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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 0190.PDF
FLIGHT. JANUARY 20, 1938. AIRPORT TRENDS NOWADAYS it is the fashion for those concerned withthe financial side of airport development to com-plain bitterly and perhaps rightly, that the specifications in the matter of size which were laid down by the Air Ministry many years ago are entirely inadequate. They ask, in fact, whether it is any use planning an aerodrome for today's requirements concern- ing take-off and landing runs when in five years' time transport aeroplanes may be demanding a maximum run which is five hundred yards or more greater than that expected to-day. As it is, these runs and obstruction arrangements are rather worse than a joke in very poor taste to municipal authorities whose only possible site may already be a most valuable one. It would seem that aircraft designers will need to set about the business of producing machines which are fast enough for all normal purposes, yet which have a short take-off run and a steep ensuing climb. Another alternative is to devise an undercarriage or special take-off arrangements which will permit the use of a very long one-way area the layout of which might not be much more of a task than that of building a first-class arterial road. All of which is looking into the future rather than The way in whichinevitable expan- sions tend to spoil theeffect of the original layout scheme is seen at Heston. Thebig service hangar, for instance, seen at the far end, overshadows the administrationgroup. It may be expected that within the next year or two the entire airport will be redesigned and new buildingserected on the northern boundary. seeing the situation as it is at this particular moment. It is obviously difficult to deal adequately with all the many • problems which confront the individual or com- mittee which is considering immediate ways and means. The problems are for the architect, the surveyor, the lay- out experts, and others who are now specialising in them. The most that can be done in a short article is to consider a few of the more interesting and important ideas which have been put forward during the last year or two. The primary need, of course, is to plan, finances per- mitting, as far into the future as possible. This does not mean simply the allowance of vast areas for development in due course and the prohibition of buildings above a certain height within specified areas, but also the design, of airport buildings so that at the worst they can be extended almost indefinitely whilst still retaining the original layout plan. Of the many aerodromes which were manufactured in the comparatively early days, some have since proved inadequate in area and others cramped in essential accom- modation. In at least one case it has been found neces- sary to start work on an entirely new aerodrome because the original one, excellent though it was at the time when it was built, cannot be extended.
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