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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 1536.PDF
r86 FLIGHT, 17 August 1950 A photograph taken last month : Air Kruise (Kent), Ltd., claim to be the first operators to resume banner-towing since the war. The banner flown by the Auster is of the simple small streamer type : a larger-scale " silhouette " method is described in this article. AERIAL ADVERTISING Banner-towing and How it is Done : Some Recollections of Pre-war Methods By H. J. COOPER AIRCRAFT towing advertisement banners - were a f re- /% quent sight in pre-war days over numerous cities and seaside towns, although this kind of flying, like most other forms of civil aviation ceased when WSL: was declared in September, 1939. But at that time legislation was in fact under way to prohibit aerial advertising, and the ban was to come into effect officially on October 1st, 1941. In about 1936-37 many letters appeared in the technical and lay Press complaining of the "pestilential nuisance" of low-flying aircraft carrying banners and making far too much noise. These machines were mostly of the Avro 504N type, a Lynx- or Mongoose-engined development of the famous 504K seen at the R.A.F. Display at Farn- borough in July. These old biplanes certainly did make a racket, but the argument against the noise they caused could not justifiably be put forward today. A B.E.A. Viking makes considerably more TOW, and there are far more of them over London than ever there were Avros. Today, joy-flying Rapides from London and Northolt Air- ports add to the sky sounds—when one can hear them above the sound of road traffic. From time to time there has been an outcry from the public against low-flying aircraft, whether carrying banners or not. With some justification, many protests were also made (to the Air Ministry, the Police and the papers) that the Avros with their trailing banners flew far too low for safety. Indeed, they were reported by competent observers to have been seen at a height of 800 to r,oooft above Lon- don, and in the event of an engine failure would certainly have had a sticky time in getting down, with serious results for both the pilot and the populace The Avro was a safe, reliable and manoeuvrable aircraft (as those who remember the Cobham Air Displays will agree) but its performance was, understandably, seriously reduced by the drag of two large canvas banners, 12ft wide by 60ft long, attached horizontally under the lower wings As a matter of fact, pilots who flew these Avros said that when carrying the banners the best height they could attain was a little more than 1,000 ft. Some pilots flying them along the south coast had to keep out to sea because they could not climb over the cliffs! So quickly do the years pass that the spectacle of an aircraft. towing an advertisement banner may be unknown to our younger readers; and there are indications that older people,"- interested from a business viewpoint, are in search of informa-r* tion. In this article, one of the most efficient methods used* just before the war is described in detail. Now that petrol rationing has ended, banner-towing is beginning again, as the heading picture shows. In pre-war days the practice met with some public opposition, not only on account of aircraft noise, but because (in the words of one objector) " it disfigures the sky, the only place so far unsullied by hoardings." Had the war not intervened, prohibition might have followed. Another common form of aerial advertising before 1939 was sky-writing in smoke, and it has been semi-seriously suggested that it might now be economically revived by high-flying aircraft tracing letters in condensation-trails. Presentation ot this article on its merits as a technical analysis of an unusual aspect of flying activity must not be taken as an indication that " Flight " advocates the general re-adoption of aerial advertising. Another argument put forward was that banner-towing^ aircraft diverted the attention of motorists to the sky in- stead of the road—but it is significant that the A.A. frequently made use of this form of announcement, exhort- ing road-users to "Give way and be safe." In 1938 Mr. A. P. (now Sir Alan) Herbert, M.P., pro- moted a Bill in Parliament '' to prohibit the exhibition of advertisements by aircraft." In the following year the Committee on the Control of Flying recommended that . such advertising should be prohibited and the Government declared its intention of " bringing the nuisance to an end." But the war intervened and the Bill never went through. After 1945 petrol rationing did not permit the idea to be ' resumed, but as that restriction is no longer applicable, and subject to aircraft and pilots complying with the"! various civil aviation requirements, aerial advertising may now be practised. It is only necessary for the towing gear to be approved by the Air Registration Board, for the ;. normal flight rules and orders to be observed, and for the pilot to have a Commercial Pilot's Licence. This form of flying counts as " aerial work " and may not be practised
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