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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 0106.PDF
44 Commercial Aviation FLIGHT. JANUARY 13, 1938. of ear-plugs against laughing jackasses. One wishes him well, and may nothing he writes turn and rend him, boomerang fashion. Commercial aviation is essentially international. You just cannot get away from it. The other day I met the British representative of a Dutch air transport company, who, in a Swedish machine of American manufacture, was paying for a cup of tea in Netherlands money and getting his change from the steward in English money. The tea was a judicious blend of Indian and China. A. VIATOR. The Congo Service SINCE the question of a government subsidy to the companyhas not yet been cleared up, Sabena is to discontinue, for the time being, its service to the Belgian Congo. Another New Type for Air France ;; f ""THE question of how their new prototype, the Couzinet •*• 10, is to be utilised, is a source of discussion within the Air France offices. The machine was first flown on August 2 of last year and went to Villacoublay for its official tests on November 26. The pilot in charge of the trials is Dubordner, and he has registered a cruising speed, at 74 per cent, power, of 208 m p.h The machine has Hispano Suiza 9 V engines of 650 h.p. each. New York Terminus '"PHE conversion of the Glenn Curtiss Airport, North Beach, -*• Queens, N.Y., which is now taking place, is approved by a report recently sent by the New York Harbour Board, the responsible authority for airports in New York State, to the Governors of New York and New Jersey State. The airport will be enlarged to serve as a terminus for the transatlantic services. More than 105 acres will be added by land puichase and reclamation on the quay, making a total area of 429 acres. The airport will be opened in 1939, and will serve as a landing ground for visitors to the World Fair, whose grounds it adjoins. Further recommendations of the report are for an airship mast at the Floyd Bennett Field, and extension of the Newark Airport. The report also recommends that the New Jersey Senate shall retain sufficient land in the plain of the Passaic River tor any later developments. ,-.; •_••..• • ,. .... _• The Night Mail Accident THE opinion held by the majority of the pilots at Croydonin the matter of the accident to the D.L.H. night freighter on the night of November 26 was largely substantiated duringthe inquest, which was held on January 6. It wouk'. seem, reading between the lines,* that the machine accidentally startedits take-off from a point which did not actually provide the maximum possible run, and that the pilot was possibly turningon to course, thinking that he had several hundred yards of clear aerodrome in front of him, when the machine struck thehangar. Capt. Pelly, who took off in a similar machine soon after-wards, said that the visibility was so bad that it was not possible to follow the white line and that he chose to start hisrun from the tarmac end so that he would know exactly where he was. He added that some time previously one of the freightmachines had, in similar circumstances, been "lost" on the aerodrome. The difficulty involved in taxying to the desiredpoint on a fog-bound aerodrome with an irregular boundary may well be imagined, and our sympathy is extended toD.L.H., whose pilots have flown the night mail with such astounding regularity during the past years. Reducing Radio Congestion NOW that the amount of air traffic is so seriously congestingthe available radio wavebands, it is only natural that attempts should be made to introduce equipment which willhelp to make every machine a self-contained unit so far as normal radio navigation is concerned. Not long ago a medium-wave '' four-spoke'' beacon at Croydon was transmitting ex- perimentally, and now a permanent omni-directional beacon atMitcham is in operation. Its purpose is to provide D/F and homing facilities for machines up to and after the moment atwhich they are ready to enter the Croydon controlled zone. This beacon is designed to be used in conjunction with asimilar one operating on the same frequency at Schiphol, Amsterdam, the periods of transmission of which immediatelyprecede those of the Mitcham beacon. The frequency is 266 kc/s (1,128 metres), and the transmission continues for oneminute in every three, the signal consisting of a succession of broken call signs (GED) with a dash of 42 seconds' duration tofacilitate D/F and homing work. The beacon has now been in action for some little time, andso far only one very polite transport pilot, who did not want to worry Croydon's control with unnecessary