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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 2252.PDF
168 FLIGHT. AUGUST 12, 1937. COMMERCIAL AVIATION THE WEEK AT CROYDON Holiday Traffic : Long-range Radio : The Phantom Flyer : Ante-dated LAST week's prognostication of the Bank Holiday traffic was justified. During the week there were 7,000 <4 passengers through Croydon, and I do not think tnere have ever been a thousand a day before. It naturally takes quite a big number of machines, large and small, to carry these people, and you then get traffic congestion, so the Air Ministry announcement about Hes- ton is extremely welcome. No doubt it is to be made into a first-class aerodrome in every respect, with the big air liner of the future in view. Hangarage will be a prob lem, presumably. Does one build for the very big plane of the future, and, if so, will not the said machine be all- metal and perfectly capable of sitting out at anchor all night and every night? They say several of the smaller firms will move to Heston as soon as possible, though this is mere rumour. Both managers of big firms and control- tower people feel that if there were only (say) four of the really old-established air transport concerns at Croydon, those four could increase their traffic enormously without danger or difficulty, as the discipline amongst pilots and the give-and-take you get from old hands who under stand their business thoroughly mean an immense amount in traffic control. Amazing strides wireless has made, to be sure, since the days when pioneer Marconi men, some of whom are still with us, were shut up in freight compartments, in a sitting position, unalterable by reason of the confined space, for three or four hours. I think they used to travel this way with their experimental wireless sets on the D.H.18, or some such craft, to Paris. The other day one of the K.L.M. machines had a black mark for not attend ing to Control Tower for about six minutes, and an '' Air craft Radio Faulty Working Report" was duly made out. Apologies were tendered, and it transpired casually that the Douglas D.C.3 somewhere between the coast and Croy don had been working short wave with Sydney, Australia, and had informed that station that he would be landing at Croydon in ten minutes. Sydney said reception was excellent, and Croydon accepted the pilot's apology! Tinned Beer I had a bottle of admirable tinned beer the other day (outside the three-mile limit, of course) which K.L.M. is serving on aeroplanes, and this, the steward said, is ex tremely popular on the Amsterdam-Batavia route, which, incidentally, is to be three times weekly in each directiqn after October 1, 1937. Surrey Flying Services, Ltd., had bumper crops of pleasure flyers over the holiday period, I am told, and carried over 700 passengers, as well as making some half- dozen or so special flights either internally or abroad. One of their pupils (ab initio), Mr. Griffiths, made an excellent first solo after only 3^ hours dual. Incidentally, Mr. Grif fiths' mother is also training for her "A" licence with Surreys. One of the Croydon companies had the queer job of receiving racing pigeons as freight from Czechoslovakia and releasing them, in the presence of a Customs official, at a set time from the Airport, thus avoiding import duty, I understand. The instructions contained a clause that they were to be released only at a spot free from obstacles, which shows they have much in common with air liners besides special navigation facilities enabling them to find their way home. I am informed that they made a couple of left-hand circuits, " dipped " respectfully to the Control Tower, and set off for Czechoslovakia at full speed. Week-end return tickets, without passports, are a novelty on the K.L.M. services. The scheme has, how ever, been in force for a long time on the Paris line. Avail able only for British and Dutch subjects and by K.L.M., these tickets can only be obtained between London and Amsterdam or Rotterdam, and are valid from Friday to Tuesday. British subjects are advised to carry with them some means of identification. The following quotation from the '' Stop Press " of an evening paper can be given without any comment except that even our members of Parliament seemed to know all about the "Phantom Flyer." Here it is, verbatim. "Phantom Flyer again. Noise of aeroplane engine heard over the City of London early to-day. Air Ministry said they had no observers watching; they ' knew nothing about anything.' " One of the Croydon companies has just been presented with a phenomenal bill for housing charges over a period of a year or years, because the authorities had measured one of their machines up wrongly and charged too little for ever so long. Luckily for the Air Ministry the firm is an old-established one, and not one of the here to morrow and gone to-day (or vice versa) type. The answer, of course, is. pay up and look pleasant, for the Ministry can do no wrong, and a couple of Senior Wranglers are kept solely to measure wing-spans. As Uncle Remus would have said: "It ain't no manner of use 'sputing along of Air Ministry folkses, honey," and the whole situation is aptly summed up by the same dusky authority when he says: " De word went roun' dat ole man Squinch Owl done ketch annuzzer watsioname." The word "mug" was not invented in Uncle Remus's day. Whilst we are talking of that admirable character, did you know that Brer Rabbit was the first air-line captain? He was, as the following quotation shows: " Den Brer B'ar, he ax Brer Rabbit what he doin' up dar in de elements, en Brer Rabbit he up and say he makin' dollar a minnit." Some 22,216 passengers used Croydon during July, ex cluding Irish passengers. The last bit seems to be another injustice to Ireland, and the reason for the exclusion seems obscure. A. VIATOR.
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