Air Transport News
Page 39
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FIRST NEWS OF BIG IMPERIAL FLYING-BOATS.
AFEW details are now available of the fleet of flying-boats which Imperial Airways, Ltd., has ordered from Short Brothers, 'Ltd., Rochester, for the main Empire air routes. They will be larger, faster and more luxurious than any of the company's present machines and will be the first Imperial flying-boats to embody the monoplane formula. The entire framework will be of metal and the high uribraced wing (which will have wing-tip floats) will be fabric-covered.
The•span will be 114 ft., the length 88 ft. 6 ins., and the height, when cradled on a beaching trolley, will he 29 ft. 6 ins. The all-up weight will be about 171 tons, of Which between 3i tons and 5 tons will be available for passengers, mail and freight. By reducing pay-load and carrying more fuel, the range can be increased to 1,500 miles, There will be four engines of a type not yet decided, and the top speed will approach 200 m.p.h.
The forepart of the hull will have two decks. The lower deck will be for passengers and the upper one will be occupied by the control cabin, wireless cabin, ship's office and mail room.
SOUTHEND AIRPORT OPENED.
SOUTHEND'S new airport was opened by Sir Philip Sassoon, UnderSecretary of State for Air, on September 18.It is only two miles from the town centre and there is a frequent service of buses past the• entrance. The London and North Eastern Railway line to London skirts the east boundary of the landing ground_
• COuncillor G. E. Weber deserves most of the credit for fostering air-mindedness in Southend and bringing the corporation to the stage of spending nearly 25,000 on the land. Much of his own money has been spent in keeping the flying-club movement going. His company, Southend-on-Sea Flying Services, Ltd., runs the air ferry to Rochester in conjunction with Short Brothers, Ltd.; the latter operates a week-end extension to Portsmouth.
The 120 acres at present in use give runs of 800 yards in every direction and the corporation has secured nearly a further 100 acres, which will be brought into service later. The surface is excellent, UNOFFICIAL VISIT TO BRIGHTON AIRPORT.
IN The Commercial Motor, on January 1 5, 1934, we reproduced a drawing of the proposed administration buildings which Mr. Stayers H. Tiltman, L.R.I.B.A., had designed for the new Brighton, Hove and Worthing airport, at Shoreham. The initial building programme is now complete and the airport was unofficially visited on September 21 by the leading municipal officers of the three towns, also by a contingent from the Broolilands Aero Club, which flew over. The )3rooklands Club already runs the flying instruction at Sywell (Northampton) and Lympne,
and will take over the club work at Shoreham.
Orley Air Service, Ltd., has been appointed to manage the airport and Lord Arnhurst, of that company, is the airport manager. About 100 acres of the 140 acres have been surfaced, giving runs of at least 800 yards in all directions. There is a hangar 200 it. by 100 ft., with a door width of 88 ft.
BRIGHTER PROSPECTS AT PERTH.
DROSPECTS of completing the civil 1 airport at Perth in time for use by commercial machines next spring are now more promising. The Air Ministry has recently issued a Notice to Airmen warning pilots that the aerodrome is not yet ready and that the landing area which is now being IeVelled and prepared for seeding is not safe for use.
An aerodrome at Perth will give encouragement to several schemes afoot for improving air connections between England and the north of Scotland. When the Edinburgh civil airport is provided there will be possibilities for services from Aberdeen to Glasgow and Edinburgh, using Perth as a junction,
BRISTOL RADIO STATION STARTS.
THE new radio station at Bristol, to provide both communication and direction-finding services for radioequipped aircraft, started work on September. 23 and will be open every day from Sam, until 9 p.m.
RAPID PROGRESS WITH HILLMAN'S NEW AIRPORT.
THE work of constructing the hexagonal airport building and other buildings at Gatwick Airport is proceeding rapidly and night work may be necessary to complete it in time: Hillman's Airways, Ltd„ hopes to move in by November 10, but a great deal has to he done by then.
A subway from the adjacent railway station, Tinsley Green, between Three Bridges and Harley, Will lead right into the centre of the airport building. The restaurant will be on the first floor and the cantrol tower above that.
Six covered ways, in the form of spurs to the hangar building, will lead out on to concrete standing aprons, so that machines can draw up at the doors and passengeth will only have a few feet to walk -unprotected' from the weather. Three of these covered ways will be used for arriving and three for departing machines.
EXCELLENT JERSEY AIRWAYS FIGURES.
1N August, Jersey Airways, Ltd., carTied 825 passengers from Heston to Jersey and 927 to Heston, and made 187 Channel crossings with its D.H.86 and D.H.89 machines, On the Southampton—Jersey line the company carried 1,862 persons to the island and 2,002 to the mainland and made 289 crossings by D.H.86s, 51 by D.H.89s and 33 by D.H848, an average of more than 10 passengers per machine. The Jersey—Guernsey service, with a Sam Cloud amphibian, was suspended after a week, during which there were 77 passengers to Jersey and 86 to Guernsey.
A useful comparison with the traffie of last summer can now he made. From December 18, 1933, to the end of 1934, 19,886 passengers were carried on all routes. In the first eight months of this year the total reached is 17,672, and this is 25 per cent, up on the corresponding figure of 1934.
The air-rail-steamer interavailableticket scheme has proved most popular.
BIG MACHINE FOR NEW CO.
ACOMPARATIVELY new Croydon .company, British Continental Airways, Ltd., which started its thrice. daily service to Ostend on June 2, has just taken delivery of its first de Havilland Express Air Liner (1/14.86), with four Gipsy Six 200 h.p. engines_
At present there is hardly enough traffic on the company's one service to justify the use of such a big machine, but important developments are understood to be in preparation. Meanwhile, the three Dragon Rapides (D.H.89), with two Gipsy Six engines, are being used. The service at present runs between Croydon, Ostend, Le Zoute and Brussels.
D.H.86 AVERAGES 163 M.P.H.
ONE of the Imperial Airways de Havilland Express Air Liners (D.H.86) put up a good speed on the regular London—Cologne service, on September 19. Leaving Croydon Airport at 9.4 a.m., it reached Cologne at -10,59 a.m., which gives an all-in time of 1 hour 55 minutes for 312 miles, or 163 m.p.h. If one allows 4 minutes for circling while obtaining permission to land,`the average speed would be about 168 m.p.h. The machine was flown by Capt. Poole.
SURVEYING JUNGLE FROM THE AIR.
AGAINST keen foreign competition, the de Havilland Aircraft Co., Ltd., has just supplied to the Netherlands New Guinea Petroleum Co., Ltd., three de Havilland Dragon Rapides to be used for surveying 25,000,000 acres of jungle country in New Guinea.
The machines are equipped with blind-flying instruments, sun blinds, metal airscrews, Marconi radio sets, Photogrammetric and Zeiss cameras, two 30-gallon auxiliary petrol tanks covered for use as working tables, and a new-type drift sight,