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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0440.PDF
FLIGHT, MAY 3, 1934 AIRPORT NEWS CROYDON £j"|U HE great event of the week was the delivery of III Scylla at 3.28 p.m. on Saturday last. This really JIL gigantic machine was delivered by Mr. Lancaster- Parker, of Short Bros., Ltd., with whom Maj. Brackley, Air Superintendent of Imperial Airways, shared the capacious cockpit. Every reader of FLIGHT known all about the machine, but until you have actually stood in the beautifully appointed cabin, divided into three pas- senger compartments and a remarkably well fitted steward's pantry, you have no idea what it is like. There is nothing with which to compare Scylla, for the interior is very much more spacious than that of a Pullman car. There is ample room for two people to pass each other in the gangway, for example, which will greatly facilitate the serving of meals. We used to compare succeeding types of aero- plane to the luxury road-coach and later, greatly daring, we began to talk of Pullman comfort. All I can say about Scylla is that she has anything on the roads or on rails— and for that matter in the air as well—hopelessly beaten by very many lengths so far as passenger comfort is con- cerned. When you look at this great, impressive aeroplane and take a peep inside the pilot's " office " you realise the futility of remarks about chairmen being airmen. Air line flying becomes more and more a profession and the air line pilot more analogous to the ship's captain every- day. Doing aerobatics in a light aeroplane every other day will not help the chairman of a company to understand the problems that beset a pilot flying a machine like Scylla to Paris in bad weather, any more than punting on the Thames will help a shipping magnate to qualify to take a liner across the Atlantic. The German company, D.L.H., now operate their fast Ju. 52 type on the Berlin-London line, and I am informed that the K.L.M. will shortly put the F XX, with retract- able undercarriage, on that line also. Sabena, the Belgian firm, has announced an improve- ment of the scheduled time between Brussels and London for the near future of no less than half-an-hour. This means doing the journey in an hour and a half, and it must also mean that the new " Caproni " machines ordered by Sabena will soon be seen at Croydon. On April 24 there was a wedding party at the airport, when Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Thornton left for Paris by the 6.0 p.m. Air France departure on their honeymoon. Several old stagers at the airport, coming round corners suddenly, recognised in the bride's mother. Miss Zena Dare, of whom doubtless they once possessed a handsome collection of coloured picture postcards. Conscious them- selves of retreating hair and advancing years, they found themselves gazing upon a lady possessed apparently of the secret of perpetual youth. Another interesting passenger by D.L.H. at 10.57 a.m. to Berlin on April 28 was Fraulein Leni Riefenstahl, the famous German film star and personal friend of Herr Hitler. The Italian Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs travelled by Sabena last week, the Prince of Pless by K.L.M., and Lord Ashfield, president of the London Passenger Trans- port Board, from Zurich by Imperial Airways in a West- land " Wessex." He came home to undergo an eye opera- tion. Mr. Armstrong left Croydon to fetch Lord Ashfield at 4.45 a.m. on April 25, was nine minutes only on the ground, and was at Croydon again by 6.45 p.m. Considerable excitement was caused by a small biplane landing at Croydon on the same date. It had markings unknown to most people, and rumour spread that it was from Soviet Russia and was owned by some fabulously wealthy communist. It proved however that OH-IGL was of Finnish origin, and was an aeroplane of Saaski ii type which left us all very little the wiser. The pilots, Messrs. Laurilia and Bernstrom, were, it seems, local representatives of the Vacuum Oil Co., Ltd., in Finland, on a business visit to headquarters. So great has been the demand for seats on some lines that there has been considerable duplication of services. The K.L.M. late evening service inwards from Holland has been doubled several times during the week. Olley Air Service, Ltd.," have continued to book special charter work, and Capt. Olley has only been at Croydon long enough to snatch a cup of tea and a clean collar before setting off again, just lately. On Tuesday last one of his clients, who had booked what he called one of the company's " little ships " for a trip to South- ampton, suddenly decided whilst in the air that he would fly to Lisbon. Capt. Olley brought him back to Croyddn, left with him again for Paris at 7.0 p.m., and then flew him to Lisbon. Next he flew him back to Paris and dropped him, only to find a cable to go to Baden-Baden and pick up a fresh fare. A direct flight from Baden- Baden to Croydon occupied only 3£ hours, and home once more Capt. Olley found he had been booked for two consecutive trips to Scotland. ,,. v A. VIATOR. HESTON *HE history of transport through the centuries and much of the romance of flying is expressed in a large panel which was hung last week in the entrance hall of the Heston Club building. Avia- tors and laymen alike will, no doubt, derive lasting pleasure from the study of this great pictorial map, which occupied over a year of the artist's (Miss Phyllis Neville- Peel) time, and which indicates the aerodromes of the world as red dots upon a background of history, progress and achievement by sea, land and air. The panel was presented to Airwork, Ltd., by Mr. Roderick Denman, a director of the company. Following upon the rapid increase of airline traffic at Heston in the present year, a " control " scheme similar to that operating at Croydon was put into force on May 1. A Notice to Airmen has already been published, but an outline of the proposals is given here. Control will nor- mally be exercised from 10.30 hours until one hour after sunset, and will be signified by a yellow cube, the side of which will measure 2J feet, displayed on the north side of the northern wireless mast on the top of the control tower. Under these conditions, the area enclosed between the hangars and a line of inset concrete blocks to be sited approximately 50 yards clear of the apron, will be re- garded as a neutral zone within which no landings will be permitted. Aircraft will not be allowed to taxi out of this neutral zone on to the landing area when panels show- ing alternate red and white vertical bars are displayed on the parapet walls of the control tower. In all other cases, aircraft about to depart will taxi to their taking-off point and await the flashing of a white light, directed at them from the control tower, for permission to take off. Air- craft landing will be governed by the ordinary rules of the air. The Aviation Section of the National Safety First Asso- ciation (of which the Chairman is Mr. Ivor McClure) is giving an invitation luncheon at Heston on May 10, which will be followed by a demonstration before over one hun- dred local authorities, including many officials of the police force, of the problems which are likely to confront them in connection with the development of flying. The intention is to show the type of demonstration which could be given by local flying clubs for policemen if chief constables so wish. Such demonstrations would train the police in the distinguishing of safe from dangerous flying as viewed from the ground, and would consequently re- duce the risk of pilots being " run in " by the police when engaged in perfectly normal manoeuvres near the ground in connection with, say, taking off or landing. This event will not, however, be open to the public, and admission will be by special invitation or by special pass from the National Safety First Association. OPENING OF DONCASTER AIRPORT On Saturday, May 26, the Earl of Lonsdale will open race, and an air display arranged by Sir Alan Cobham, the new airport at Doncaster. The opening ceremony who acted as advisor to the Doncaster Corporation in the will be followed by an inter-club navigation test and air selection and development of the site for the airport. 440
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