FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1934
1934 - 1179.PDF
NOVEMBER 8, 1934. FLIGHT. -; ;:•;• 1181 Commercial Aviation The new Boeing 247-D has shown a marked improvement in performance on the 247. The engines are geared and supercharged nine-cylinder Pratt and Whitney " H " type " Wasps." On two engines the top speed is 200 m.p.h. and the cruis- ing speed, at 12,000 feet, 189 m.p.h. Not only has performance been increased but the cabin has been made quieter. Features contributing to the latter include new cabin sound insulation, the elimination of individual ventilators, and the reduction of airscrew tip noise resulting from the use of geared engines. The new ventilation system embodies two intakes for fresh air with distributor ducts along the cabin ceiling, and two air outlets at the base of the cabin walls. Improved head- rests on the adjustable reclining chairs are another inno- vation. Flush rivets are used round the leading edge of the wing and tail-plane, and metal framework with fabric covering is now employed for the elevator and rudder in the place of all-metal construction used in the 247. Built into the trailing edge of the rudder is a flap of divided type, the top half acting as an aerodynamic balance and the lower half serving as a trimming flap. The pilot's windshield now slopes backwards instead of forward. Incidentally, this change has also been made in certain other American transport types, so the N.A.C.A., right in theory, may have been proved wrong in the light of practical considerations. CROYDON Control Zone Hardship : The Real Usefulness of the K.L.M. Eastern Service Horseferry House : Guy Fazvkes' Day at the Airport IN nautical circles, the "yellow jack" denotes plague, andin aeronautical life, at Croydon, anyway, the butter-cup-coloured disc with the sinister letters Q.B.I, hung from thecontrol tower rail, denotes that our particular plague, fog, is upon us. Q.B.I, does not necessarily mean fog too thick to fly through, but weather in which it is not safe to allow the normal number of machines within the "control zone" around the terminal airport. Traffic control is necessary in such circumstances, but it is none the less annoying. Last week, for example, a K.L.M. pilot, who would have had no difficulty in reaching Croydon, was instructed not to enter the control zone as five machines making for Croydon were ahead of him. Five machines in conditions of poor visi- bility may take an hour to reach their terminus. The K.L.M. machine, therefore, landed at Gravesend. Dr. Colyn, the Netherlands Prime Minister, was on board, as well as a full complement of passengers. Private owners who grumble at Q.B.I, will realise that the companies themselves suffer from it in the interests of public safety—without grumbling. Telephone communication with Gravesend is not too good, and there should be a private line between Croydon control and Gravesend airport. In this case the wireless operator of the machine kept in touch with the Croydon control tower by short wave from the ground. This was useful, but not extraordinary, as a recent example showed. An amateur somewhere in South Africa picked up an Imperial Airways machine on short wave when the machine was flying between Alor Star and Singapore. Mention of Singapore reminds me that recent comparisons between Imperial Airways and K.L.M. services to the East, though possibly justified by ill-informed statements in the newspapers, are a little misleading. The K.L.M. service is not from London but from Amsterdam, and no connection exists on the same day, though London-Amsterdam is only a matter of a couple of "hours' flying. This is due to the very early start from Amsterdam every Thursday morning in winter. In summer the connection with London can easily be made by the 7.0 a.m. service from Croydon, and this, of course, saves a whole day. The really important point in this matter, surely, is that the K.L.M. service affords an extra link with Singapore and theEast during the week, and that letters and travellers may leave London every Wednesday as well as every Saturday. Last week both Lord Londonderry and Sir Philip Sassoonwere seen at Croydon making use of Imperial Airways services. The latter was returning from his 20,000-mile tour of R.A.F.stations out East, during which he flew both in R.A.F. and Imperial Airways aeroplanes. Air France is combining with K.L.M. in the use of the newLondon terminus, Horseferry House. I understand that interior decorations will be on modern lines, carried out inblue, silver and red, and that there will be mural paintings by a well-known Dutch artist. An architect from Holland,Mr. Rosenberg, is in charge of interior decoration. It is felt that an air terminus should break away from the somewhatgloomy, Victorian ideals of shipping and railway termini. Horseferry House gives a clear, fast run across Lambeth Bridge,and the time between town and airport should be lessened. The difficulty is that the Traffic Commissioner is apt to insiston coaches taking a longer and more tortuous route than is necessary, as a rule through unlovely slums, if these areavailable. Olley Air Service, Ltd., collected Steve Donoghue after theHurst Park races, flew him to Paris, and thus allowed him to catch the Blue Train for Marseilles, where another mountawaited him. When it is a question of hustle and of making judicious use of air transport, there is never any need to cry"Come on, Steve! " It is not usual to have any excitement in Customs at Croy-don, but one day last week a traveller from Paris is alleged to have been found with opium pipes and similar impedimentain his possession. Col. Fitzmaurice and the " Irish Swoop " still await owners'instructions at Croydon. Curiously enough, November 5 was firework day at Croydon.Q.B.I, was in force, and all that morning rockets were being sent off and coloured lights fired from the control tower. October passenger figures were more than satisfactory. Over10,000 Continental passengers passed through the airport, and a considerable number of passengers also travelled by internalroutes. •_•--•..•'• ,'..'•• A. VIATOR.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
