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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 1363.PDF
DECEMBER 20, 1934. FLIGHT. 1367 — AIRLINES VIATION — 2\lRP0RTS- SIX-THIRTY EX-PARIS Imperial Airways are Maintaining their Evening Two-way London-Paris Service Through the Winter : A Passenger's Impressions of a Crossing above the Clouds by Moonlight •¥ ET me have your passport and take aI waiting-room for a few minutes, sir, please."seat in the The scene is Le Bourget. It is 6.25 p.m., and I am about to travel by the Imperial Airways night machine for Croydon. Framed by the window, Heracles stands out on the tarmac clean and sparkling in the glare of the floodlights. Baggage and mail are being stowed aboard, while a mechanic starts up the little Bristol two-stroke engine which, in its turn, will bring its four big brothers into life. With sundry coughs and splutters they start milling round while warming up ; then there is a short burst of throttle for each—and all is ready for a fairyland trip for the passengers and everyday work for the staff. Passports are returned, embarkation cards, with seat numbers marked thereon are handed in as we step aboard. A steward wraps a travelling rug around the knees, the door is shut, and the machine gently trundles across the 'drome to get into position for the take-off. A signal light winks to indicate that we may start, and, with engines all out (though in the cabin they sound rather like a subdued waterfall) we rise out of the light of the flood- lights into inky blackness. The apparent darkness is only momentary, for the eyes soon become accustomed to the dull light, and the great planes and struts can be seen against the overcast sky. Look below. As a child one imagined all the wonders of a model railway wherein everything worked. Here is wonderland—the straight Routes Nationales, the twinkling villages, the reflection of furnaces on the steam from trains. Perfection in miniature and everchanging withal. It is gone, our model, and the windows are obscured with condensation. I try to wipe it away, and begin to hate the saloon lights for their reflection ; but it is all to no purpose, for we are climbing through the clouds, and the mist is on the other side of the glass. Despite the heating arrangements the air grows cold in the cabin, and rugs are tucked in a little more tightly. Gradually the altimeter needle moves through three, four. and five thousand feet. At six thousand the windows be- come transparent once more, and a sight surely meant only for the gods comes into view. The moon, now fairly high in the heavens, sailing almost astern of the machine, casts a wonderful, soft radiance over a scene at once indescribably peaceful, yet awful and terri- fying in its vastness. One feels that man has no right here, and that a dreadful price must be paid for his pre- cocity ; yet within a few yards the pilots are in conver- sation with Croydon asking for bearings, weather reports, and other such mundane things. One can have a beer, a sandwich, or a complete dinner in these surroundings. How blase is the present age! The altimeter shows a steady seven thousand feet as we gently plough our way along at 100 m.p.h. One's mind becomes accustomed to the new scene, and searches for detail. The sky is pale blue near the cloud horizon, becom- ing deeper quite gradually as it mounts over us like an inverted bowl. Here, where the air is dry, the stars twinkle with a brilliance never so bright, and the moon encloses the machine's shadow on the clouds with a ring of light. Here and there a gap in the clouds reveals a few lights on the ground, and one visualises people sitting by their firesides, listening to a wireless programme, maybe, and, hearing the drone of our engines, glancing at the clock to note whether we are on time to-night. Time passes, and at last the engine noise dies down to a swish as we descend through the clouds to come out over the Brighton Road. Even this is transformed. Each lamp throws a circle of light on the ground, while the lamp itself makes a brilliant dot in the centre of each circle. Farther along, the road becomes a deep orange where the sodium lighting takes the place of the ordinary variety. This is on the border of the aerodrome, and in- side can be seen the neon beacon, landing "Tee," and floodlights all ready for our reception. A gentle turn, a little grumble from Heracles as she rolls along the ground, and we are back on earth—back to the daily round, the common task. J. Y. BLIND LANDINGS IN AMERICA The Army Air Corps System, which has been Adopted by the Bureau of Air Commerce THE Army Air Corps' radio blind landing system has beenadopted by the Bureau of Air Commerce, and tentativeplans have already been made for the establishment ofthe equipment along one of the Transcontinental routes. This system is largely visual as far as the pilot is concerned,and utilises a radio loop compass tuned in to the aerodrome station and on the indications given by two smaller stationsplaced on lorries driven to special points on the approach line— generally some 1,500 ft. and two miles away from theboundary respectively. One or two trips between these sta- tions will establish the correct course, which is then clockedon the pilot's directional gyro. During the final approach a sensitive altimeter is used and the engines are throttled to such an extent over the outerstation, which then acts as a marker beacon giving a dashboard signal, that the inner station will be passed at an altitude of150 ft. Thereafter the pilot relies on his directional gyro and flies on to the ground. Engine revolutions and speeds duringthis approach are fixed for certain machines and aerodromes. The whole is a logical development of the " ZZ " systemwhich is used at certain European aerodromes, and more than 150 unassisted blind landings have been made with a FordTrimotor by the Army Air Corps during its investigations. In- cidentally, the Bureau's instrument flying pilot accomplishedhis first landing by this system after 1 hr. 15 min. of training in a machine that was unfamiliar to him. -••-.,.
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