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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0215.PDF
FEBRUARY 6XH, 1947 FLIGHT 149 CIVIL AVIATION NEWS be the prime function of civil aviation. He urged also moreair travel for the man-in-the-street. This would be possible only when air travel ceased to be an adventure and became a routine,and when the cost came within the reach of all. For both of these functions the Minister stressed the need for safety. Weshall find it simpler, he said, to arrive at correct solutions if we bear in mind how aviation will fit in with the generaleconomy and social welfare of the community. We must approach the problems with the idea of iinding a solution whichwill best enable us to develop it not only as an economically but as a socially valuable means of transport. A good slogan,he thought, would be: " Your air services are as good as.your airports and your air traffic control." /• Safety Factor £,/ Referring again to safety, Lord Nathan said that at presentwe were flying ten million passenger miles per fatal accident. It was his aim not merely to double that but to reach infinity.If we were to,achieve the greatest possible measure of safety, there were problems other than the more obvious ones con-nected with bad weather. He referred especially to the ten- dency towards steadily increasing take-off and landing speeds.This, he said, could not continue indefinitely, and designers and research engineers would have to find a method of callinga halt to it. It may be that to achieve this it would be neces- sary to accept some slowing down in the progress towardshigher cruising speeds, but we must not make mere speed into a fetish. During the subsequent short discussion Sir FrederickHandley Page drew attention to the position of the designers, who were merely fulfilling the requirements of the operators forfast-flying aircraft. It was, he considered, necessary for the operators to change their policy. It is interesting here,perhaps, to record the words of Mr. A. Plesman, President of Royal Dutch Airlines, made in a recent speech, that " super-sonic speeds offered no great prospects for civil aviation." Lord Nathan rightly said that too much of our land and toomuch of our money was already swallowed up in concrete runways, and we cannot give designers much more latitudein the way of runway dimensions. To enable the lessons of day-to-day operation to be applied tonew equipment and to new methods of operation, operational research is obviously of vital importance. Lord Nathan issetting up in the Ministry an operational research organization to work in close co-operation with the Corporations and otheroperators. The committee has already been set up with a very distinguished membership. The future training of aircrew presents a particular problem.At the present moment, as Lord Nathan said, there is no lack of recruits from theR.A.F., but this source can be relied upon for only a little longer. And yet;there is no other way at the moment by which a young man without considerableprivate means can obtain the basic train- ing he needs. This is a serious problemfor consideration by the Council. Un- doubtedly the members of the Council,qualified as they are in their own particu- lar spheres? are in a position to give theMinister great assistance. All problems will be considered frankly and fully, andeach member will be able to give an opinion whether or not the problem con-cerns his own special branch. Sir Henry Self gave members of theCouncil some idea of the workings of the Ministry, which has expanded fourfoldsince its inception in 1946. Mr. Lind- gren, the deputy chairman of the Coun-cil, drew comparisons and parallels between the operations of railways andairlines. The next meeting of the Council hasbeen fixed for March 31st, which is a long time to wait in view of the urgentproblems which must be confronting the Ministry at the present time. At thisfirst meeting, which was purely intro- ductory, scarcely any business was dis-cussed, and it would seem a pity that two months are to pass before any effec-tive consultation can take place. FLYING-BOAT BASE u^M R. LINDGREN has disclosed that the Government haveexamined the recommendations made by the Pakenham Committee for a marine base. The Committee recommendedLangstone Harbour and Cliffe as possible sites for a major ttying-boat base, their first preference being for the former.Langstone Harbour is, of course, the stretch of water to the east of Portsmouth, having adjacent waste land which couldbe developed for a landplane terminal. Cliffe is situated on the south bank of the Thames Estuary, east of Gravesend andnorth of Chatham. * The Government have now considered all the relevant cir-cumstances and have come to the conclusion that the balance of national advantage lies against any further considerationbeing given to the Langstone Harbour scheme. It is under- stood that the Government have taken into consideration notonly the point of view of civil aviation but also that of local interests. Mention is made, however, of overriding difficultiesthat would arise from the proximity of Langstone Harbour to Portsmouth as a main naval base. In view of this, theMinister of Civil Aviation has directed that a detailed examina- tion should proceed ot the Cliffe site from an operational andengineering standpoint, in order to determine the physical and financial implications of its possible development. AIR SAFETY BOARD APPOINTMENT* 'T HE Ministry of Civil Aviation have appointed as the fourthmembei of the Air Safety Board Professor A. A. Hall, M.A., Zaharoff Professor of Aviation and head of the Depart-ment of Aeronautics, Imperial College of Science and Techno- logy. The professor was at the Royal Aircraft Establish-ment, Farnborough, from 1937 to IQ45. The three members who were appointed when the Board was created in Novemberare Lord Brahazon of Tara, Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Bowhill, and A.V-M. Sir Conrad Collier. ANOTHER "FREIGHTER" CAPT. K. J. G BARTLETT, sales director of the BristolAeroplane Company, flew across the South Atlantic once again last week to negotiate further sales of the BristolFreighter with the Argentine Government. It will be remem- bered that a contract for fifteen Freighters was signed lastsummer with the Argentine Purchasing Commission to the United Kingdom. Capt. Bartlett also intends to complete the arrangementsfor establishing Bristol engine maintenance and repair depots in the Argentine and Brazil. This organization will be neces-sary in view of the considerable number of Freighters and Wayfarers which will be operating in South America verysoon. The Shell Oil Company in Ecuador have ordered Freighters for the transportation of heavy machinery to the THAMES AIRPORT ? Model of an airport suggested by Mr. F. G. Miles and evolvedby Mr. Guy Morgan more than three years ago. The layout is based upon the site at Cliffe, the recommended alternative to Langstone Harbour for development as a marine base.
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