AIR TRANSPORT NEWS
Page 61
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BRIGHTON DEVELOPMENTS GOING AHEAD.
CONSTRUCTIONAL work on the joint municipal airport of Brighton, Hove and Worthing Corporations, at Shoreham-by-Sea, is now in full swing. Of the 140 acres reserved, 100 acres are being prepared as a landing ground by the En-tout-cas Co. (Syston), Ltd., Syston, Leicestershire. The work will he finished by June 1. The terminal block, a general hangar and workshops, 248 ft. wide and 100 ft. deep, with a clear opening 20 ft. high, will be the first buildings to be erected.
All the main offices, restaurant and other accommodation will be on the ground floor, and there will be a club lounge, secretary's office, lecture room, administrative offices, and committee room, dressing rooms, etc., on the first floor. On a higher floor will be three emergency sleeping cubicles. In the centre will be the control tower.
Arrangements are being made by the British Air Navigation Co., Ltd., Heston, to organize its schedule services from the new airport, which the company has leased. Lord Amherst, who does most of the organizing work of the company, recently visited America to examine the latest operating methods and the newest types of aircraft available in the States.
STEADY PROGRESS AT ESSEX AIRPORT.
DESPITE the death of Mr. Edward I./Hillman, business continues uninterruptedly at Essex Airport. Apart from regular traffic, there is much pleasure-flight work on Sundays. The Dragons and Dragon Sixes fly in formation and the sale of 200-300 pleasureflight tickets is quite an ordinary occurrence.
A load of 200-400 lb. of man leaves Essex Airport every morning, and a further 400-500 lb. is picked up at Liverpool for Belfast and Glasgow. Similar loads are carried on the southward daily flight, the air mail showing to particular advantage over the Irish Sea.
Paris-London traffic is about normal for the time of the year and is on the increase. Three D.H.89 Dragon Sixes are due for delivery within the next two or three weeks.
BIRKETT FLEET EXPANSION.
ETNA', arrangements for expanding 1 the fleet of Birkett Air Service, Ltd., IIeston. for the forthcoming season have not yet been decided, but the company is taking delivery of a Leopard Moth almost immediately and is interested in multi-engined machines at the smaller class suitable for about four passengers and luggage, and having a high safety factor with one engine out of action.
The company is arranging for the use of a Short Scion (two 90 h.p. Pob
joy Niagara engines), which, although not fast, is economical. The high-wing design is valuable for the bad-weather conditions in which Birkett pilots often have to fly when fetching photographs, etc., for the newspapers.
Meanwhile, we hear that Short Bros. (Rochester and Bedford), Ltd., is developing a four-engined, high-wing monoplane, with Pobjoy Niagara engines, which may be of service to the Birkett concern in some aspects of its work.
AERODROME FOR YORK. THE Air Ministry has authorized the compulSory purchase by York Corporation of 1621. acres of land in Clifton Without and Rawcliffe for the construction of an aerodrome. The site, which is nearly a mile deep and of about the same width, is some two miles north of the centre of York.
FLYING TUITION wax THE R.A.F. RESERVE.
ALARGE number of vacancies exists for entry into the Royal Air Force Reserve, directly from civil life, during the next few months, for initial training in flying. Applicants must be under 25 years of age. The initial period for the Reserve is five years. Entrants may be required to attend a four-six-day course at an R.A.F. unit in their second and subsequent years. Holders of civil pilots' licences are eligible up to 28 years of age.
At present, training is undertaken at Bristol, Brough (East Yorks), Hamble (Hants), and Hatfield (Hertz). Those interested should write to the secretary, Air Ministry, Adastral House, Kings. way, W.C.2, and ask for A.M. Pamphlet 56.
BIG AERODROME PLAN FOR GUERNSEY.
THE Guernsey States will have before them on January 30 the report of the Aerodrome Committee, which was published on January 18. The committee recommends, with the approval of the Air Ministry, the provision of an aerodrome at La Villiaze, near the centre of the island, at a.cost of £80,551, plus the cost of the land. The 54 landowners concerned have suggested such high prices that compulsory purchase by special legislation is proposed. Special legislation to prevent obstructive building in the neighbourhood is also proposed.
The report of Messrs. Norman, Muntz and Da.wbarn, of November last, gave the four runway dimensions under the initial scheme as 600 yards, 740 yards, 1.000 yards, and 720 yards. An operating company has offered 4 per cent. interest on an outlay of up to £100,000 in return for a five-year monopoly of commercial use, but the committee does not favour any monopoly.
AERODROME POSSIBILITIES IN CORNWALL.
TT now appears likely that Provincial 'Airways, Ltd., will obtain the lease and licence of an aerodrome site, which by car or coach is within. 10. minutes of Torquay and five minutes of Newton Abbott. This might provide the basis for a large municipal airport. The cornpany also has an option on a field three miles from St. Ives, three miles from Hayle, and eight or nine miles from Penzance.
A Dragon, with seven passengers, has taken off from this field, and we understand that the approaches are good. It is a better landing ground than that used by the company last year at Hayle, and it may provide another opportunity for a joint municipal aerodrome for the west Cornish towns. The company already has a field at Newquay on a three years' lease.
These preparations are being made for the Hull-Nottingham-LeicesterScuthampton-Plymouth service, which is scheduled to start on March 1, using two Dragons. Provincial Airways, Ltd., has bought a third Dragon, G-ACDL, equipped with radio, and, as previously stated, the new service will connect at Southampton with the London-Plymouth service, and there will be a ferry between Southampton and the Isle of Wight. There should be scope for an air-mail service between Hull and Plymouth.
£133,335 PRIZE FOR FRENCH AERO OIL ENGINE.
IT is reported that the French Air 'Ministry has decided to offer a prize of 10,000,000 francs (about £133,335 at the current rate of exchange) for the first oil engine which, before December 31, 1936, will enable an aeroplane to beat the existing speed record cf 149.8 k.p.h. (93.6 m.p.h.) over a closed circuit of 10,000 kiloms (6,250 miles).
If the record be beaten by a machine having an engine of French construction, but made under a foreign licence, the prize will be reduced to 5,000,000 francs (£66,667). In addition, any expense incurred by the State, in connection with the preparation of the engine for the trial, will be deducted from the prize.
A POBJOY AEROPLANE.
THE new works of Pobjoy Airmotors, Ltd., at Rochester Aerodrome, Kent, is producing a high-wing cabin monoplane for three persons. It will have a Pobjoy Niagara 90 h.p. engine. Pobjoy engines have made a good reputation for themselves in the little Comper Swift, and later in the Monospar twin-engined cabin machines for light transport work, also in the Short Scion twin-engined passenger machine.