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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0012.PDF
FLIGHT JANUARY 2ND, 1947 THE OLD YEAR Aires, covering the 6,214 miles in the record time of 29 hr 5 min. On the same day the flying school at Cambridge went into action as the first such organization to resume post-war private instruction, and Cambrian Air Services were the first post-war charter concern to be "officially" opened for business. Also in January, Jim Mollison made the first post-war delivery flight to South America with a Percival Proctor. In February, " Panair" made the first post-war sche- duled transatlantic flight with a Constellation carrying 29 passengers and about a ton of freight. In April B.O.A.C. began its "York" service between Hum and Cairo, and in May reopened the flying-boat service to Singapore, from where Qantas took it to Sydney. In June there Was the first post-war Farnborough Dis play, and the first full-scale air pageant at Eastleigh, staged by the Southampton branch of the Air League. On July 1st, B.O.A.C. re- started the transatlantic service be- tween Heathrow and La Guardia with the Constellation, Bristol II, and in August Mr. Leslie L. Irvin (of para- chute fame) made the first post-war private-owner crossing of the Atlantic in a Beechcraft piloted by ex-Imperial Airways captain, A. B. H. Youell. During September 12th—15th there was the first post-war S.B.A.C. Show and R.Ae.S. Garden Party at Radlett' and on the 9th the Lincoln, Excalibur left Blackbushe on the Central Bomber Establishment's first overseas liaison mission, a five week tour o£ the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. At the end of September America held her first post-war National Air Races at Cleveland and mildly sur- prised the world by doing so without any fatalities, and in November there was the first post-war Paris Aero Show during which the Nene Lancastrian gained the distinction of being the world's first jet-powered airliner to carry passengers from one country to another. A number of other landmarks (or should one say airmarks ?) in Aviation History must also be given due recog- nition. For example, on January 12th the R.Ae.S. cele- brated its 80th birthday with a Guildhall dinner. Then there was the handing-over of Heathrow by the Air Ministry to the Ministry of Civil Aviation as a New Year Gift, and the subsequent christening of this tented ter- minal, " London Airport," by Lord Winster. But to the personnel of the R.A.F., the "New Year Gift" which no doubt surpassed all others was the introduction of the new increased rates of pay. A "gift" of the opposite kind ,-ame for the amateur pilot the following month when the Government announced its intention not to resume the subsidy of flying clubs. Also in the same month A. V/M. Bennett caused a brief stir by "disappearing" for a few anxious hours when he flew to Wolverhampton in a light aircraft and, because those who should have known where he had gone didn't, was officially reported as missing. Victory Parades June saw the great Victory Day fly-past over London in characteristic British summer weather, and in July, No. 35 Squadron took their ex-operational Lancasters to America for the highly popular goodwill tour which reached its climax in participation in the U.S.A.A.F.'s great fly-past at Los Angeles on "Air Force Day," Atagust 1st. There were some historic "lasts" during the year too, such as the handing-over by the U.S.A.A.F. of the last4 of its 112 British airfields (Honington) on February 26th, and the last flight of the Transport Command Mosquito Air Mail Service to European capitals in July after a year's service. Unfortunately the year was also marked by the loss of one of aviation's greatest pioneers in the death of Dr. F. W. Lanchester on March 8th at the age of 77, the loss of one of its most industrious and popular supporters in the death of Sir James Bird in August, and the loss of one of its best known test pilots in the death of Geoffrey de Havillarid in September. Some U.S. Feats Let it not be thought, by the way, that we regard the year's high-lights in American aviation as being limited to the one or two events so far mentioned. The Truculent^ Turtle's feat, for instance, shared the headlines aboivt t The list of the Lancaster Aries' global journeys has lengthened greatly since theRhodesia and Sudan flights early in 1946, the last recorded when this picture was taken. equally with that of the B-29, Pacusan Dreamboat, which early in October flew non-stop from Honolulu to Cairo via the North Pole, covering the 9,500 miles non-stop in 39 hr 36 min. Indeed it had been intended to pay due tribute to the gallant American crew by giving them a fighter escort over British soil, but apparently the arrangements to notify Fighter Command of her approach went awry. America had previously set up a long-distance record when, in February, a B-29 flew non-stop from Guam to Washington D.C. (8,10.8 miles), while one might also meii-J tion such historic moments as the first non-stop flight from Honolulu to the Philippines (5,525 miles) by a B-2Q in May, and the maiden flight of the gargantuan B-36 which first raised her 125 tons aloft early in August. But to end on a lighter note, one might recall that when in February a Shooting Star flew from coast to coast in America at 584 m.p.h. it was later disclosed by a Cali- fornian correspondent to Flight that the U.S. authorities had omitted to mention the little matter of freak tail- winds up to 160 m.p.h. ; or that in July, Philip Stanbury casually took a Meteor up to 46,500 ft and thought nothing of it; or even that April 1st was the date chosen on which to merge the M.A.P. into the M. of S.! Yes, one way and another, 1946 was quite a no-table year.
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