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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 0231.PDF
JANUARY 27, 1938. FLIGHT. 07- THE AIRPORTS CONFERENCE Members of the Aerodrome Owners' Association Get Together : The Question of Financial Assistance : Points from the Discussions SOMETHING like 140 delegatesfrom all parts of the country,and from Belfast and Dublin, attended the fourth annual Con- ference of the Aerodrome Owners' Association last week. The majority of them appeared to be obsessed with the idea of obtaining some kind of financial assistance from the Air Ministry and this matter cropped up both at the dinner and at various other moments. However, Sir Francis Shelmerdine, the Director-General of Civil Aviation, rather naturally failed to mention the matter in the course of his remarks when, on Wed- nesday of last week, he opened the Con- ference. He mentioned that membership of the Association had increased to 66 this month, and it was subsequently announced by the retiring chairman (Mr. •- ; ••-"•"•• '••_' • J. W. Baternan) that the Manchester • - '•"Municipality had become a member that very morning. The Association, said Sir Francis, had now accumulated a large storeof information, and he mentioned that the quarterly meetings between it and the Department of Civil Aviation, the first ofwhich had been held last October, were producing very good results. During the day the Conference approved the appointmentof six representatives to give evidence before the Cadnam Committee, and instructed those representatives to insist onthe need for financial help for aerodrome owners. During 1936 and 1937 it appeared that the total losses on 28 aerodromeswere £137,107. . Standard fees for all aerodromes repre- sented by the Association were approved, the secretary, Mr.Gillman, explaining that the need for separate aerodrome classification in this matter was no longer apparent. Thecharge schedule would take effect from March 1 and included a landing fee of gd. for every 1,000 lb. of the permissible loadedweight of a machine. A report of the banquet which was held in the eveningappears on page 92d. Thursday was a day of papers and discussions. The papersare given (either in full or in suitably amended forms accord- ing to their character) in other parts of this issue, and themore important points from the discussions are reviewed below. THE DISCUSSIONS Tj*OLLOWlNG Mr. Ashley Hall's paper, which supported the\ idea of the establishment under subsidy of really good high-speed air services, Lord Londonderry, the President ofthe Association, suggested that aerodrome owners should go in for a system of costing; such a system would carry weightwith the Government, who would be able to see exactly where losses occurred and how a profit could be made. He urgedthe necessity for night flying, saying that when he was coming from the North of England to London it was more convenientfor him to come by train, though it suited him well to fly from Belfast. Unfortunately, even this did not suit theordinary Belfast business man, who preferred to travel by mght in boat and train in order to lose no working time. A number of delegates agreed with Mr. Ashley Hall thatfie primary need in Great Britain was to encourage the opera- tion of air services and so increase the aerodrome revenue,though they insisted that, in the circumstances, the Govern- ment should help to bear their losses, which were, at themoment, inevitable. In the course of the discussion there was a tendency towards rivalry between the different towns, and MWaS dePrecated by Mr." Ashley Hall and by other speakers.*«• H. Hopkins, of Darlington, asked Mr." Ashley Hall to onsider the case of a small provincial town with less than °'00° inhabitants. They at Darlington possessed a large "Flight" phctog aph Conference in being : the officials on the platform are, left to right, Mr. H. R. GiHman (secretary of the S.B.A.C. and Aerodrome Owners' Association) ; Lt.- Col. Sir Francis Shelmerdine (Director-General of Civil Aviation) ; Mr. J. W. Bateman (retiring chairman, A.O.A.) ; Mr. C. M. Newton (new chairman) ; and , '••'•„ . • • f , Councillor R. Ashley Hall (vice-chairman.) piece of suitable land and they wanted to know what to donext. Was there any chance of profit to the ratepayers if they developed an aerodrome ? To go back and say that itwould be a national service would, he feared, cut no. ice with them. Mr. Ashley Hall replied that though the main airservices must necessarily go overseas, they must be connected with inland airlines, and that passengers from abroad wouldwish to fly on to their destinations. • • : A Bristol delegate said that the Government had urged themunicipalities to set up airports, and since those municipali- ties which had done so had been bitten, others would thinktwice before following suit. The Government should bear the responsibility. He realised that this country was too smallfor air services and the chances of profit were small. Mr. Ashley Hall stated that though at first he iiad been activein urging municipalities to make aerodromes, he had at one stage written to the late Sir Sefton Brancker to say that hewould do so no more unless the position was consolidated. Aerodrome Management Following Mr. M. H. Volk's paper on aerodrome manage- ment, there was some discussion on the liabilities involved when a mobile refuelling unit.hits a machine and damages it. Quoting another point from the paper, a Singapore repre- sentative—not a delegate—explained that the "doming" of an airport advocated by the speaker must not, of course, be such as to interfere with taxying, taking-ofl or landing, and must not create blind spots or be so pronounced as to produce violent drainage effects. There was some discussion, too, concerning the usefulness of a signalling system such as is in use in Germany, some considering the system dangerous ancl'bthers efficient. Mr. Volk's reply was that the flagman's signal in the matter of take-off was permissive rather than obligatory, and that the res with the pilithe pilot to see behind him, then the Air Ministry ought not to have given the machine a C. of A There were also some questions as to the future of thosecontrol officers who are already employed by airport authori- ties; they were asked in connection with the remarks madeby Mr. Wilson in his paper on air traffic control concerning the Air Ministry training scheme. Britannia Trophy for CloustonT HE Royal Aero Club announces that it has awarded the Britannia chalk'nue trophy for the year 1937 to F/'O A. E. Clouston for his record" flights from London to Cape Town and back, and for his Damascus Race performance. esponsibility for avoiding any kind of obstruction remained nt pilot. If the design of the machine did not allow
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