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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0683.PDF
MAY IST, 1947 FLIGHT 390 CIVIL AVIATION NEWS British European Airways' Viking Venlnor at Geneva Airport. The new regular service will be introduced on May 19th. Colonial Conference Recommendations : ARB Issue Icing Warning ; Charter Association Traffic Office AIRCRAFT FOR BRITISH AIRLINESA N opportunity for discussing future plans for the develop-ment of British civil aircraft was welcomed by members of both sides of the House of Commons last Thursday. MajorMcCullum suggested that few people in the country really appreciated the importance of the aircraft industry to ourexistence, and urged that there should be greater priority for raw material and a simplification of the system for orderingaircraft to be used by the Corporations. He felt that there was a lack of co-operation between the manufacturers andthe British airlines. Major McCullum asked what was being done about small aircraft such as would be suitable for use different items, in addition to half a million rivets, nuts andbolts. 15,000 special tools had to be designed and made for that type alone. Each aircraft, he said, contained 4^ milesof electrical cable. He stated quite definitely that there was no intention of cancelling the orders for the Tudors. Theten Jupiters were being used as stop-gap types on some internal services and they had been given preference to Doves, notonly on account of their greater load-carrying capacity but also because the manufacturers had a very big order for export,and it was considered, for currency reasons, a good thing to execute those orders and use Jupiters in the meantime.Firms were getting every encouragement, he said, in the manufacture of .helicopters and developments so far were pro-in Scotland and what was being done to develop a British mising. He understood that the first helicopter wouldhelicopter. He was sure, he said, that the helicopter would be, Hvini' within a fom Hi,™ Tr, v,ie ^^;«; ^ • "/""•' in another twenty or forty years, the taxi-cab of the air inthis country. He asked also whether anything was being done to use for internal services the Prestwick Pioneer, thevery type of machine which should be used in remote parts of the country where proper landing grounds were not available.As the debate developed it became apparent that members were concerned mostly about the manufacture of suitableaircraft for British internal services, and Mr. Dodds-Parker asked which types of aircraft were being produced for feederservices, particularly in the Dominions and the Empire. Mr. George Ward suggested that we should develop our airlinesto such an extent that very much greater numbers of aircraft would be needed for them and impress upon the aircraft indus-';•' try that the development of civil types should have first priority in peacetime. We should, he said, give the manu-•*§(fetettjrers an assurance that by concentrating on civil types they would not be liable to suffer by losing contracts formilitary aircraft when such orders had to be placed. He was convinced that if that was done the high quality of military•:• aircraft would not be prejudiced. There was a general complaint that there were too manypeople working through too many departments, to get deci- :: sions quickly, and it was that which was holding up the pro- ":• duction of aircraft. There was at present divided responsi-'bility. Air Cdre. Harvey considered, between the Minister of Civil Aviation and the Minister of Supply. In the course offurther debate it was emphasized that construction should be based on user need, and we should avoid building too manydifferent types of aircraft. The Minister of Supply, in replying, gave an assurance thatthe Government had no intention of cutting down research into aeronautical development. He said that we were suffer-ing, from an acute shortage of technicians and it was inevitable that a new type would go through many vicissitudes before itcould be regarded as proved and satisfactory. Referring to the Tudor I, he illustrated the complexityof the problem of design. There had been 15,000 different drawings made for it and the airframe consisted of over 60,000 r- _.... beflying within a few days. In his opinion it was wiser to spend money on keeping British types of aircraft flying until we gotour new ones than to spend further money on American-air- craft. He supported the present system of ordering aircraft,but mentioned that the two Ministries were considering whether arrangements could be made to aliow the Corpora-tions a greatei share in the business of buying the aircraft which they were going to use, without straying from thepresent system whereby the Ministry were able to ensure that we were getting the best out of a common scale of aeronauticaldevelopment. The performance of the North Star had been watched, hesaid, but the serious disadvantage was that it was not at the moment pressurized and it would therefore not be asuitable alternative to the . Stratocruiser. The (.nvei mnent had carefully examined the proposal in install Centauruaengines into Constellations, but they had decided not to pro- ceed furthei. We would, Mr. Wilmot KUM, operate the mainEmpire routes for the next few years with the British interim types such as Tudors, Hermes IV and Solent flying-boats ratherthan have inflicted upon British aviation the blow to its prestige and development which would result from a furtherpurchase of American aircraft. AIRFIELD EMERGENCY EXITS T^HERE has been a suggestion that each civil airfield should•i- incorporate in the boundary fencing a number of weak spots, suitably marked, through which crash tenders and otherrescue vehicles could drive in the event of a crash outside the airfield boundary. The idea appears to be good, as it wouldpermit direct approaches to be made along tracks which were known to be sound. The weak spots would have 10 bo suit-ably constructed to prevent trespassing by persons or animals which might be a danger to aircraft. This should be quitepossible, particularly if crash vehicles are fitted with a suit- able protection in the front to take the impact of the break-through. It would also be necessary 1o build solid approaches to the weak spots to prevent bogging and wheel slip in wet
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