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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 1990.PDF
372 PLIGHT OCTOBER 3RD, 1946 THE STATUS OF CIVIL AVIATION'IN 1946 JOT the ordering of post-war air trans-port. This plan proposed that there should be a new multilateral Convention,providing for the multilateral grant or four main operating privileges, whichHad become known as the " first four freedoms of the air " They were: —t. The privilege to fly across a country's territory without landing.2. The privilege to land for» non- traffic purposes.3 The privilege to disembark passen- gers, mail and cargo taken on inthe aircraft's' home country. 4. The privilege to embark passengers,mail and cargo destined for the air- craft's home country.The White Paper proposed that the ftfth freedom—the privilege to carrytraffic between two foreign countries— should continue to be the subject otbilateral negotiation. To eliminate un- economic competition, it was proposedthat international air routes, frequencies and their distribution among the coun-tries concerned, should be determined by an international authority which would•>«• responsible also for fixing fares and rates. Shortly before the publication of thisWhite Paper, the United States Govern- ment had issued an invitation to anInternational Civil Aviation Conference. This invitation received a very encourag-ing response, and representatives of fifty-four nations met in Chicago inNovember, 1944 Even though it had not been possible to obtain completeagreement on measures to ensure the orderly growth of international air trans-port, the Chicago Conference had accomplished many solid achievements,loremost of which was the establishment of a Provisional International CivilAviation Organization and the drafting of a new Convention to supersede the Parisand Havana Conventions. With such a development there was agrowing risk that the air transport world would become divided into twoopposing camps, and it became more than ever necessary for Britain and Americato compose their differences. Accord- ingly, early this year, delegations from " The most important developments arising from the Gore// Committee's re- port were the establishment of the A.R.B., .... the transfer of control of civil aviation to Secretary of State for Air and compulsory third party insurance." the two countries met in Bermuda. Bydint of good will and a conciliatory atti- tude on both sides, a bilateral agreementhad been signet! providing for the opera- tion ot air services between UnitedStates and United Kingdom territories The difference in outlook reducedbroadly to the standpoint of (a) com plete freedom tor commercial enterpriseto develop air transport services relying upon an ultimate balance between supplyand demand; as opposed to (b) the urge to safeguard legitimate national interest*within a co-ordinated international con trol whereby the growth of air transportservices should be regulated on an ordered basis and made subject to a proper sharing ot capacity which wouldbe operated in step with increasing de- mands. The opposition between thetwo schools was obvious, especially if the attempt under (b) to establish anordered pattern could only be carried through by means of determination ofcapacity to be operated before the event. Instead of control before the event, therewas stipulated that freedom in develop- ment of services should be in accordancewith those principles. Clearance of that situation had openedup the opportunity for exploration among all the nations, through themachinery of P.l.C A.O., of the possi- bility of finding a solution to the diffi-culties which had hitherto stood in the way of a multilateral convention. Such asolution would avoid all the difficulties and embarrassments of the present sys-tem of bilateral negotiations between each pair of nations interested in the airroutes of the world. The Problems of Ground Organ i zation By the summer of 1939 there were 121licensed civil airports of a permanent nature. The six years of the war wit-nessed in this country an airfield con- struction programme whose extensivenessand intensiveness was unlikely to be equalled at any other time in its historyFurthermore, the remarkable advances made during the war in the size and per-formance of transport aircraft had created ever-increasing demands uponthe critical dimensions, zoning of flying approaches and technical equipment ofairports. In 1939 the cost of providing a first-class transport airport of " standard dimensions varied, according to location,topography and other circumstances, be- tween £300,000 and £450,000. In 1946the cost of providing a " Continental " Class airport, with a single set of run-ways, would vary roughly between £750,000 and £1,250,000, while a" Trans-Ocean " one would run into many millions. A corresponding increasehad taken place also in the respective maintenance costs, he observed. It hadbecome imperative to ensure that the free and full implementation of the Government's air transport plan would not be stultified by the lack of modern airports,suitably located and adequately equipped and staffed. It was decided, thereforethat the ownership and operation of air- ports required for scheduled services mustbe undertaken by the State. The detailed plan under which theState airports would be organized had not yet been finalized, but present pro-posals visualized that the United King- dom would be divided into four Divisions,comprising (1) Scotland, (2) Northern England and Northern Ireland, (3) Southand West England. (4) London and East England. The principal object of thisDivisional Organization would be to secure local efficiency and co-ordination throughdecentralization, and to relieve the Ministry of Civil Aviation Headquartersot a volume of day-to-day work which could more effectively be performed withthe intimate knowledge of local condi- tions which would, in time, be acquiredby the Divisional stafi. Each Division would be in charge of a Divisional Con- troller, who would be responsible ior theefficient operation of all airports and technical services in his territory. Hewould be assisted by a staff of experts on the various technical services. Eachwould be controlled by one Airport Com- mandant. It would appear, he continued, thatjwhen the present nationalization pro- posals have been fully implemented,there would be, in all, upwards of one hundred State-owned and operated air-fields in the Divisional Organization. Thei London Airport and other existing Statecivil airfields would be absorbed into the new Organization. As an adherent of the Interim andInternational Air Services Transit Agree- ments concluded at Chicago, the Govern-ment had accepted obligations to provide "... . present policy will make it possible for the taxpayer to receive some benefit in return for assis- tance he is required to provide during the initial period of State-aided opera- tion." the airports and ancillary facilities requiredfor international air services. Under these Agreements each country reservedto itself the right to nominate the par- ticular airports which were to be openedto international air services, without dis- crimination as to nationality or to ratescharged for landing fees. Such airports, known ao " designated " airports, wereto be selected with due regard to the route on which the services operated.The airports would be equipped to inter- nationally agreed standards, which werebeing carefully examined by P.I.C.A.O., with a view no doubt to being prescribedas standards for international observance. The ground organization requirementsof world-wide air transport would un- doubtedly create a number of problemsfor the international legislators. Some ot the smaller foreign countries which lieathwart the international trunk air routes might be unable or unwilling to under-take their full responsibilities, as ad- herents to the Chicago Agreements, iorthe provision of airports for international air services P.I.C.A.O. had wisely pro-vided that such countries may apply to P.I.C.A.O. for financial, technical andother assistance in meeting, their cona« mitments. - [The remainder of Sir Henry Self's lec-ture dealing with aircraft production and the human reaction to aviation will b*Published next week ) STORMY WEATHER JLN U.S. A Lockheed P.80 Shooting Star brokeup in the air near Burlingame, Kansas, on its way from the Cleveland NationalAir Kaces to the West Coast It was one of about twenty aircraft, includinga flight of 17 U.S. Army V.80s, which flew into heavy storms in this area ontheir way home from the air races. Two of them crashed and at least ten otherswere forced down. • The civilian pilot of a Vultee aircraifewas killed, but the Shooting Star's pikrt baled out and landed safely.
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