Rodent Peril to Aviation

Monday 2^nd November 1936

Aviation in the 1930s faced an unsuspected menace. In the era before all-metal aircraft, the fabric covered structures, or more accurately the cellulose dope used to protect the fabric, attracted the unwelcome of mice attracted by its organic contents.

The Airworks Company at Heston aerodrome found it elf tackling the issue. Cats and ferrets were rejected; the former on grounds of their inability to operate in the tight confines of aircraft wings and the latter because of their smell. Eventually Airworks settled for the humble domestic mousetraps and its aircraft engineers added trap-setting to their portfolio of skills.