AIR PORTS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 248, 17 September 1936, Page 6

AIR PORTS.

RAPID DEVELOPMENT.

CHANGES IN DESIGN.

(By KARAKA.)

Up till the time that the Southernl Cross dropped into the Wigram Aerodrome after her first flight across thej Tasman a flat paddock on a farm was. about all the landing ground that was. needed for New Zealand’s aircraft. Now three governments are discussing coordinatec? measures of Empire air defence and at the same time the terms of a-; regular air mail service from England, by wav of India and Australia to New Zealand. Though the craft engaged in this service may not yet he of the largest type, something more than a few acres of land or sea, something more elaborate than the ’dromes of the existing internal passenger lines, will be needed for the big craft and for the greater fighting ’planes and bombers that will shortly replace the comparative midgets which are now our one line 1 of aerial defence.

On the military side, which will have first attention, steady progress has been made with the planning of the land and sea bases, especially at Hobsonville ini the North Island, and Sockburn in the! South, hut airports for the big passen-] ger craft yet await the planning. Two! experts, one of whom is now on his way: out, will assist in this and in the! development of the defence system, and ! before long New Zealanders will havoi some idea, even if only on a relative! scale, of what an up-to-date air base is! like. Of course, the ground organisation! of a. Croydon or a Tempelhof will not bel needed, but mile-long runways are: talked about, and these and the necessary buildings will reflect some of the features of the famous fields abroad.

Years of experience and stress of competition have developed tile airport on very elaborate lines. Several types have been evolved, but those most in use are the square, with the buildings ranged round two or three sides of the runways, and the rotunda type, with hangars and buildings in a 50 degree sector of a circle and the control room at the middle of the arc, or alternatively with circular buildings in the middle of the field, the runways radiating all round like the points of a gigantic star.

Up-to-date Facilities.

England, Germany and America have led the way in air port design, and other nations are now following them closely. The passenger enters a modern commercial flying field through a spacious entrance hall, not unlike the concourse of a great railway station. Along the walls are maps indicating the airlines flown over by the craft using the port. A series of dials shows the speed and direction of the wind all over these lines, and clock faces show the relative time. The booking officer stands at one side; tho Customs clearing room at the other, when the landing ground is used by ’planes from other countries. Somewhere handy is a fine dance pavilion, where intending passengers may while away an hour, or where people from the city may enjoy the social life which ceu.res round the air port. A restaurant and tennis courts are .part of the equipment, and, possibly, a bathhouse, too. The main building is of two storeys, and above the rooms provided for public use rises the control tower, a glassy dome, which gives a full view of the whole _fiehL ...The_tower is flanked by.

the antennae of the wireless telephone and directional beams, and above it gleams the beacon of the aerial lighthouse, whose brilliant beam, directed toward the skies, guides the night flyer to his goal. GIANT RUNWAYS. Outside the building radiate the runways, giant carpets of concrete or tarmac, along which the departing ’planes preen their wings for flight or the new arrival taxies to a stop. The actual passenger is well looked after. Dropped from a motor ear at the main entrance, he walks to the runway portal where, if the weather be wet, he will find a telescopic passage pushed out, in jointed sections, to the gangway of the ’plane. And when he enters he will find that he has walked into a new atmosphere, that, whatever the weather, the air inside the ’plane has been air-con-tioned to a temperature that will be comfortably warm whatever may be the conditions outside, and to whatever height he may rise. A green light from the control room gives the pilot the signal to depart. The engines, already warmed up, take on a new note as they are speeded up for flight, but the passenger, in his sound-proof cabin, hears but a low hum. A second signal, and the machine gathers way, as she slips along the runway, until, without the passenger being aware of any change in the movement, he looks outside to see the land dropping away. The Great Air Porta. The great air bases have a valuable psychological effect on the intending passenger. They give such an air of strength and solidity that the fears of the neophyte are dissipated and with little more anxiety than in catching a train he mounts the steps of the gangway. Hundreds of such bases have now been established. The biggest of all are the Tempelhof at Berlin, Croydon in England and the Roosevelt Field in New York. Croydon may have in the near future to give place to Gatwick. This great Sussex base, built on the circular pattern and opened only a few months ago, has all the latest features of aircraft design, and it has already won very great popularity with British and Continental flyers. A little oyer a year ago the port was a picturesque farm and woodland area, and its transformation was almost an Arabian Nights story. The Tempelhof aerodrome is possibly the most famous of them all. It was very efficiently organised when Croydon was in swaddling clothes and every effort has been made to keep it abreast of the times. It is one of the great centres of Berlin social life and its facilities for entertainment are as diversified as those of any amusement park in Berlin.

The cities of the United States have a very keen appreciation of the value of air ports and the municipalities all over the country are providing for the needs of the flying services. Big loans have been raised and the interest paid from the port charges, while sundry funds are accumulating to extinguish the bonds. In England, too, there is a keen appreciation of the need for catering for the flying visitor and towns in various parts of the country are combining to establish common air bases for their visitors.

New Zealanders are not yet airminded, but they are gradually becoming so, and as the spirit develops so will the need for facilities increase. While there are yet open spaces near the cities something must be done to cater for the coming demand. The reports of the experts will form a basis on which the whole proposition may be effectively considered.