. Rogers, well known for his merry,untroubled outlook upon life, is physically in the pink of condition, and is remarkable for his youthful appearance.He is, in his proper person, the complete answer to the question which used to be asked fairly frequently: " Willthe air line pilot be too old at 40? " Incidentally, Smirnoff, of the K.L.M., who recently completed tworecord flights—Amsterdam-Batavia and back—must be about 40. Again, the flying experience of Rogers mightbe briefly quoted to those Canadian and American critics who recently queried in a newspaper whether the pilots ofEurope, and of Imperial Airways in particular, were the most experienced air line pilots in the world.Friday was the first day of 1934 on which all services ran to and from Croydon to schedule. Except for Cologne,the weather all over Europe was perfect. The weather- board in the main hall at this Airport showed blue, cloud-less sky almost everywhere, in contrast to the bright yellow fog discs which had occupied it for the previousdays. By the irony of fate, Friday was the day of First OfficerLoch's funeral at Golders Green, where representatives of Imperial Airways, Ltd., and foreign companies gathered topay a last tribute to a victim of the fog. Capt. J. M. Gittins was buried on Monday, January 8, at Baudon HillCemetery, after a service at Croydon Old Parish Church. Every company operating to and from the Airport ofLondon was represented both at the church and at the cemetery, and the number of wreaths and floral tributeswas very large indeed. Again, strangely enough, Monday was a perfect flying day, with sun and blue sky.There has been practically no flying by private owners at Croydon, owing to weather conditions, and Man MohanSingh is still at Croydon waiting for better weather before setting out on his record-breaking attempt. I mentionthis because, if he is not heard of for a day or two, one of our newspapers may start another scare that he hasleft and is missing on the way. A. VIATOR. FROM HESTON "EW YEAR speakers throughout the country pro-claimed in chorus that business was once again on the upward grade, and expressed their con-fidence in a continued improvement in 1934. At the close of a record flying year, Airwork, Ltd., is ableto swell the choir with no uncertain voice, for the Flying School in 1933 carried out (to add the strengtheningdecimal to a suspiciously round figure) 50.0795 per cent. more flying than in the previous year. 2,932 personscleared Customs—an increase of 57 per cent, on 1932, and the opening of a new traffic hall for the accommodationof passengers will not be long delayed. The improvement in general trading has necessitated the erection of a newhangar, and 1934 will also see the extension of the aero- drome boundaries to include a further 38 acres, givingHeston a total landing area of 105 acres—an expansion of 56 per cent. The Imperial Airways' Hengist, homeward bound with30 passengers from Paris on December 31, circled Croydon in a vain attempt to penetrate the fog, and then proceededto Heston (wireless messages urging it to hurry to race the advancing mist) and landed safely just before the fogclosed in. A private owner, Mr. W. R. Westhead, whose machine is equipped with wireless, was approaching Hestonat the same time. He received a message from Croydon warning him of the presence of Hengist in the neighbour-hood, and wisely returned to Shoreham, his starting point, rather than risk a collision involving many lives. Thrilling accounts are given by four pilots of BirkettAir Service, Messrs. Birkett, Digby, Stace and Glover, of a difficult job carried through successfully recently. On December 30, at 3 p.m., four machines were requisitionedby telephone to fetch Press photographs of the air disaster in Belgium. Fog made the start impossible till the nextday, when three " Puss Moths " and a " Gipsy Moth " took off from Heston at 8 a.m. and flew through verysticky weather to Ostend. Capt. Birkett had left Ostend on the return flight with pictures by 11.15 a.m. and gotthrough without much difficulty. The other three, pilots waited for further photographs, and made a start between1.40 and 2.30, when the weather was already much worse. Mr. Stace got right through to Heston, where the flood-light was lit for his guidance, and landed successfully at 4.15. Maj. Digby and Mr. Glover landed at Lympne,having been forced gradually down to a height of less than 100 ft. above the Channel, swerving to avoid themasts of ships, and flying in dread of an unexpected meet- ing with the 400-ft. cliffs at Dover. Their troubles were,however, not over, and a further chapter to the air-versus- road safety controversy is added by the fact that the'bus to which they transferred collided with a bank in the fog and was badly damaged on one side. On Sunday, December 31, Mr. Brie, test pilot to theCierva Autogiro Company, left Heston for Paris with a C.30.P. Autogiro (the latest of the new wingless direct-control models, of which the prototype was manufactured by Airwork at Heston), which was to be delivered to theFrench Navy. Details of the subsequent flight to Paris will be found elsewhere. On January 4 a demonstration was given with a small12-h.p. caterpillar tractor, marketed by the Bristol Tractor Co. Newcastle Airport NEWCASTLE CITY COUNCIL has received permission toborrow £21,000 to buy land which will be developed as a city airport. Dewoitine Force Lands THE Dewoitine monoplane Emeraude, which wasattempting to bring mails back to Paris from Saigon in record time, force landed near Gwadar, on the coast ofBaluchistan. The machine was forced down by lubrication trouble and the starboard undercarriage collapsed whilelanding on rough ground. The Dewoitine is fitted with three 575-h.p. Hispano-Suiza engines. Will France abandon Speed record attempt ? THE French Air Minister, in order to encourage Frenchconstructors to make an attempt to regain for France the world's record for pure speed, offered a prize of half amillion francs. The Bernard Company adapted a machine for the attempt, but various delays occurred, and towardsthe end of last year bad weather at Istres (Marseilles) prevented Doumerc from making the attempt, and as theAir Minister's offer expired on December 31, 1933, it is possible that the attempt may not be made. The Bernardmonoplane is an extremely clean design, and with a Hispano engine of 1,600 h.p. should be able to beat therecord easily. 32
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