SHIPS OF THE SKY

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXIX, Issue 4748, 19 September 1935, Page 7

SHIPS OF THE SKY

VISION OF THE FUTURE. AN AIRMAN PREDICTS. As cities grow and spread, the problem of where to place the airport so that it can be easily and swiftly reached, despite the enormous increase in road traffic, is one that architects and town planners must face sooner or later, writes C. W. A. Scott in the Sydney Telegraph. It isn't a bit of good advertising for example, that one can fly "from London to Le Touquet in 30 minutes" if twice 30 minutes must be spent in a taxi getting to the airport from which the machine takes off.

This, again, brings up the question of water landings, which means, perhaps, that our future airliners will be flying-boats. All London's aerodromes are established along the arterial roads that lead from its centre, but every motor vehicle uses these arterial roads, and thereby cause congestion and confusion.

There is no one to blame, for the roads are free for all, but it certainly does restrict the obvious advantage of the aeroplane if the aerodrome is to be difficult to reach, by reason of the necessity of long road journeys. This brings us to that all-import-ant question, that is still being shelved whenever it is reopened, what kind of central airport will, and must, London have in the future? Elastic Term. The term London has now become so elastic that one scarcely knows where London begins and ends. But suffice to say that what was once countryside a few years ago is now part and parcel of the built-up areas of to-day. London must be almost fifty miles across from west to east. And obviously all aerodromes must foe outside this area.

Must they? It's got to come before long. We shall have to have some landing ground \n London's centre. One cannot imagine Hyde Park 'Ol- - James's Park'being torn from the public to furnish a new airport; public opinion would certainly disallow this, so what can be done?

Overhead aerodromes built on pillars above, London's very centre? The Thames bridged by a landing platform at a strategic point? Something of this nature seems to be the only solution, and it cannot be very long before such ideas, now conveniently shelved, will have to be seriously considered if our aeroplane services can be operated with any success. How fortunate are the young towns of the world to-day. They, are arising from the countryside in a modern time. Their town planning committees allow for these modern developments, or at least they should. All foreign air traffic can depart and arrive from outside a. city's centre, but all domestic traffic over short distances must operate from the city's centre itself unless its advantage is to be lost in the time taken to reach and. leave the airport. There is another solution, of course, and that lies in the making, or the commandeering, of existing roads for aerodrome traffic alone. And obv?* ously along such roads our 30 m.p.h. speed limit must be abolished.

A Greater Radius.

I have written that there is a difference between foreign and domestic flying. Naturally, the former embraces a far greater radius than the latter. With foreign air travel, such as exists to-day between this country and Cape Town and Australia, it has hitherto been the custom for pilots to fly certain sections, then hand over to the pilot and crew of the next section, and so,on, until tihe terminus is reached. I have always thought this method open to a great deal of criticism, and have advocated that the crew of the machine, with their machine, should operate over the entire route.

I was talking to an Imperial Airways pilot the other day, and he informed me that this is to be the new policy of Imperial Airways. In the very near future pilots will fly from London to the terminal airport, and vice versa. This will save a great deal of delay in the transference iof passengers and baggage, also avoiding a great deal of inconvenience, while promoting better service all round. There is nothing, in my opinion, so disturbing as having to change ships in one's journey. Packing and collecting one's belongings, mentally readjusting oneself to new surroundings and a host of other inconveniences. Also the fact that there -is, after the change, an entirely hew atmosphere, witl) the new commander and crew of the new machine, has to be taken into consideration. It will be much better all round, I believe, to emulate the example of K.L.M., and run the same machine, with the same crew, right through to the journey's end. We had a long talk, this pilot and I. He flies from Brindisi to Athens and Alexandria. He has been on this service for some three years, and is now enjoying three months' leave. We discussed the future of aircraft —not aviation. We are all certain that the latter is assured, but aircraft, in our opinion, will be gigantic in the future —veritable goliaths of the air, possibly carrying a hundred passengers at a time, with all the conveniences that ships offer to their passengers and at speeds far in excess of those of today.

Individualism Will Go.

Individualism, as I have often said, will go by the board. The commander of the aircraft will be but the responsible head of the eraft. His officers will act to his command, and the present personal touch will completely disappear. This is becoming more and more apparent every day. The time when one pilot was considered to have "a good pair of hands" is fast going: What will take its place is

the combination of a good crew. If this is to be aircraft of the future, how necessary it is that the crew should always be together with their own machine. To-day we have preference for a certain ship of a certain line. We like the commander and his crew. So will it be, in my opinion, in the future with regard to aircraft. Perhaps it sounds a little strange in this year of 1935, but aviation is still so absurdly young that one can scarcely visualise what it may be in five or ten years' time. Flying-boats are not getting their share in the developments of to-day. It is strange to realise that almost all the great cities in the world are situated near water. How easily this could be applied to the solution of the traffic problem of our existing airports outside the city boundaries! Here, in London, we could have our seadrome running through the centre of the city. The same would apply in Melbourne and Sydney. I wonder!