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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 1479.PDF
604 FLIGHT. JUNE 4, 1936. The restaurant, from which passengers and visitors have a clear view of most of the landing area. and tower, obstruction lights, and all the necessary cables and switchgear, installed by the General Elec tric Co., Ltd., of Magnet House, Kingsway, London, W.C. Most of the actual building work has been carried out by A. Jackaman and Sons, of Slough, while A. and J. Main and Co., Ltd., of Vincent House, Vincent Square, London, S.W.i, have also played a very large part in the construction of the hangars and have provided the necessary steelwork for the terminal building itself. At present there are two large hangars and another smaller one which has been divided into twenty lock-ups for the use of private owners. One, used by Air Travel, Ltd., has a clear floor space of 150 feet with a single Mansard- type girder above the doors, w hich allow 30 feet of clear space to the eaves. A double-span building at the southern end cf the ground has a frontage of 300 feet, and the sixteen-leaf doors open to the full width. Brick is used to cover the main framework of the workshop section of this hangar. Returning again to the terminal building, this is built in reinforced concrete finished with artificial stone, and the whole of the interior has been very tastefully decorated and furnished by Reens-Arta, of 4, Berkeley Street, London, W.i. The effect is one of simplicity, but such an effect demands a good deal more study than might be imagined. Mrs. Arnold, the managing director of this company, has had a good deal to do with the general design of the building from the aesthetic point of view. From Box-kites to Bombers, by George Fyfe. John Long, 16s. TO give an objective review of this book is difficult; perhaps the most accurate summary that one can make is to say that it lives up to its title. The author starts with the " box- kites " of the pioneers and takes his readers through the stages of aircraft development to the present day, with a peep at the future thrown in for good measure. But the book is no dust- dry history. .Mr. Fyfe, once an officer in the R.F.C. and R.A.F., is a Fleet Street journalist, and he writes in the newsy, meaty, incisive fashion which that statement implies. His book is " popular " in style, yet avoids the " popular " inanities. The author does not present the bare historical structure; instead, he embellishes it with entertaining facts, anecdotes and what, for want of a better term, one might call " snippets." The pilots of 1914 who hurled hand-grenades at each other; R.F.C. pilots who decorated the livestock of a French farmyard with squadron markings, and tried to teach the ducks formation flying; bv contrast, the sufferings of German airship crews raiding England at 20,000 feet in winter; literally hundreds of such-varied incidents form material for Mr. Fyfe's pen. Discussing the omnipotence of the modern bomber (he quotes Lord Trenchard's " while the aeroplane is the most offensive weapon that has ever been invented, it is a shock ingly bad weapon of defence ') he ends thus: "Only the Drytone Joinery, Ltd., of 60, Arlington Road, London, N.W.i, were responsible for much of the special wood work in this interesting building, which, incidentally, is air-conditioned. As the amount of traffic increases the problem of quick refuelling becomes more important, and it is interesting to notice that, in addition to the normal underground storage equipment, a mobile unit is also being used. Both have been supplied by Thompson Bros. (Bilston), Ltd. Apart from British Airways, one other company is now in full working order and are the sole tenants of the single- span hangar. This company is Air Travel, Ltd., late cf Penshurst, who specialise in general overhaul work. They have the sole rights for repair work—apart, of course, from any carried out by operating companies themselves—at the airport and are also in a position to sell or hire machines. Eventually Air Travel's repair system will be one of the most thoroughly organised in the country, and Mr. Holmes and his co-directors have already developed a "circulatory" system for spares and inspection which should make for both speed and efficiency in the work. Ultimately the whole of the base of the south side of the hangar will be devoted to bonded store? In charge at Gatwick : Fit. Lt. W. E. Simmonds, chief control officer, and Sqn. Ldr. St. John, assistant control officer. and inspection departments and to engine overhau's, while the offices will be arranged above these in the lighter area near the roof. New machinery has been installed, and this is laid out along the east wall, each machine being driven by a separate motor. Gatwick Airport, in fact, shows every indication of being, in time, one of the most important and well-run in the country. Airports, Ltd., can hardly expect it to show its true potentialities even within a year, but a start has now been made. other day we learned to fly. We were concerned then with the problem of supporting a heavier-than-air machine in flight. We conquered the air. The problem now is to see that it does not conquer us. How ironical a sequel! " Stormy Petrel, by Charles Kennett. Hurst and Blacketi, 10s. 6d. P ROVIDED the reader is not sensitive to cliches—to tele phones that shrill, to brief colloquies that ensue, and to a hero to whom it is the work of a moment to mix a stiff drink—there is a lot of good entertainment in this allegedly true autobiography of a rolling stone who gathered quite a lot of moss, mainly from other people. He goes to America and acts as pilot to gangsters on the Mexican border, smuggling dope in a Libertv-engined S.E.5 and Chinese in a Curtiss Condor; temporarily reforms, and becomes a U.S. Air Mail pilot; joins the U.S. Army Air Corps, but absconds in a Curtiss Oriole to China; flies for the revolu tionary Sun Yat Sen; gets posts as airline pilot, and then as a golf professional in Australia; goes back to America and runs a motor boat for bootleggers; and finishes up in England as a lorry driver. These adventures are linked by journeys in the stokeholds of ships and under freight-cars on railroads. In short, the tale of a Tough Guy. TWO ENTERTAINING BOOKS
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