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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 0714.PDF
366 FLIGHT APRIL IITH, 1946 CIVIL AVIATION NEWS the next Douglas type would be a fast 25-35-passengertype for the shorter routes, and although much of his comment 'was clearly given from the Douglas pointof view, there seems now to be a slight lessening of enthusiasm in the American aircrait industry generally overthe production of giants. The big aircraft now on the stocks have, after all, been sponsored and paid tor by the Army andNavy, and were not specifically developed with an eye to civil use. This is a fact not often known or considered by thepublic, who naturally imagine that the Constitution and Convair 37, for instance, were civil developments from thestart. ANOTHER U.S. LIGHT AIRCRAFT AFTER being, so far, solely concerned with the productionof military types, North American Aircraft are now enter- ing the market with an all-metal, four-passenger aircraitknown, in descriptive phonetics, as the Navion. This low- wing cabin monoplane has a retractable tricycle undercarriagewith a steerable nose-wheel, and is fitted with a Continental E.185 direct-drive flat six. With the 185 b.h.p. available at 2,300 r.p.m., the maximumspeed of the Navion is given as 160 m.p.h. and the cruising speed as 150 mp.h. The maximumrange is 700 miles, and the stalling speed 54 m.p.h. Only the first prototype ofthe Navion has so far been completed, and the type of airscrew, though origin-ally quoted as being of variable pitch, has not been decided upon. The sug-gested price is ^1,525 in the U.S.A.— which shows that such items as re-tractable undercarriages and v.p. air- screws add as much to an aircraft'sinitial cost in America as they are likely to do over here. RE-ROUTING THE Lancastrian service operated byB.O.A.C. in conjunction with Qantas Empire Airways between Eng-land and Australia was re-routed at the beginning of this week. This 63-hourschedule over the 12,000 miles between Hum and Sydney which operates threetimes weekly in both directions is now touted via Singapore and Darwin on theKarachi to Australia section, instead of using the wartime route via Ceylon andthe Coco* Islands. The new route has been made possible by the fact that theairfield at Singapore is now fit for heavy aircraft. At the same time, Qantas have re-routed their Liberatorservice. This now runs twice weekly in each direction between Sydney and Singapore, so as to connect with the B.O.A.C.flying boat service to and from U.K. Previously the Liberators operated to Ceylon and connected with the R.A.F. transportCommand U.K. services. Since the Indian Ocean service between Australia and Ceylonwas inaugurated in June, 1943, 1,013 crossings have been made, covering 4,125,000 miles and carrying 5,000 passengers. Theloss of the Qantas Lancastrian on March 23rd, 1946, was the only mishap on this Indian Ocean link. STRATOCRUISER AND RAINBOWW ITH the first deliveries to begin next year, NorthwestAir Lines have ordered ten of the new Boeing Strato- cruisers. Northwest propose to run a service to Alaska andto our "Far East," and examiners of the Civil Aeronautics Board have already recommended approval of this route. The new; Boeing is pressurised to provide sea-level conditionsin the cabin up to a height of 15,000ft, and 6,000-ft conditions a* 25,000ft. The four engines are Pratt and Whitney WaspMajors with a current rating of 3,500 h.p. Northwest's" Strato- cruisers will be arranged to accommodate 70-105 passengersby day or with a special conversion for 16 sleepers and 43 seated passengers. Thermal de-icing is being planned, andthe production aircraft will have reversible-pitch airscrews. To cover intervening optiations. Northwest have acquiredfifteen DC-48. Meanwhile, Pan American World Airways have ordered 18Republic Rainbows. The first of these, again, are expected "Twelve by the clock, a cool night,slight precipitation, ten-tenths at two thousand, QFF 988, and all's well." to be delivered next year. The " guaranteed " cruising speedof the new Rainbow is over 400 m.p.h., but no mention i» made of the power percentage used. SOUTH AMERICAN EXPRESS A REALLY fast service to South America was inaugurated**• last Friday when a British South American Airways Lan- castrian left the London airport at Heathrow for Rio deJaneiro, Buenos Aires and Montevideo. The new speeded-up schedule, which runs twice a week in each direction, shortensthe time taken up by stops en route, so that the trip from London to Rio is accomplished without a night stop and takesonly some thirty-one hours. In fact, the traveller who leaves London airport, for example, at mid-day on Friday, completesthe entire journey to Montevideo by the following Sunday evening. One immediate advantage of this accelerated service is thatthe London businessman can now travel to South America in a shorter time than can his New York counterpart. Further-more, as these aircraft can carry a considerable quantity of mail, letters, too, gain a similar advantage. At the inaugura-tion of the new service Air Vice-Marshal Bennett said that the i reduction in the cost of air mail on this route to is 6d perpounce had already resulted in a tremendous increase in the quantity carried. The aircraft schedules are so arranged that,if an airmail letter delivered by this route is replied to promptly, this reply can catch the next return air service—afacility which may well save thousands of pounds on some urgent contract forthe businessman who uses it effectively. Incidentally, B.S.A.A. expect soon toobtain their twenty-one seater Yorks and it is hoped that these may be put intoservice in May. EMPIRE BOAT RECORDT WENTY million miles flying has justbeen completed by the B.O.A.C. C. Class flying boats. Twenty-eight ofthese boats were ordered '' off the draw- ing board " by Imperial Airways in 1935,at a cost of /i,750,000. This move was necessitated by the development of theEmpire Air Scheme, and the Air Ministry agreed to the purchase of boats in quan-tity, in spite of the fact that there had been no opportunity to test them underpractical service conditions. By the end of 1936, four flying boats were in com-mission, and others came into service in the subsequent years until eventuallyforty-two of them had been delivered to Imperial Airways by Short Brothers ofRochester. The first C Class boat to be put intoservice was Canopus which is still in operation on the Horseshoe route to India from Durban. The other boats have given themost magnificent service in both peace and war, some having served with the R.A.F. In fact, during the war, the fleet oftwenty-two ton flying boats suffered severe losses, and took a most important part in such vital actions as the evacuation fromCrete, flying unarmed and often unescorted on these missions. BREVITIES The civil tiansport version of the Handley Page Halifax isto be known as the " Hal ton." The military transport version will continue to be known as the Halifax C.VIII. • * •The existing British air service to Spain is to be supple- mented by a twice-weekly Madrid to London service startingin earl ? May. * • *A Pan American Constellation flew over the "great circle" route from Tokio to Seattle a few days ago, making a flyingtime of i8hr 34mm for the 4,800 miles trip. A stop was madi in the Aleutian Islands. * * *K.L.M. fares on international services are to be reduced by 20 per cent from April 1st, when the company expects tomake a considerably increase in the number of its services, Among the new services will be one from Stockholm via Copen-hagen and Amsterdam to Geneva. • • •From April 1, travel to the Channel Islands has been un- restricted, so far as air and sea facilities will allow, and it is nolonger necessary for travel cards or visas to be obtained.
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