QDMs, hasattempted to make his final approach at Mitcham. Substratospheric Transport A T.W.A. pilot who has probably spent more time in thesubstratosphere than any other living man—Capt. D. W. Tomlinson—speaking at the annual meeting of the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Science, said that the company's research had shown that the speed of a properlyequipped machine would increase 36.4 per cent, at 30,000 feet over its speed at sea-level. " Regular transport operation at30,000- to 35,000-foot levels," he said, " will be with us within the next five years." "Our objectives in these high altitude flying studies," hecontinued, "were four: First to choose the best method of supercharging engines; second, -to determine the actual in-crease of speed with altitude; third, to make actual measure- ments of speed at 30,000 feet; and fourth, to make extended.--.' overweather ' nights to determine actual meteorological con- ditions at the base of the stratosphere. . . During one flight,made on December 17, 1936, when we calculated our air speed would be 225 m.p.h., we actually travelled at a ground speedof 384 m.p.h. with a following wind." Capt. Tomlinson suggested that the U.S. Government shouldcarry out regular weather observation flights. He said that there were about fifty Government machines now in servicewhich would be suitable for this work. "A large number of meteorograph stations," he said, "should also be establishedto augment the data obtained from aircraft observations, and to extend our knowledge of conditions in the stratosphere to,say, 50,000 feet. Forecasting at these altitudes will also be aided through development of the radio-meteorograph and by .double theodolite balloon soundings." His talk was followed by an address by the T.W.A. chief meteorologist, Mr. E. J. Min-ser, who is one of the authorities on the Norwegian " air mass " method of weather forecasting. This method is now adoptedby the U.S. Weather Bureau. International Good Fellowship SOME idea of the way in which the Skal Club of London hasgrown since the idea was first introduced over here some three years ago could be gathered from the very satisfactorilylarge number of members and guests present at the Club's second annual dinner and dance held last week. Mr R. W-Waugh, the agents' manager foi Imperial Airways and chair- man of the Club, took his rightful place, and Mr. Hans Ostelius,London manager of A.B. Aerottansport, acted as an efficient, amusing and stentorian toastmaster. This arrangement Was ajust and fair one, since to Mr Ostelius must go the credit for introducing the idea to London with the help of Mr. Waugh,whose wide connections made this development possible. The toast of the Club was proposed by Mr. G. C. Rhodes,general manager in the U.K. foi the French Line, who spoke largely about the Club's future, while it was left to Mr. Waugh,in his reply, to explain some of the points in the Club's develop- ment and to continue in one breath to propose, in his turn, thehealth of the visitors. To this toast Mr. L. Schoevaerts, presi- dent of the Skal Club of Brussels, suitably replied. It was felt that the evening would be incomplete without afew words from Mr. Tom Potter, manager of the Travellers' Insurance Association and editor of that popular publication,Travel Topics, and, after explaining the more erudite details of the menu, Mr. Ostelius duly called on him. Following theannouncement of a long list of prizes for luckier guests, all of which were in trie form of free passages to various parts ofEurope, Mr. Potter not unnaturally took the opportunity of suggesting that something might be done to encourage peopleto travel in the reverse direction—in other words, to visit this country. Thereafter the company adjourned while the floorat the Trocadero was cleared for dancing. For those to whom the Skal Club is something new, it shouldbe explained that it was started, as its name might imply, in Sweden by Capt. Carl Florman, of A.B.A., and is designedto foster international good will with, indirectly, the inter- national tourist business. The organisation is still compara-tively young, and it was only last spring that the fourth annual congress was held in Paris and was backed there, among others,by the French Government. Other congresses have been held at Brussels, Lucerne and Stockholm, and the association is nowfirmly rooted in twenty-four European countries, quite apart from Batavia, Singapore and, shortly, Brazil. The fifth con-gress, it is hoped, will be held in London this spring. The membership is confined to members of the travel and transportorganisations.
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