FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1946
1946 - 1448.PDF
FLIGHT 1946 CIVIL AVIATION NEWS Continued from p. 94.) the air and air traffic control. Search and rescue is another important subject under discussion and about which so much was learnt during the war. FIRST HALTON NAMED THE first of the twelve HandleyPage Halton-class conversions for B.O.A.C. was named Falkirk by LadyWinster at a christening ceremony at JRadlett last Thursday. The Mayor andProvost of Falkirk were present on be- half of their town, and in a short speechLord Winster, Minister of Civil Aviation, outlined the history of Handley Page,Ltd., recalling that the Hannibal class continued to operate until the outbreakof the recent war without killing a single passenger. He hoped similar good fortune would attend theHalton class. The Halton is, as our readers will remember, a Halifax con-version, originally for work with the R.A.F., but it has now been furnished with ten very comfortable seats for passengers.The bomb bay will carry a concentrated load of, luggage and mails of 8,ooo lb. The cruising speed of the Halton is 260m.p.h. at 10,000ft; the payload is 11,000 lb, and the still-air range 2,700 miles. B.O.A.C. propose to put the Haltons onthe London-Cairo-Karachi run, with later extension to India when more aircraft become available. The type will also beused on the London-West Africa Trans-Sahara route. The engines are four Bristol Hercules of 1,650 h.p. each. CIVILIZING DAKOTAS ITH such a comparatively vast number of ex-ServiceW Dakotas available, it is natural that quite an industry is being built up in connection with the work of '' civilizingsuch aircraft for airline operations. The Dakota was, after all, only a military version of the well-known pre-war DC-3,and the modification consists largely of refurnishing. A substantial number of Dakotas are at present being con-verted for use by K.L.M. both in this country and in Holland. Those being modified over here are overhauled by Airwork, atGatwick, while Rumbold's carry out the necessary furnishing wqrk. In addition to these, a further series of Dakotas areabout to be dealt with in Holland,'where the equipment instal- lation is being carried out by Fokkers, while Rumbold's aresupplying the necessary supervisory staff. The first civil Dakota for K.L.M. was completed some weeks ago. LORD WINSTER'S VIEWS ON CHARTERS THE position of the charter companies was raised inevit-ably by their Lordships during the debate in the House on July 16th, when Lord Winster introduced the Civil AviationBilL Lord Winster admitted that it was difficult to define a scheduled air service, but that a public air service running toa time-table which was published in advance constituted such a service. The publication, however, of a time-table couldnot be the criterion of a chartered service, since regular ser- vices could be run without any such publication. Charter,he said, in civil aviation, is merely a form of hire, and the Bill does not restrict charter work if it does not develop intoa systematic service open to the public. A charter firm may not make an aircraft available to persons other than the hirers.The Corporations would accept charter work, but Lord Winstei felt that there would be ample scope for charter firms. Viscount Swinton said that it was unfair to the public that,travel agencies should be unable to provide regular pre-ar- ranged trips for their members. This, he said, applied in par-ticular, to such as the Workers' Travel Agency, who, in the past, had provided facilities for a pre-arranged holiday on aninclusive ticket, using rail, steamship and coach. Viscount Swinton anticipated that these agencies would' welcome theopportunity of providing similar flying facilities. In reply, Lord Winster stated that the fact that the servicesmight be regular made them part and parcel of the field of activity specifically reserved for the Corporations, and it wastheir intention that this policy would not be allowed to be whittled away by a process of elimination. He said that hehad every sympathy with the charter operators and was quite sin:ere when he wished them every success. VIKING DEMONSTRATION TOUR : Last month, in the course of a European series of demonstrations, the Vickers Viking visited Portela Airfield, Lisbon, where it is seen here in front of the control tower. Pictures of the Scandinaviantour appeared in the issue of July nth. BLACKBURN'S CHARTER SUBSIDIARY ANOTHER charter company has recently been formed, thistime by Blackburn's, with its headquarters and airfield facilities at Hanworth. In common with other companies,N.S.A.T. have a somewhat mixed fleet, inclnding a Rapide, a Messenger, a Proctor and an Auster, and one of the mainobjectives, apparently, is to gain general experience for later design and construction of suitable civil aircraft by the parentcompany. Sqn. Ldr. B. S. Smallman, A.F.C., is commercial manager and pilot, while the chief pilot is Capt. H. P. Wilson,who was Blackburn's chief production test pilot at B rough in 1943. Sqn. Ldr. Smallman was with the Brooklands organiza-tion before the war and, since serving in the R.A.F., has been flying for Air Taxis. Hanworth, incidentally, is owned byBlackburn's and the hotel there is now open to visitors. The name of the new company is interesting, since thosewho were about in the earlier days will recognize it as a re- vival of the transport concern formed by Blackburn's manyyears ago and known as North Sea Aerial and General Trans- port. Operations then were started with a twin-enginedBlackburn Kangaroo, and the concern also started one of the four original R.A.F. Reserve training schools. BREVITIES * A service between Stockholm and Dublin operated by Scan-dinavian Air Lines, in conjunction with Aer Lingus, will probably start at the beginning of -September. During this month the airfield at Le Touquet was reopenedV for use by both airline and charter operators. * • » B.O.A.C. have now opened a restaurant at Airways Ter-minal in Buckingham Palace Road for the use of air passengers and their friends. Meals and light refreshments are availablefrom 6 a.m. to 12.30 a.m. • * * The Tasman, the Short Sandringham flying boat recently launched at Belfast, took off for New Zealand on July 12th. " The boat is under the command -of Captain Dudley Travers, D.F.C., and was expected to arrive in Australia on July 17th. Three further Notices to Licensed Aircraft Engineersfive Airworthiness Requirements publications have been i by the Air Registration Board. One of the new Notices coversthe present requirements for aircraft engineers' licences, and gives a list of the addresses of A.R.B.'s area offices. /London Aero and Motor Services, of Elstree^ are taking de- livery of six ex-R.A.F. Halifax Mark VIII transports to operatea series of freight services—flying, for a start, ' fruit and vegetables from the Continent. The first Halifax was deliveredlast week, and the remaining five should arrive at weekly1 intervals. • • * Early this month a DC-3 was delivered to A.B. Aerotrarjs-port in the elapsed time of 29 hr. 5 min. for the run from Montreal to Stockholm. The actual flying time was 2T hr.15 min. This DC-3 was one of a number being delivered to A.B.A. by British Aviation Services.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
