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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0606.PDF
FLIGHT, JUNE 21, 1934 CROYDON A SPEEDY VISITOR : The Heinkel H.E. 70A (63O-h.p. B.M.W.) which gave demonstration flights at Croydon on Monday. It has a top speed of 230 m.p.h. and a cruising speed of about 200 m.p.h. The wheels fold outwards, into the wings. I SHOULD be content to make no further mention ofthe radio beacon mast tragedy. Others thrust thematter upon me. In reply to a question in Parlia-ment it was stated that the decision had now (italics are mine) been taken to reduce the mast in height, although that entailed abandonment of its possible use for long-range navigation. The above remark deserves com- ment. If the mast was ever needed for long-range work it should have been erected on Mitcham Common, where it would not have endangered traffic. If it is wanted for that purpose in the future, why make a reluctant virtue of lowering it now ? Why not remove and re-erect it elsewhere where it would be just as efficient as it always has, or has not, been ? At a certain meeting last January, however, it was the unanimous opinion of airline pilots of various nations that the European airline pilot had no need for the American system of being put on invisible rails between airport and airport. He is a trained cross-country pilot and weather does not worry him. Ali he needs is a short-range beacon to help him find the actual landing field. Hence it was suggested the roast could be lowered even though its iange was lessened. Some armchair expert recently asked why the wireless beacon was any more an obstacle than the equally high mast on the control tower. Answer: Because the control tower is not 8 deg. off the compulsory fog landing line of white chalk. By the way, the mast is now down. Press photographers were not allowed to photograph the work in progress. Why? During last week there was a non-stop ambulance aero- plane flight from Zurich to Croydon by a Swissair Fokker F.VII B. Several small French taxi-planes also brought polo players to Croydon one morning, to play in a match the same afternoon. A young man aboard the Olympic from America found the ship was to berth at Cherbourg instead of Plymouth. This mid-Atlantic change of plan upset his schedule. He wirelessed Imperial Air- ways, who had a taxi plane to meet him at the French port. The ship docked at 6 a.m. and he left at 7 a.m., arriving Croydon 8.45 a.m. for a bite of breakfast. He was •'.hen flown to Cambridge, landing there 9.45 a.m., in time for an important examination commencing 10 a.m. I hope he passed with " flying " colours. Mr. " Bill " Bailey, of Air Charter, Ltd., iiew a doctor to Dublin from here on Thursday. An urgent operation was successfully performed and Ihe return flight was made on Friday. Olley Air Service started what should be a popular inno- vation. Evening coast cruises from Croydon via Whit- stable, Ramsgate, Margate, Deal, Dover, Hythe, and back over the Kentish hopfields. About 150 miles are covered in 1J hours and the cost per passenger is on! ' 32s. 6d. Unlike the Air Circus, which Iloes absolutely nothing to turn people into air travellers, and has, indeed, the opposite effect very often, this enterprise of Olley Air Service is definitely helpful. People witl1 a wholly unreasonable fear of the effects of air travel, based as a rule on the experi- ence of some friend ten years ago, can make one of these trips and return reassured. People who cannot afford to travel to the Continent, even though " air " is the cheapest way. need not miss the beauties of the coast scenery and of the English countryside seen from the air. Incidentally, evening is the best time of day for abso- lutely smooth air travel. I saw a fully loaded Imperial, an Air-France with some ten passengers aboard and a Royal Dutch with between ten and fifteen passengers, all land one after the other one day last week. Between fifty and sixty passengers proceeded to wait whilst the luggage was unloaded and cleared through Customs. During the pause between dis- embarkation and actual clearance of baggage, all the pass- ports could have been examined. Ten to fifteen minutes delay could be avoided on such occasions if facilities existed for passport examination during baggage unloading. Prince Gustav Adolph of Sweden arrived by K.L.M. Scandinavian Air Express " on Sunday. He will ride at the International Horse Show, Olympia. By the outward Scandinavian machine the same day the Hon. Ruth Bryan Owen, U.S. Minister to Denmark, flew to Copenhagen. A. VIATOR. HESTON -R. RODERICK DENMAN, aeronautical wireless specialist and Technical Director of Airwork, Ltd., paid a visit to Amsterdam in the early part of last week at the invitation of the K.L.M. authorities. Mr. Denman, who is making a close study of the experimental radio-assisted landing systems now being tried out in Europe and the United States, inspected the landing beacon installed at the airport of Amster- dam, and subsequently took part in hooded flights over the beacon which effectively demonstrated its capabilities. Mr. Denman states that in two years the Dutch will have eight beacons of this type in operation. Before leaving Holland, he paid a visit to the Phillips' factory at Hilver- sum, where another type of beacon, operated by sound-film apparatus, is undergoing tests. Thirty-one employees of the Midland 'Bus Company were brought to Heston on Wednesday in one of their own motor-coaches for a taste of flying. They were in charge 606
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