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The Design and Construction of Airfield Pavements*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Extract

Before the Second World War there were few airfields in Great Britain with paved runways.

The grassed flight strips of the pre-war years could carry the wheel loads of the aircraft then in use with little maintenance, other than grass cutting and rolling clinker or stone into local soft patches. From 1939 onwards, the increasing weight of aircraft, and more intensive flying, made it necessary to construct airfields with paved runways to permit operation in all weathers.

From 1939 to 1945, 444 airfields were constructed with paved runways for the Royal Air Force at a cost of £200,000,000, excluding the cost of building construction. Since 1945 the emphasis has been upon airfields for civil use, and the great airfields at Idlewild, Boston, Johannesburg and London Airport have been built.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1952

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Footnotes

*

Lecture read to the Birmingham Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society at Wolverhampton on 7th December 1951, when slides showing the various stages of airfield construction were shown, in addition to the figures included here.

References

1. — (1948). The Civil Engineer in War, Vol. 1. Institution of Civil Engineers, 1948.Google Scholar
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3. Cozens, W. J. (1948). Problems in the Selection of Sites for Civil and Military Air Stations. Institution of Civil Engineers, Airport Engineering Division Paper No. 8, 1948.Google Scholar
4. Cozens, W. J. (1947). Development of C.B.R. Flexible Pavement Design Method for Airfields—A Symposium. Proceedings American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. 75, No. 1, January 1947.Google Scholar
5. Cozens, W. J. (1950). Design of Concrete Airport Pavements. Portland Cement Association, Chicago, 1950.Google Scholar
6. Skinner, J. A. (1951). Testing Runway Foundations and Pavements. Institution of Civil Engineers, Airport Paper No. 17, 1951.Google Scholar