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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0062.PDF
FLIGHT, JANUARY 18, 1934 CROYDONW EATHER conditions, though unpleasant, havebeen considerably better during the past week, and most services operated as usual. Amongsttravellers of note were young David Schwartz, aged 8, who travelled unaccompanied from Paris andseemed to thrive on the roughish weather encountered. Rumour has it that his schoolboy appetite did not falterduring the journey, and he was still able to " sting " a weli-known Airport journalist for several lemonades assome small return for granting an interview. Mr. Schwartz, senr., is a well-known air line traveller, andwhen he found himself detained in France he handed his boy over to Capt. Rogers, of Imperial Airways, Ltd., whonot only flew him to Croydon, but " delivered " him in his car at his home in Wimbledon. It.is, as a matter offact, more usual than the daily newspapers would have us believe for school children to travel by air unaccom-panied, and on several other lines, notably to Holland, Prague and Scandinavia, children " in charge of theguard " are fairly frequently seen in summer. The annual Airport of London passenger figures for all companies arethe largest ever known. In 1933 no less than 87,539 travellers passed through the Airport. It is gratifying torecord that some 65 per cent, of this total was trans- ported by Imperial Airways, Ltd., the British company. On Wednesday last the first all-British air mail fromSingapore arrived at Croydon, with 52,000 letters collected from various places along the route. Miss M. E. Brooke,a lady journalist who flew to Delhi for Christmas, re- turned to Croydon recently. Her trip, she said, was inthe nature of an experiment—a most successful one— which had determined her in favour of flying, andespecially of the short air holiday. Miss Brooke is over 70, and on the same machine was wee Johnnie Morrison,10 weeks old, travelling from Basra with his six-year-old sister and mother. Air travel would seem to suit peopleof every age and sex. The baby slept most of the way, and was actually asleep when disembarked, complete withcot, on the Croydon tarmac. It is difficult to think back to the days before the aero-plane became the servant of man, though its useful career is indeed but beginning. Quite simple every-day incidentsillustrate this best perhaps. Last week, for example, some important " test films " connected with a visit to Americaof Miss Evelyn Laye missed the boat at Southampton, and were flown to Cherbourg by Mr. A. S. Wilcockson, ofImperial Airways, Ltd., in the special charter, Westland " Wessex." The machine, with a Customs clearance official on board with the necessary documents and infor-mation required by the French Customs, left Croydon at 12.58 a.m. and arrived at Cherbourg at 2.45 p.m., allow-ing more than sufficient time for the parcel to be got aboard before the boat weighed anchor at 7.0 p.m. Severalof the old-timers of the civil aviation game were delighted to see Brig. Gen. Sir Francis Festing, at one time a direc-tor of Aircraft Transport & Travel, Ltd., when he passed through the Airport en route for Copenhagen by K.L.M.on Thursday last. On Tuesday morning, after these notes have gone to press, there is to be an interestingmeeting, called by the Air Ministry to discuss the use of a radio beacon at this Airport. I learn that there are anumber of widely divergent opinions on this subject. For one thing, the immense number of aircraft in the Air-France fleet, any one of which may come on to this route at any time, would make the fitting up of all thesemachines for radio beacon flying a very expensive item. Both in Berlin and Amsterdam the system is workingadmirably, 1 am informed by pilots flying those routes, but in both cases the pylon is only a few feet high andforms no obstruction on the aerodromes. If there is no absolute need for so tall a mast in so dangerous a positionat Croydon, one of the first questions to be asked at the meeting will doubtless concern its immediate removal toa more suitable position. A. VIATOR. FROM HESTON -R. CHARLES KUNZ, leader of the Casani Club'sdance orchestra, arrived at Heston by air on January 11, fifty minutes before he was due tobroadcast on the London National Programme. Frantic messages from members of his orchestra werereceived during the day by the Heston traffic staff, who rushed Mr. Kunz to a waiting car in a matter of a fewseconds. Mr. Kunz left Liverpool at 2.25, arrived at Heston at 4.25, and commenced his broadcast at 5.15.The flight was made in very rough weather, and the aero- plane, a " Gipsy III Avian " belonging to the Liverpooland District Aero Club, was flown by Mr. Clapham, who spent the night at the Airport Hotel. The British Air Navigation Company transported Mr.John Loder, the film star, to Paris on January 6 to watch the " premiere " of his new film, " La Bataille." Mr. W. Lindsay Everard's " Dragon " returned toHeston on January 7 from the Egyptian Oases meeting. It was flown by Mr. W. D. MacPherson, who piloted it tovictory in the Oases Trophy. Seaplane base for Londonderry AT a meeting of the Londonderry Harbour Board,held on Monday, January 15, it was stated by the Chair- man, Mr. R. H. Smyth, that the British Air Ministry haddecided to establish a seaplane base on the River Foyle at Londonderry. It will be remembered that the ItalianArmada alighted on the waters of this river. Night flying without lights UNTIL March 31, Royal Air Force aircraft, exceptwithin the controlled zone scheme already referred to in our pages, if in force, may be flying by night daily (Satur-days and Sundays excepted) from one half-hour after sunset until three and a-half hours after sunset over thearea bounded by straight lines joining Addington, Seven- oaks, Oxted, Addington. Above an altitude of 5,000 ft.navigation lights will not be exhibited unless other aircraft are observed in the vicinity. Landing grounds no more ACCORDING to the latest notice received from the Auto-mobile Association in connection with their Register of aeroplane landing grounds, Gleneaglea landing ground hasbeen ploughed up, and that at St. Albans, Herts, has been sold for building purposes. The schedules of both theseshould, therefore, be withdrawn from the Register. Air service to Canary Islands AN air service has been opened between Seville and the Canary Islands. The machines to be used are three- engined aircraft, will carry mails and passengers, and will make a stop on the African coast at Cape Juby. To Paris without passports IT is reported that arrangements have been made between the British and French Governments by which passengers making week-end flights between London and Paris will be allowed to dispense with passports. This will mean that passengers on Imperial Airway machines will be able to leave London or Paris on a Friday without pass- ports and return at any time up to the following Tuesday. Federation of British Industries AT a meeting of the Grand Council of the Federation . -"of British Industries, held on Wednesday, January 10, Lord Herbert Scott, C.M.G., D.S.O., D.L., was nominated „to succeed Sir George Macdonogh as President of the Federation for the coming year. Lord Herbert Scott isalso a Director of Rolls-Royce and Cellulose Acetate Silk Co. Postponed lecture THE lecture before the Royal Aeronautical Society by Capt. A. G. Forsyth, announced for Thursday, February 8, 1934, has been postponed until Thursday, April 5, 1934. 62
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