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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0636.PDF
374 FLIGHT APRIL 24TH, 1947 The North Star landing at London Airport on Wednesday of last week. After three hours on the groun on normal schedule to fly back to Montreal. Travellers' Cheques for Air Travel : L.A.M.S. Start Air Tramp : Another Viking Tour AIR TRAVEL PLAN FOR the benefit of business travellers during the present diffi-cult period of currency limitations the I.A.T.A. TrafficCommittee has recommended a scheme for obtaining world-wide air passages on credit. The broad principle is similar to theBritish railway bulk travel voucher scheme and the bulk travel voucher scheme which was in operation before the war amongthe European airline members of I.A.T.A. This, however, earned a rebate of 20 per cent, but no such rebate is contem-plated at present for the new travel plan. The issue of vouchers would be limited, owing to the present exchange restrictions,to three classifications: (1) for issue in, and restricted to travel in, the sterling clearance zone; (2) for issue in the sterlingclearance zone and for travel in the dollar zone within a limit imposed by the exchange control of the sponsoring operator;(3) for issue in the dollar zone available for unrestricted use throughout the world. Vouchers would be issued on request by airline members ofI.A.T.A. to firms or individuals of sound financial standing. Operators would normally require a deposit, based perhaps onthe estimated travel for a reasonable period, say two months, with a minimum of about /125 to $500. Vouchers when filledin and signed would take the form of a request to any I.A.T.A. airline company for any air passages required. Stages ofjourneys provided against transport vouchers by airlines other than the issuing operators would be cleared through theI.A.T.A. Clearing House, so enabling the issuing operators to charge the deposit account and the stage carriers to obtaintheir portion. In order to make these facilities available on internal routes in America, an agreement will be necessary withthe Air Transport Association of the U.S.A., who already have such a scheme in operation. This arrangement would allowthe I.A.T.A. plan to be honoured by all members of the Ameri- can organization, and the A.T.A. travel plan to be honouredby members of the I.A.T.A. Clearing House. NORTH STARS IN SERVICE FOR three years Trans Canada Air Lines have been flyingconverted Lancasters, with accommodation for ten passen- gers, across the North Atlantic, but on April 16th the firstNorth Star landed at Heathrow to start a regular service four times a week with this new type. The company intend to runthe service at this frequency with five aircraft, but as more become available so the frequency will increase to one eachday in each'direction, and North Stars will gradually be intro- duced on routes across Canada, the Pacific, and to America. The aircraft which landed at London Airport last week was,in fact, a DC-4M Mark I, which is basically a Skymaster fitted with Merlin 620 engines and equipped internally to specialT.C.A. requirements. Six aircraft of this Mark will be put into service, but they will be replaced eventually by the MarkII, which is pressurized. All the Mark I aircraft will then go to the R.C.A.F. as military transports. The DC-4M Mark IIis the real outcome of the original ideas of Trans-Canada Air Lines for the best transport available at the present time usingBritish and American products. The fuselage centre is DC-6, but 80 in shorter. The empennage and fuselage rear are DC-4,and the remainder of the aircraft is a mixture of DC-4 an<' C-54G, with the exception of the landing gear and fuselage nosesection, which are DC-6. The power units are, of course, Rolls- Royce Merlin 620s. It is hoped that the first Mark II will flyon the transatlantic route some time in July. Some trouble was experienced with noise, but baffle plateshave now been fitted to deflect the exhaust on the inboard engines to prevent "drumming" on the fuselage. The oper-ating figures are of some interest. Maximum cruising speed at 12,oooft, using 2,650 r.p.m. and 9 lb/sq in boost, is 302m.p.h. The maximum cruising speed at 26,000 ft, using 2,850 r.p.m. and the same boost, is 326 m.p.h. The maximumrange at 10,000ft has been found to be on test 3,975 miles, and at 23,000ft 3,840 miles. The interior has been divided into two large compartmes4!%iaccommodating thirty-six passengers. The front cabin isTl equipped for normal seating with all passengers facing the sameway, but the rear compartment has been designed as a lounge, enabling passengers to sit at leisure. The galley, providingstorage room and cooking facilities, is amidships. There is a rest room for the crew immediately behind the flight deck andthe navigation and radio compartments. WORLD AIR TRAMP DR. GRAHAM HUMBY, the managing director of LondonAero and Motor Services, was due to leave Stansted yesterday on th<» first stage of a tramp around the world inone of the company's Haltons, Port of Sydney. The complete itinerary was arranged in advance and loads will be carried oneach stage of the flight. The route lies westward from Prestwick to Reykjavik andthen on to Gander. The plan then is to fly via Montreal to La Guardia, and across the continent to San Francisco. Aftercalling at several islands the tramp aircraft is due to call at Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Darwin, and then strikenorth to Singapore and Rangoon. Two calls are to be made
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