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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 1949.PDF
JULY 8, 1937. FLIGHT. 63- Commercial Avratiors Ramsgate Airport Officially Opened : An Attractive Building and a Sound Operating Policy ONE : The operation of an airport must be entrusted to a company with experience. Two: Service must be obtainable at all times and in all weathers. Three: More than enough aircraft must be available. Four: The place must be staffed by people who know their jobs and take a pride in them. Five : Complete social amenities must be available. These, according to Mr. Whitney Straight, speaking at the luncheon which preceded the Ramsgate Municipal Airport open ing last Saturday, are the essential ingredients in the recipe for successful airport operation. Considered in regard to some airports we wot of, this con ception is positively Utopian. But Mr. Whitney Straight and his co-directors, Mr. R. J. B. Seaman (of car racing fame) and Mr. F. A. S. Gwatkin, intend that Ramsgate, as soon as it gets into full swing, shall be run exactly so, in common with the other links in the chain of airports operated by the Straight Corporation. The landing ground, with runs of between 770 and 900 yards, is admirably sited only a mile out of Ramsgate, and it is only- two miles from Margate and even less from Broadstairs—which facts imply a steady tinkling of the joy-riding till. We// Founded Of course, as Flight readers know, the Ramsgate site has existed as an aerodrome for quite a number of years. It even saw duty as an airport in the days when the late Mr. Edward Hillman was inaugurating his air-travel-for-the-masses cam paign. Even earlier than that, when the ground was little more than a stubble field, that sporting veteran Mr. Batchelor, now a private owner of no fewer than three aircraft (Monospar, Autogiro and Swallow), kept a machine there. Nevertheless, when an aerodrome becomes raised to the status of a municipal airport, and when there blossoms upon it such an extremely pleasant building as that which Mr. D. Pleydell Bouverie has designed, an Official Opening is indicated. Saturday's ceremony, actually, was not aggressively official, the sponsors feeling that a deafening fanfare does not neces sarily herald ultimate success. Lt.-Col. Sir Francis Shelmerdine, Director-General of Civil Aviation, arrived by Leopard Moth with Lady Shelmerdine to perform the ceremony. The Mayor of Ramsgate, Alderman Stead, was present, with members of the Corporation, including Councillor Huddlestone (chairman of the Aerodrome Com mittee) and Alderman Nixon, who (as he himself informed the company with some pride) had been the moving spirit, from 1928 onwards, in turning Ramsgate's thoughts towards air port ownership. A THANET INAUGURATION After luncheon, and after the speeches—which were rather scurvily treated by a loud-speaker which insisted on howling the speakers' sentiments down instead of amplifying them—the guests moved rocfward, where Sir Francis Shelmerdine broke the Corporation flag—a most imposing affair emblazoned with dolphins and other such fauna doubtless indigenous to this sunny corner of England. There followed a commendably short and well-assorted flying display. A Tipsy monoplane was followed by the Short Scion Senior, demonstrated with great elan by Mr. H. J. Piper; Loid Beaverbrook's Lockheed 12, which had brought its owner from London, gave a really exhilarating show in the hands of its regular pilot, Mr. Downes, who showed the crowd what a Lt.-Col. Sir Francis Shelmerdine declares the airport open— and it looks as though Mr. Whitney Straight, like the ranks of Tuscany, can scarce forbear to cheer. (Flight photographs.)
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