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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 0251.PDF
JANUARY 30, 1936. FLIGHT. *r3 Private Flying '0¥T :^^^i^U d|' J Topics of the Day Clubs and Airports I N the course of the various conferences and discussions dealing with the airport question very little is normally said about the continuously good work which has been and is being done by the clubs. Apart from the un doubted fact that the club movement has accelerated, in no small measure, the provision of the necessary aero dromes in various parts of the country, a small or large bunch of enthusiasts in each town at present provided with an airport has often been largely responsible for the busi ness of goading the corporation into life. Occasionally, a club has even been formed and an aero drome has been either newly laid out or reinhabited after a long period of disuse without any kind of support—other than moral—from the local authorities. Then some person or persons have succeeded in convincing the corporation that a town without an airport will, in due course, be like a town without a railway station (or words to that effect), and the City Fathers have proceeded to take the credit for a farsightedness which had not previously been noticeable. Justifying Expense C URTHERMOEE—and despite the sanguine hopes which * sometimes uphold the uninitiated in their bleatings while temporary members of an airport committee—" giant air liners" are not likely to be seen popping in and out of a new provincial airport on the day after its ceremonial opening, and, in the meantime, it is the local club which gives the airport an air of mild busy-ness during the early days. It is the club, too, which provides the real, but rarely mentioned immediate justification for the consider able expenses involved. Long ago, in the days before the few available flying dubs were more than debating societies, a certain club had installed itself with a half-completed glider in one of the many big hangars at a deserted Service aerodrome. This aerodrome was a big one, and it lay more or less within walking distance of the centre of an extremely large city. The club, in a still small voice, suggested that it might be a good idea if the space were kept open and if the local building contractors were kept away. No notice, of course, w as taken, and the site of this aerodrome is now a mass 0 already subsiding houses with a small portion of the open •-pace left as a recreation ground. A good pilot might °e able to squeeze a Gipsy Moth into it and be able to t y ,70ut at some risk to the surrounding chimney-pots and the weaker hearts among the local inhabitants. The Results of Procrastination I j Clry now has its own municipal airport somewhere m e\and much less conveniently situated. What is 0rj .' j™ s airport is about two-thirds of the size of the snal aerodrome—though the approaches are better— and, when the wind is in certain directions, pilots have some considerable difficulty in getting fully-loaded machines into it at all. Any club member would have been able to tell those responsible that it was too small. I had two. attempts at it myself on my first arrival with a clean aeroplane. Probably I should have stayed quite comfortably within the airport boundaries on my first attempt, but it is rather frightening to see the hedge coming up with one's wheels still only vaguely in contact with the earth. On another occasion I was sitting as a pseudo-radio operator in a big machine while approaching this airport. The pilot throttled back well away from the boundary, re duced his speed to-one that was somewhat lower than any constructor's test pilot would have recommended in his more sanguine moments, and used just enough outboard engine to keep the machine flying until the wmeels were over the boundary. Then he hauled everything back and landed. Even so, he had to use his brakes quite hard, and I felt glad that there was a voice-proof bulkhead between him and his more innocent passengers. Forced Landings Again THIS business of rumbling commercial machines into small aerodromes reminds me of Fit. Lt. Johnson's most interesting statements in reply to previous remarks on this page, which appeared in the Correspondence columns of Flight of January 16. In the light of my trivial experience of such things I should say, even forgetting the definite forced landing statistics which he gave, that he is absolutely right as far as the approach is concerned, though it is undoubtedly necessary to fly up and down a chosen field before making the rigidly correct approach. Once, when landing at another very small aerodrome with a clean aeroplane, I decided that this was the moment at which to forget all I'd learnt and to do some rumbling. I came in low with a little engine, but overshot badly enough to make another attempt advisable. My second approach was carried out according to rules with periodical peeps at the A.S.I., and my final short sideslip brought me in just over the low hedge with only enough speed for a properly controlled hold-off. The motoring approach is probably perfectly safe with big machines because the pilot usually has a perfect for ward view and because the machine is, in any case, being flown very largely on the tail-trimming wheel. I imagine that it is difficult to stall an air liner with the normal control if the machine has been correctly trimmed for an 80 m.p.h. glide—provided, of course, that the engines which are used do not affect this trim. Hence, presum ably, the use of the outboard engines only on four-engined machines when a rumbling approach is being made. INDICATOR.
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