Fido at Work

One of Britain's important secret weapons during World War II was "Fido" (Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation), a system that cleared fogbound airports. In zero-zero weather, it brought thousands of Allied planes in safely. Fido's burners, alongside runways, threw out flaming gasoline that ate holes in the fog.

Last week, the first U.S. commercial installation of Fido was put into operation at Los Angeles Airport, which is closed down 5% of the time by soupy weather. After a round of speeches and fanfare, Mayor Fletcher Bowron tripped a switch that turned on the 392 burners. Billows of black smoke rose and drifted towards the nearby town of Inglewood; observers were drenched with oil droplets blown out of the burners before igniting; automobile windshields were spattered with grime.

Nevertheless, Angelenos thought that Fido, when completely housebroken and tied in with other landing aids (G.C.A. and I.L.S.), would do its job. In the "approach zone" to the airport, it could raise a 75-ft. ceiling to 400 ft., permitting landings when the airport would otherwise be closed in. When the port has been fogbound, airliners have had to land 100 miles away at Palmdale, at an extra cost of $8 to $10 a passenger. Since Fido will bring airliners in for as little as $1.50 a passenger, the five airlines underwriting nearly half its $842,000 cost figure that it will soon pay for itself.

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