The Present State in the Art of Blind Landing of Airplanes Using Ultra-Short Waves in Europe

In a previous issue of the Proceedings we published a paper concerning the application of ultra-short waves in connection with navigation, based on the glide path proposed by Diamond and Dunmore. That paper not only explained the advantages of using radio beacons for this range of waves but also made mention of the fact that it is deemed expedient to use radio beacons operating on ultra-short waves for blind landing of airplanes. Meanwhile this idea has been developed further so that we are now in a position to report on the results of tests made with this method of blind landing. At present this method is on the verge of being introduced in Europe on a large scale. Besides the beacons installed in Berlin and Zurich which have been in service for a considerable length of time, the German airports at Hannover, Cologne, and Frankfort (Main) will be equipped with radio beacons by the time this paper is published. Similar equipments are in course of installation in the German airports of Munich and Konigsberg, and in the coming months will be installed in France, England, Poland, Austria, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, and Japan.