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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0466.PDF
FLIGHT, MAY 10, 1934 STAVERTON AERODROME Cheltenham and Gloucester at last have a Joint Airport •EGOTIATIONS which have been in progress over a long period between the Corporations of Glouces- ter and Cheltenham for the provision of a joint airport to serve the two towns have reached a successful conclusion. The site selected is at Staverton, midway between the towns, about four miles from each, having a considerable frontage to the main trunk road between London and South Wales (A. 40). The Corpora- tions have acquired 180 acres of land, including the site containing about 84 acres provisionally approved by the Air Ministry for an " all-types " licence, and they propose to clear, drain, grade, sow and roll the site, and provide an access road of light construction, and also the Circle and Names. The Corporations propose to lease the 180 acres of land to an operating company with a view to the development of the approved site as an aerodrome, and to reserve the right to take any part of the land fronting the main road (which does not form part of the approved site) out of the lease, if required for commercial or manufacturing purposes in connection with the aerodrome. It is anticipated that the rents that might reasonably be anticipated by the lessees from agricultural and accom- modation tenants and sub-tenants would amount to about £125 per annum. The Corporations do not propose to provide any buildings, which will be a matter for the lessees, and will have an important bearing on the term of the lease. The Staverton Aerodrome will certainly be one of the key positions in the airport system of this country. It already lies conveniently on the air routes from the North and Midlands to the South-West and South Wales, and from London to South Wales. HESTON B-ERR HAFFNER, the Austrian inventor, who somemonths ago carried out trials at Heston with anexperimental aircraft working on the helicopterprinciple, has since been engaged upon further research and experimental work at Heston Airport. Recentvibration tests upon a non-flying modification of his first machine have been very successful, and Airwork, Ltd., isnow to be entrusted with the construction of a new flying " Revoplane " embodying the results of a year's calcula-tions and experiments. Airwork, as is well known, have carried out a great deal of service work upon Autogiromachines, in addition to the construction of the first C.30 P wingless model, and at the present time two of theolder type are in the shops in process of rebuilding. Mr. Bernard Rubin landed at Heston on May 2 in the" Leopard Moth " which he purchased from Brian Lewis & Co., and in which he achieved a rapid flight to Australiaand back with Mr. Waller. Mr. Rubin learned to fly at Heston as recently as last August, using " Moths " and" Cadets " alternately for his instruction. His first solo was made on a " Moth " after only three hours' dualinstruction. Mr. Niall Rankin and his wife, Lady Jean Rankin, wholearned to fly at Heston in keen competition and made their first solos within a quarter of an hour of one anotherafter exactly six hours' dual instruction each, have now bought their first aeroplane, a D.H. " Leopard Moth." The owner-driver hire business formerly carried on atHeston by Wrightson & Pearse, the air-taxi and airline operators, has been taken over by an independent companyto be known as Wrightson Air Hire, Ltd. The parent firm, relieved of this portion of their activities, are nowable to devote themselves more fully to their charter and airline operations and to the aircraft brokerage service inwhich they act as intermediaries between the buyers and sellers of second-hand aeroplanes. ; DEVELOPMENTS ELSEWHERE BARTON Flying Services, Ltd., had agreed to surrender their lease THE Manchester Corporation Airport at Barton will for the sum of £150 and that the Aerodrome Sub- not ht developed in sufficient time to enable fast com- Committee had accepted the offer, mercial machines to use it this year. SHEFFIELD AERODROME AN aerodrome has been established at Coal Aston, three miles south of the centre of Sheffield. It is not yet licensed, but permission to land may be obtained from Mr. E. Partington, Town Hall, Sheffield (Telephone 20061), or at Cavendish Avenue, Dore, Sheffield (Telephone 70836), after 5 p.m. There is a garage, inn, taxi and telephone a quarter of a mile away at the Norton cross-roads, on the Sheffield-Chesterfield road. LEICESTER MUNICIPAL AIRPORT THE new Municipal airport which is being built for Leicester at Braunstone is nearing completion, and it is planned to have it ready for use for the official opening on July 7. En-tout-cas, Ltd., have had to do an enormous amount of work to get this site fit for use as a landing ground, but when they have done so it should be admir- able in every respect. During a recent visit we saw some- thing of the careful manner in which the ground is being prepared. The following figures give some idea of the work entailed in preparing an aerodrome of this nature. Two hundred large trees had to be uprooted and removed ; two miles of a high hedge removed ; five large, deep ponds drained and properly filled in ; 73 miles of mole and other drains put in ; 60,000 tons of material had to be removed during levelling operations, in the course of which some ' 400 large boulders, weighing between five and six tons each, were encountered and had to be removed, and, finally, a complete sewage disposal plant and drainage system has been put in for the clubhouse. Apart from work in this connection there has, of course, been a great deal of fencing to be put up and approach roads to the clubhouse itself to build. BRISTOL EXTENSIONS to the aerodrome buildings at Bristol Airport have now been completed The new premises com- prise a pilots' room and passengers' waiting room, and an enlargement of the existing kitchen accommodation. CORK AT a recent meeting of the Cork County Council it was mentioned in a report by the County Surveyor that the principal object in view in setting up Cork airport is to secure a control over the pick of the transatlantic traffic passing by the Irish coast. Although control over ship- ping lines using Irish ports had been lost, there was now an opportunity of gaining full control of airways. The existing mail service of the United States Lines calling at Cork Harbour might be used as the thin edge of the wedge. DUMFRIES : ON May 1 Sir Alan Cobham visited Dumfries and addressed the public on the question of the provision of an aerodrome for the town. About five years ago Sir Alan said that Dumfries was very conveniently situated from the point of view of providing an airport. It is felt that with the start of the Glasgow-Liverpool air service, which passes over Dumfries, something may be done in the near future. STOKE -ON-TRENT STOKE-ON-TRENT City Council has unanimouslyapproved a resolution that the Corporation should take im- mediate steps to bring the aerodrome at Meir, Stoke-on-Trent, which is the property of the Corporation, under Municipal control. The Town Clerk reported that National 466
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