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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0013.PDF
JANUARY 2ND, 1947 FLIGHT THE RETURN OF CIVIL FLYING TF the operators, clubs and private owners had been•*- ready, and if machines had been available, the first day of 1946 might have produced a skyful of aircraft. Forit was on this day that, for the first time for six years, the air was again given its freedom over the British Isles.But with the freedom came also restrictions in the form of a spate of Notices to Airmen, telling the apparently un-controlled pilot exactly what he might not do. However, one or two clubs, and at least one charter company, wereready to get moving at the firing of the starter's pistol, though the former wer^working without a subsidy and the latter without suiOn this same ] 1o be designated i TV Early in October, BaronNathan of Churt was appointed Minister ofCivil Aviation. gjrcraft. Day Heathrow airfield—lateron Airport—was officially opened by the Minister of Civil Aviation.Since but one runway was avail- able, and buildings were largelynon-existent, the ceremony was somewhat premature, and forall the normal services Hum, near Bournemouth, continuedto be the terminal. However, the ceremony drew attention tothe fact that London had an air- field which would eventually beone of the largest in the world. As a preliminary to the intro-duction of the Civil Aviation Act, the first month of the yearsaw the publication of a White Paper explaining the generalprinciples of the proposed nationalization of air transport.In this nationalization there were to be three " chosen in-struments" to deal with all scheduled airline operations,while selected airfields were also to be taken over as State- operated concerns. Later in the month the constitution ofthese three '' instruments '' was explained—British Euro- pean Airways Corporation was to deal with European andinternal services; British South American Airways Corporation was to run the serviceswhich its name suggested ; and the original British Overseas Airways Corporation, with areconstituted board, was to deal with Atlan- tic and Empire services. Until the passing ofthe Civil Aviation Act the new Corporation, B.E.A., operated as a Division of B.O.A.C.,and were given the use of the R.A.F. Station at Northolt as a terminal. Empire Services Shortly afterwards, B.O.A.C. outlined itsplans for the future with six major services— to India, Australia, South Africa, WestAfrica, China and the North American Conti- nent—while the European Division also out-lined its prospects for the immediate and more distant future. Considerable changeswere also being planned by the Ministry of ivil Aviation in the matter of flying licences,with the pilots' categories increased from two to four in number ; these changes have notyet been put into effect. While the appropriately but complicatedly named Pro-visional International Civil Aviation Organization was con- tinuing its deliberations, in the eventual hope of worldstandardization of airline and airfield requirements, a bi- lateral agreement was reached at Bermuda between theBritish and United States Governments concerning the mutual operation.of services. This agreement providedthe greatest contribution to the future progress of Anglo- American civil aviation relations, and was all the morepromising since both sides gave way in order that com- fortable agreement should be possible. Meanwhile, agree- ment had been reached, too, over the operation of thetrans-Pacific services, and British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines was provisionally formed as a combination ofBritish, Australian and New Zealand interests. While the chairman of B.O.A.C. and the Ministerof Civil Aviation had both, at different times, impressed the public with the idea that, in future, Hying was to be^»offered to the many, rather than the few, the fa<& f^^ announced during February that no subsidyavailable for the clubs. A hunr were, however, offered—manyin a somewhat poor state of re- pair—and a surprisingly largenumber of pre-war dubs elected to re-start or to continue oper-ations on an unassisted basis. The flying rates, though high,were progressively reduced dur- ing the year, but it would seemthat without direct or indirect assistance the picture for thefuture is not very clear. At the same time the Association ofBritish- Aero Clubs was re- formed and renamed. Mr. G. S. Lindgren, whosucceeded Mr. Ivor Thomas as ParliamentarySecretary to the Ministry of C vil Aviation. Sir Henry Self, who filledthe new post of Perman- ent Secretary to the Min-istry of Civil Aviation. Atlantic Conference March saw the first of a seriesof bilateral agreements between the British and various foreignGovernments—in this case with the French. The P.I.C.A.O.also started and completed a series of conferences in Dublin, covering the problems ofAtlantic airline operation. On the debit side of the ac- count, however, B.O.A.C. announced the discontinuationof their own Atlantic service, since the Boeing boats used could no longer be kept serviceable. This discontinuationwas to hold good until the five Constellations, ordered during January, could come into service.""Tie text of the Civil Aviation Bill was published in April. In short, this Bill ordained that "itshall not be lawful for any person other than the three Corporations, their associates andservants ... to carry passengers or goods . . . upon any scheduled journey ..." The re-maining freedom was, however, being very vigorously exploited by a rapidly increasingnumber of charter op^ators. A month or so later the majority of these companies com-bined to form an Association which has since been very useful fn the work of generally look-ing after the charter operator's interests. In the course of long-range planning the Ministryof Civil Aviation announced future extensions and developments for Heathrow, and, on thepersonnel side, the institution of the post of Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of CivilAviation in place of the previous Director- Generalship. During June, B.O.A.C., who had then ob-tained delivery of their Constellations, started a series of Atlantic proving flights with theseaircraft. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the following month, after an accident in theUnited States, these were temporarily grounded pending modifications. In July, the Civil Aviation Bill was passedby the Commons, and after a little trouble over one or two points, including a suggested fourth Corporation forScotland, was duly passed by both Houses. During September P.I.C.A.O. delegates visited thiscountry to make a detailed study of the various radio and radar developments, with the eventual idea of reaching adecision on standard radio navigational methods to be used on the world's airlines. P.I.C.A.O. also reached a decisionin the matter of ocean weather stations and their approxi-
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