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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 1584.PDF
b FLIGHT. JUNE 2, 1938. BALTIC Helsinki's Airport Lines : The JVra (Left) This aerial photograph of Helsinki airport gives a good idea of the runway lay- out and of the nature of the surrounding country. The dark areas on the runways are the parts which have been tarred. IT is customary nowadays lor airports to be opened withpomp and ceremony long after they have gone intouse. In the case of the airport at Helsingfors, or Hel- sinki, as it is now known, which was opened officially on May 8, the landing ground had been in use for more than a year, but the new terminal building, though complete enough in outside appearance, is not yet ready. Actually, the first transport machine landed on the air- port in December, 1936. In the circumstances of weather and terrain the ordinary forms of airport construction cannot be applied, and at both Helsinki and Turku, where an airport was put into use nearly two years ago, the layout consists of rolled gravel runways, the gravel to be held together eventually by tar. At Helsinki the tar-laying process is quite far advanced and should be com- pleted this year. There are four runways at this airport, and the terminal buildings are arranged in the south-east corner at a point where rising ground, in any case, prevents the area from being of use as an approach line. During the past year the terminal arrangements have con- sisted of offices built into the single hundred-metre hangar, but now the structure of a separate martello-type building has been completed,beside the hangar, and the entire organisation both of the airport management and of the Finnish operating com- pany, Aero O.Y., will eventually be transferred there. The most interesting feature of the airport is the fact that there are two entirely separate blind-approach beams at right angles to one another. Each has its separate main beacon and pair of marker beacons, the QDMs being 186 deg. and 96 deg. respectively. Helsinki, in fact, is probably the only civil air- port in the world with such an arrangement. The marker beacons are in each case 300 and 3,000 metres from the airport boundary. Duplication of this kind might appear to be somewhat expensive, but since one power plant and one repeater serves for all six aerials the scheme is not quite so extravagant as it sounds, and in any case Finland's long winter demands that both the radio and the lighting equip- ment shall be a? up-to-date as possible. Both the blind- approach transmitters and the normal two-way radio equipment The air superin- tendent of Aero O.Y. and mana- ger of the airport, Capt. von Wille- brand (right), with the com- pany's chief en- gineer, Mr. Aulin. have been designed by Telefunken. Each of the runways is 800 metres in length, and extensions are being planned in an easterly direction. With heavy snowfalls during the winter and the effects of the consequent thaw the problem of drainage is naturally a severe one, and at the present time there is no less than forty kilometres of drains underneath the airport. Heating of Hangar Since for many months in the year the temperature is very far below freezing point, special attention must be paid to a point which is not often considered over here—hangar heating. Not only is the hangar kept throughout the winter at a minimum temperature of 10 deg. C, but there are special canvas pipelines and nosebags for heating power units up to 40-60 deg. C. This heating system is arranged so that four three-engined machines can be heated at the same time. In the coldest weather the system involves the use of about four tons of coal every twenty-four hours. In order to retain the heat the hangar roof is lined with asbestos and great care has been taken in the fitting of the sliding doors and similar items. In all there are five travelling cranes permanently in use in the hangar. Two of these are for really heavy work and can lift as much as fifteen tons, while the three others are more mobile and are used for such work as removing and installing engines. The new terminal building is of the popular modern circular design in reinforced concrete, with three storeys of offices, and so forth, around a central booking hall. The only departure from symmetry in the building itself is the control room, a separate structure from which a complete view of the whole aerodrome is obtainable. Visitors and passengers have the use of a restaurant which also overlooks the landing area, and there is a special self-contained suite for visit- ing transport pilots. Inside the main hall the otherwise bare walls will be decorated with airline indicator maps, and it is possible that in due course a kiosk will be arranged in the centre of the floor. When this terminal building was officially opened The scene at the opening ceremony, with the first of Aero's two Rapides in the foreground. "Flight " photograph.
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