FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0320.PDF
i56 F L ICHT FEBRUARY 15XH, 1945 nor the aircraft which crashed on the South Dowrns was flying on Transport Command's regular routes which, in one month, covered 4,750,000 track miles. The fact remains, however, that the number of accidents is caus- ing disquiet in many quarters, and one wonders whether familiarity with war flying in general, with its inevit- able risks, has caused the organising personnel to approach its duties in the wrong spirit. Replying to questions in the Commons, Sir Archibald Sinclair stated that '' Flying in wartime involves certain hazards inseparable from war conditions, but the House will be glad to know that the accident rate of the Royal Air Force has been steadily falling .for some time." That may be so for the R.A.F. as a whole, to which the Air Minister was apparently referring, but in Trans- port Command there should not be the same risks as in Bomber Command, for example. Modern radio and radar aids to navigation are such that aircraft should not be in doubt about their location at any time during a flight. Ingenious or Ingenuous ? " T NDICATOR" this week makes a suggestion for I ensuring that in the post-war years aircraft on the regular routes shall always fly to time-table, no matter what the weather; or at least, that an aircraft shall always leave at the scheduled time. The sugges- tion is that a so-called "bad-weather flight" should be held in readiness to take over in cases where the weather was so bad that the normal aircraft could not undertake the flight with a sufficient guarantee of getting through safely. We remember a suggestion made to us—half in earnest—by the late Reggie Mitchell. It was during the Schneider Trophy period, and "R. J.," knowing the temperamental nature of the racing seaplanes and their engines, felt that sooner or late would be forced out of the ipceby fail* or another. His suggestiop-'was that an j Southampton flying bqatl should fhe he that if the thoroughbreds broke^&ov could finish the race with the ' competitors )£one sort upeqnarine reserve so tain 'a n't CONTENTS The Outlook ----- War in the Air - - - - Here and There - • - Jet Propulsion .... England—Cape Survey- Future of Britain's Aircraft Industry Cargo Aircraft - Report on Carriers - - - - Safety-First - - ... Civil Aviation News - Correspondence - Service Aviation - ... - 165 - !67 170 172 175 175 - 176 180 182 184 186 188 you just see," he said, "the Southampton crossing the finishing line going flat out at 100 m.p.h. with everyone on board standing up and waving their bowler hats? " As things turned out, the marvellous Rolls-Royce racing engines stood up to the gruelling test, and the old Southampton was never required, had it been avail- i able. But the underlying thought was sound. Can as* much be said for "Indicator's" suggestion? All will agree with him in his plea that safety should come first in air transport, but it seems extremely doubtful that any firm, even the "really large airline company" to which he refers, would be able to afford the large capital expenditure needed to keep all-weather aircraft in readi- ness at all termini. In addition to the aircraft, it would be necessary to have reserve crews standing by. A more practical solution would appear to be that of using, on routes where fogs and icing conditions were likely to be met, aircraft types fully equipped with the necessary paraphernalia and manned by crews compe- tent to deal with such emergencies. It would probably be cheaper for the operator to sacrifice the percentage of payload which the carrying of this all-weather equip- ment would entail. One does rather feel that if the regular aircraft were not capable of dealing with such obstacles it would not be fit to be put on the route. Bw^5^--^fiS^Bi FOR U.S. NAVY : The 70-ton Martin Mais flying boat which has now been handed over to the American Navy. It recently flew 4)375 miles non-stop. The wing span is 200ft.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
