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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 1258.PDF
Looking out from the control tower at Turnhouse and, on the right, an ex-RAF. administrative building which is now gutted and being converted for passenger-handling. firing, and we made the return journey to the passenger hall.A last-minute breakdown with any aircraft is understandable, but the inconvenience to passengers should be avoided. Inthis instance we were kept waiting for about an hour and a half before a Rapicie replaced the original aircraft for thatjourney. Bad luck, perhaps, but we gathered that the Ju 52 has a reputation for unreliability, which surely calls for therebeing a standby aircraft always immediately available. Aberdeen Airport Aberdeen Airport is the ex-R.A.F. station at Dyce, fiveand a half miles inland from the city. It is not a good air- port for civil operations with large aircraft, as the take-offin some directions necessitates a climb over hills which rise immediately from the airfield boundary. There are S.B.A.,MF/DF and HF/RT,. but these alone are not enough for the larger-type aircraft which the traffic demands, and regularityconsequently suffers. There are twenty B.E.A. schedules a day through the airport, which is a junction for the routesfrom Glasgow and Edinburgh to Inverness, the Western Isles and the northern islands of Scotland It might be said that the inhabitants of the islands areamongst the most enthusiastic air travellers in the U.K., and after many years of experience their faith in the D.H. Rapideis unshakable. ' Before the war, whon these aircraft were flown on the inter-island services regularly by the same bunch ofpilots, a great reputation was built up. The airport is not on a joint user basis with tho R.A.F. and does, in fact, belongto the Ministry of Civil Aviation, but No, 612 Auxiliary Squad- ron, with Harvards and Spitfires, uses the airport at week-ends, and so do the University of Aberdeen Air Squadron and the local A.T.C. for gliding. The public at Aberdeen areenthusiastic, and the enclosure is normally filled on Saturdays. The present passenger reception hut was built during thewar for the special air service between Sweden and this countcy, and is most inadequate, but is the only buildingavailable. Plans for a terminal building . on a good site near, the existing main hazardous in poor visibility. A new runway is possible, how- ever, in a direction slightly out of the prevailing wind but clear of obstructions. For control there are MF/DF and an MF omni-directional beacon which is used for homing. There are also VHF/DF and VHF/RT, making eight R/T fre- quencies altogether. At Turnhouse As an example of passenger movement through Turnhouse for one week the passengers from London to Edinburgh the first week in June numbered 34, and from London through Edinburgh to the North 59, of whom 39 embarked at Turn- house. From Edinburgh to Northolt there were 46 passengers, and from Aberdeen through Edinburgh to Northolt 22 Weather at this airport is normally quite good, but with an east wind there is always the possibility of the typical North Sea stratus being blown in and over the airfield. There is, however, seldom any radiation fog, Air France now runs a service from Prestwick through Turnhouse to Le Bourget three times a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and from Le Bourget direct to Prestwick on Tuesday, Thursday ami Sunday. This service opened on June 23rd, and the company has its own representative at Turnhouse, Mr. Fremlin. There are elaborate plans for development at Turnhouse -for the accommodation of the M.C.A. and airline officials and for passenger handling. Already the familiar R.A.F. building, usually referred to as the Institute, has been gutted and is being rebuilt internally for the handling of passengers. Before leaving the Scottish Division a word is necessary about the air connections from London to the principal cities, Edinburgh and Glasgow. At present Scottish Airlines arc running the services to Glasgow on a charter basis; that arrangement, however, will finish in August, when the late summer schedules are brought into operation and the contract with the charter company is terminated. The Scottish Air- (Continued at foot of page 115) entrance have been produced but are not yet approved. Edinburgh Airport Turnhouse has been chosen as the air- port for Edinburgh and it -is about twenty minutes by car from the city, on the western side. The Ministry of Civil Aviation are joint users of the airfield with the Air Ministry, there being also -stationed on the airfield No. 66'Group Headquarters Reserve Command, No. 603 Auxiliary Squadron and Edinburgh University Air Squadron. The A.T.C. also use it for gliding on Saturdays and Sundays. The station was opened as a civil airport on May 19th, and the ser- vices to London became popular immedi- ately. There are three runways, the one N.W./S.E. is the longest and measures only 1,330 yards, the E./W. is 1,170 yards, and the N.E./S.W. is 700 yards. An extension to any one of these runways is not possible owing to the surroundings hills and quarries which already make the approaches somewhat Passengers from London leaving the aircraft at Turnhouse.
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