THE MOTH PLANE’S STAR.

Waipa Post, Volume XXI, Issue 1200, 2 February 1922, Page 7

THE MOTH PLANE’S STAR.

ELECTRIC SIGN TO LAND ON. , The biggest electric sign in the world is now operating at the Croydon air station, near London. Shaped like a star, it measures more than a quarter of a mile from point to point. It has been constructed to assist belated pilots, coming from the Continent, to land on the aerodrome during the winter months, (says the Westminster Gazette). The giant sign is J iet into the ground, and over the whole of it has been fixed thick glass, so that the surface is on an exact level with the surrounding ground, and an incoming air express can land with safety on, and, jf necessary, taxi over the surface of the guiding star. It is illuminated with several thousand electric bulbs. It is controlled 'by ' Major Greer, the air stationmaster at Croydon, and an ingenious arrangement of the switching apparatus enables the direction of the wind to be indicated to night travellers on the skyway—-an operation that is done done during the daylight by the long balloon-like streamers that have so often aroused the curiosity of visitors to a flying ground. Every night during the winter the 'letter L of huge dimensions will be flashed to the skies. The position of this L will be determined by the direction of the wind, for the pilot of an air machine always comes swooping into the landing ground with

the nose of his plane ploughing its way against the breeze. The long leg of the letter will show the airman the direction in which the wind is blowing. Britain’s “Charing Cross of the air ” will be one of the most fascinating sights in the vicinity of London. With all buildings adjacent to the aerodrome marked out with electric lights, to prevent collisions, and with the powerful searchlights, which have a radius of thirty miles, sweeping the heavens, it will be like the entrance to some enchanted fairyland. It will also be the most magnificently-equipped air port in the world for night flying.