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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 0245.PDF
JANUARY 27, 1938. FLIGHT. LONDON'S TERMINAL Making the Best of What We Have : Some Suggestions for the Improvement of Croydon AT the present moment it is still uncertain whetherthe Fairlop airport scheme will be carried through,and in the meantime it is still possible to consider other alternatives. Now that the Government has purchased Heston air- port it is reasonable to suppose that this site will be extended in the manner which was suggested by Air- work themselves some time ago. In this plan the boundary was to be extended in a southerly direction as far as the Great West Road ; the present right of way was, of course, to be dealt with as far as the eastern boundary was con- cerned ; and the terminal group of buildings was to be razed to the ground and a new group erected on the northern boundary, where, also, a suitable railway branch- line would be laid down. Consideration of the entire suggestion prompts one to wonder why a somewhat similar, if more costly, scheme could not be carried into effect at Croydon in order that this airport might be equipped to deal with any volume of traffic likely to appear during the next few decades. Needless to say, such a development scheme would cost at least half as much as that necessary for the layout of an entirely new air centre, but during the past fifteen years the public has learnt to think of Croydon as London's aerodrome, and mental habits of this kind are not easily broken. . Presumably no one would consider the removal of Purley Way and taking in the ground behind it, and in any case the fact that the edge of the aerodrome would then be on the hill-side makes this idea of improbable value. Alternatively, it would be necessary to buy up and demolish the houses on the western boundary, from the direction in which ultra-short-wave approaches are at present being made. The country beyond this area is reasonably fiat, and in every way suitable as an approach line. There would then be at least one run suitable for present and possible future conditions. Now that blind or almost blind approaches are the order of the day, the Air Ministry might at least set somebody to work on the job of reducing irregularities which make all the difference between a successful and unsuccessful bad- weather landing. Even the stoutest '' tricycle '' will wilt if it is used seriously at the termination of a blind approach on to the surface as it is at present. Probably half a dozen expensive accidents have occurred with medium-sized machines in the last year at Croydon during or immedi- ately after the landing, and the cause in almost every case has been the nature of the surface on which the pilot is expected to put down while his landing vision may be almost entirely and suddenly obscured by snow or heavy rain. The Next Best Thing Finally, if no one can be encouraged to spend more than a few hundred pounds, work might at least be started on a really adequate blind take-off and landing line or lines— preferably of the sunken Neon strip type. A transport pilot of my acquaintance has suggested the laying out of a sort of multiple arrow pointing in the take-off direction so that if, by any chance, a pilot leaves the main line he has only to follow any other line which is crossed in order to return to it. Different coloured lighting could be used to indicate the distance of each arrow-head from the aerodrome boundary. There is no need to mention the entire inadequacy of the present accommodation, and something will obviously need to be done about this within a very few months. The way in which the Berlin authorities have tackled their own problem should be a sufficient incentive to us. H.A.T. SNAPPED at the AIRPORTS CONFERENCE Four representatives of two well-known west-country airports. On the left, Cardiff : Mr. G. H. Whittaker and Councillor Williams. On the right, Bristol : Alderman A. A. Senington and Councillor V. J. Ross.
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