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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 0203.PDF
February izth, 1948 FLIGHT 175 is- =>> R INGWAY and Ronaldsway, two Airports of undisputed FutureProminence, have been visited by Roy Pearl, and by John Yoxall with his camera, in a further survey of British air communications. INTERNAL AIRLINES SYSTEM [IR communications in the United Kingdom are not always easily justified on econo- mic grounds; evidence the reduction in many internal services by B.E.A. in recent months. The two airports, Ringway at Manchester and Ronaldsway in the Isle of Man, fully justify their existence for the operation of internal scheduled services by reason of traffic demand alone, different and yet similar though they are by nature. Situated in the centre of the north-west industrial region and having four million people living within 25 miles, Ringway has an obvious air-passenger potential of industrialists to London and to the Continent, and of _^___ holidaymakers to the south of England * WT^KW I y and the islands. It is even more impor- tant that there will be a still greater de- mand for air freight in the future, especi- ally to the Continent and Scandinavia, and to the East and West Indies. The development of such traffic will, however, be slow. Ronaldsway, on the other hand, has a seasonal impor- tance which also will increase as holidaymakers become more accustomed to travelling by air. The sea journey to the Isle of Man from Liverpool takes four hours, where- as by B.E.A. the time taken is under one hour, and two hours from London. Such a saving in travelling time, and the additional comfort on short over-water passages, will not be overlooked -by the passengers who travel to the airfield. It was from Ringway that the prototypes of the Lancaster, York, Lincoln, Manchester and Tudor were first flown. Fairey Aviation also became well established before 1939 and extended their premises during the war •. . years, using the station for assembling and test-flying military aircraft. The Parachute Training School was subsequently transferred, the A.T.A. was closed down, and preparations were made for the start of civil air operations. In June, 1946, Air France flew the first post- war scheduled service into Ringway ; and since that time, B.E.A., Aer Lingus and K.L.M. have introduced and developed regular scheduled services through the airport. There is naturally a distinctly international element, and full Customs and Immigration facilities are available. B.E.A. fly Rapides on return schedules twice daily from the Isle of Man, and Dakotas once daily from Belfast. Each morning a Dakota service leaves Liver- pool at 0809 hours, calls at Manchester, and flies on to London. A return flight is made on the same route from London at 1815 each evening. Dakotas will probably replace Rapides on the route to the Isle of Man in April. The British Corporation handles all freight and passengers for Air France and Aer Lingus, and there was considerable business for the Corporation Island, and of which there were 50,000 each week last summer. (Top) Interior of the well-equipped control tower at Ronaldsway Airport. (Below) Passengers on the 0809 hr service from Liverpool to London disembark for IS mins at Manchester. Ringway Z.I©^1- S in 1938 Manchester Corporation opened the 250-acre grass airfield at Ring- way. Scheduled services operated through the airport until the outbreak of war, when, by agreement with the Corporation, it was used for war pur- poses but was not requisitioned. Three concrete runways were constructed: N.E.S.W., 1,400 yards; N.-S., 1,100 yards; and E.-W., 1,100 yards. At the time of R.A.F. expansion before the war, the Corporation erected buildings for the use of an Auxiliary Air Force Squadron and a Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve School. They were completed during the first year of the war and were used as No. 1 Parachute Training School, through which approxi- mately 60,000 paratroopers passed. The Air Transport Auxiliary also had one of their largest pools stationed at Ringway during the war, and A. V. Roe estab- lished an experimental department on the &;.-•
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