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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 0970.PDF
304 APRIL 4, however large, incurred by the management, which is a body ot men who have many other financial and trans- port interests. Export of Civil Aircraft Turning now to the third aspect oi the civil aviation picture. What is being done about the export oj civil aircrajt? Much has been heard of the necessity lor exporting in order to pay for our war imports, and Mr. Chamber- lain has promised "a very considerable concerted drive" tor export trade, which is "on our doorstep asking for goods that we had difficulty in supplying." "Difficulty in supplying" is certainly an accurate de- scription of the situation with regard to civil aircraft. Anyone wanting to buy a civil aeroplane from England will experience great difficulty in being supplied—but in a slightly different way from that inferred by the Prime Minister's statement. There is no export oj civil aircraft pom, Great Britain. At least two companies are very willing to export as soon as they are allowed to and can obtain the materials of construction. They are De Havillands and General Aircraft, Limited. No doubt there are also numerous other companies wishing to do so, companies such as Percival Aircraft and Phillips and Powis, to name only two, who were exporting civil types before the war. These were of the smaller type, Magisters and Gulls, and so is the General Aircraft Cygnet. But the De Havil- land type, the Flamingo, was built for export as well as for home consumption, and is an airliner which stands favourable comparison with any of the new airline types in the world. Powered with two of the new Bristol sleeve-valve Perseus XVI engines driving Hydromatic feathering airscrews, it has all the equipment and com- fort to recommend itself to airline operators and passen- gers the world over. Unless we export it, there will soon be no British air- craft left on any airline in the world. Even our own Dominion, Australia, to every true Britisher's regret, has practically no British air transport craft. Douglases and Lockheeds are reported to be doing all the airline work there. And in Canada the new and important Trans-Canada Airlines is completely equipped with a fleet of fifteen Lockheed 14s. America overwhelms us in the car export trade, and even sells quite a number here in England. She will very shortly overwhelm us also in the civil aircraft market—if she has not already done so. We have now made her a present of the South African market, and, unless we export, we will make her a present of most other world markets. The Cygnet, too, can aid materially in keeping Britain's "tail up" in the market for private-owner and flying club types. This all-metal two-seater is most advanced in design, having the new nosewheel type of undercarriage which makes taxying, take-off and landing immeasurably easier and safer. People who are not pilots and cannot fly have been given the controls, and with only verbal instruction have taken-off, llown round and landed the machine in perfect safety at the first attempt. This is an aeroplane which private owners and aero clubs have been waiting for. It simplifies fly- ing. Export it, and Britain's name can be kept alive on the club aerodromes of the world. But with no export of any aero club type, American machines, which are undeniably very good, will be bought, and once let them get into that market and we shall have considerable difficulty in recovering it. There are, of course, several other aero club types suitable for export. The Cygnet was enlarged upon as it is the latest and most enterprising design in this field. But every one of the manufacturers of two- and three- seaters in this country can turn out a suitable type if given the chance. Less Than One per Cent. It is for the Export Council to see that they are given their chance. Sir Andrew Duncan, as President of the Board of Trade, presides also over the Export Council, and it is to Sir Andrew and his Council that a respectful appeal is made—that he devote some thought to this question of the export of civil aircraft and decide upon the merit of the points put forward in this article. If he agrees upon their soundness, then perhaps he will suggest to the Air Ministry that the necessary materials and manufacturing facilities be made available for the manufacture of these aircraft. No design work is needed. That has already been done and the types are in exist- ence. The number could be strictly limited—it would not be necessary to supply every buyer who asked to be supplied. Set the number at, say, 50 Flamingos per year and 100 of the aero-club type, be they Cygnets or Gulls or any others. What does this mean as a proportion of the hypo- thetical total production of 10,000 aircraft per year? The aero-club type is equal to about one-fifth ot a military type in its cost, material and labour. So the 150 aircraft to be exported per year is equal to about 70 military craft. As a proportion of the 10,000 per year, it is seven-tenths of one per cent. In figures again, 0.7 per cent., a minute amount. Adding this to the 0.3 per cent, suggested to keep the airlines going, we have a total of only one per cent. And all this is based on the assumption that total production is 10,000 per year. It is probably greater, which would make the percentage suggested for diversion to the two civil purposes even less than one per cent. That is all that is suggested, Sir Andrew and Sir Kings- ley. Is it not worth while doing? Just to set aside one per cent, of our aircraft manufacturing resources for civil purposes and so relieve that slight stiffness—which we hope is not the onset of paralysis—in '' the fourth Flying Over Eire XTOTICE to Airmen, Emergency Series No. 93, details the-1- ' restrictions relating to flying over Eire. Flight may only occur between sunrise and sunset and at an altitudeat which the aeroplane is clearly visible from the ground and not exceeding 1,500ft. Prohibited areas at Dublin, Cork, BearIsland, Cloonlara, Lough Swilly and Curragh are defined, as well as Customs arrangements and obligatory air routes. Boats for American Export Airlines RAISING its bid for a place on the air routes over theAtlantic higher still, American Export Airlines announce the placing of an order for three of the new Vought-Sikorskyflying boats. Known as the VS 44A, and powered with four Pratt and Whitney Twin Wasps driving Hamilton Hydromaticairscrews, this boat is the latest design. arm. U.S. Air Mail ON the air mail routes of the United States a total of over57,000,000 aeroplane-miles were flown during the fiscal year 1939. This exceeds the previous year's total by 12.5 percent. Internal services accounted for 52,193,000, and those to foreign countries for 5,357,000. The route-mileage of thedomestic system is 37,049 miles and that of the foreign sys- tem, 31,479. Using these figures it is simple to calculate thatthe domestic system has 3.86 trips made over it every day (taking the year as 365 days), in other words, almost tworeturn trips are made over every route every day. The same calculation on the foreign routes gives 0.47 trips per day,which is more than ij return trips per week. The air mail routes, with the addition of an almost negligible proportionof non-mail-carrying routes, make up the whole airline net- work of the United States.
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