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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 1868.PDF
642 Eventful Week-end—/ "• FLIGHT. JUNE 30, 1938. RINGWAY'S SEND-OFF Sir Kingsley Wood Opens Manchester's New Airport : Fine Service Display Illustrated with "Flight" . -photographs. x.. THE appointment of the promisedInternal Airline Licensing Com-mittee was announced by SirKingsley Wood, Secretary of State for Air, during his speech at the opening of Ringway Airport, Manchester, on Saturday. Its members, he said, would be Mr. A. M. Trustram Eve, K.C., Maj. Gen. Sir Frederick Sykes and Mr. F. R. Davenport. The announcement was thus made at an appropriate time and place, for Ring- way—" Maybury Junction"—is to play an important part in the new scheme of things. Last week Flight described in detail the layout of the exceptionally fine air- port. In the ten days or so between our previous visit and the official opening extraordinary progress had been made with the terminal buildings, a chaos of ladders, mortar and wet paint having been transformed into a most handsome piece of architecture wearing a gay party air. Not that there had been no last- minute rush; Mr. G. Noel Hill, the City Architect, told us of Herculean efforts by the workmen to get everything com- pleted in time. Certainly Mr. Hill and Messrs. Norman and Dawbarn, the con- sultants, have something to be proud of in the finished job. K.L.M. were due to start operating from Ringway on Monday, and so heavy were the bookings (including one to Australia via Amsterdam and the Dutch East Indies) that a Lockheed 14 was due to assist with Tuesday's Amsterdam traffic. Cdr. Dykstra, incidentally, is K.L.M. manager at Ringway, while the airport manager is Mr. Samuel Hill. But to proceed with the story of the opening. Sir Kingsley Wood, who had arrived in the Air Council's D.H. 86, proceeded to the platform, made a brief speech declaring the airport open, handed the licence to Aid. G. F. Titt (chairman of the Airport Committee), then pressed a button, whereupon the big Esavain doors of the hangar slid smoothly open. With a nice sense of the dramatic, the sun broke through at that very moment and Manchester's rain- clouds retreated into the North. Sir Kingsley Wood then inspected the Service machines assembled—as represen- tative an array as we have ever seen at an affair of this kind. Accompanied by Sir Francis Shelmerdine (Director of Civil Aviation), Mr. G. Gibson (Director of Home Civil Aviation), Mr. Duckworth (M.P. for the Moss Side Division), Capt. Peter Eckersley (M.P. for the Exchange Division), the Lady Mayoress and City officials, he examined Battles, a Harrow, a Hurricane, a Lysander, whole squad- rons of Gladiators and Nash and Thomp- son-turreted Demons, and assorted odd- ments. His tour brought him to the Fairey hangar, where he was shown round by Fit. Lt. Menzies (test pilot) and other members of the Fairey staff. Returning to the Airport buildings, the Secretary for Air inspected the K.L.M. Douglas D.C.2. Perkoetoet, which was standing on the tarmac, admired the T.B. mobile refuelling unit, and was shown round the hangar and terminal block. And so to the official luncheon, in a vast marquee that drummed and flapped somewhat menacingly in the fierce breeze. In the absence of the Lord Mayor (Aid. Joseph Grime) through illness, Aid. Titt (chairman), proposed the health of Sir Kingsley Wood and gave a resume of the history leading up to that day's celebration. He told how, immediately it was realised that Barton, with its 124 (Left) Sir Kingsley Wood hands the licence to the chairman of the airport committee, Aid. G. F. Titt. (Right) Sir Kingsley, inspecting the Service types, chats with the pilot—in Army uniform—of a Westland Lysander army-co-operation machine.
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