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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0931.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER Editorial Director G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. Editor . -CM. POULSEN Assistant Editor - MAURICE A. SMITH! D.F.C. (W/NC COR.. R.A.f.V.R.) Art Editor - - JOHN YOXALL FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD •• FOUNDED IQO9 Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I Telegrams : Flightpres, Sedist, London. COVENTRY: BIRMINGHAM,!: 8-10. CORPORATION ST. KING, EDWARD HOUSE, Telephone : Waterloo 33JJ (50 lines.) MANCHESTER 3 -NG NEW STREET Teegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Ulegrcms : Autopress, Birmingham" Tekram* : Iliffe. rWhester. telephone : Coventry 5210. Telephone : Midland 7191 <7 lines). Telephone ; Biackfriars 4412. GLASGOW. C.2: 26B, RENFIELD ST. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone : Central 4857 No. 2007. Vol. LI. SUBSCRIPTION RATES : Home and Abroad ; Year. £3 I 0 Registered oc the G.P.O. as a Newspaper June 12th, 1947 6 months, £1 10 6. Thursdays, One Shilling. The Outlook Progress ' - ^ AT a time when we have once more had a spate ofaircraft accidents, of which not only the daily papersk (that was to Jae expected) but even the B.B.C. made the most by failing to distinguish between civil and Service crashes, it is useful to look at the other side of the picture which has been created in most people's minds by the unwarranted prominence given to every flying accident, be it serious or trivial. To get things into their true perspective, it is worth recalling that it was in 1919 that Sir John Alcock and Sir Arthur Whitten Brown made their historic flight from Newfoundland to Ireland, the first time the New World and the Old were linked by air. The much more difficult feat of making the east-to- west crossing was not accomplished until April, 1928, when an Irishman, Col. James Fitzmaurice, and two Germans, Baron von Htinefeld and Capt. Hermann Kohl, flew a German monoplane to Greenly Island in Labrador. Just over twenty years ago, in May, 1927, the first direct flight between the North American mainland and Europe was mad: when Charles Lindbergh flew his Ryan monoplane from New York to Paris. A high price was paid for the '' conquering'' of the Atlantic. For every successful attempt there have been several unsuccessful, a great many resulting in the loss of life. During the years preceding the second world war, experimental flights on a much larger scale, organized by governmentsor, at any rate, with government back- ing, laid the foundations for regular passenger-carrying flights across the Atlantic. Then came the war, with its interruption of civil flying but also with an inten- sification of trans-Atlantic flying by Service aircraft, the losses incurred during which were relatively small in comparison wr"i the number of flights made*. It was not until last year that proper working of the trans-Atlantic air routes really got fully established, and even then there were occurrences which prevented full effectiveness of the services—such as the grounding of the Constellations, for instance, which robbed B.O.A.C. of a good deal of operational time. During 1946 some really impressive- air traffic results were achieved. No fewer than 3,670 crossings were made by the different operating companies, and the total number of passengers carried exceeded 100,000. As was to be expected, America carried the greater proportion of this traffic. Our French contemporary Les Ailes points with justifiable pride to the fact that, in spite of its very severe handicaps, Air France made 173 trans-Atlantic flights and carried 5,214 passengers. Although that was a fairly low figure among the operat- ing companies, it was highly creditable in view of all that France suffered during the war. According to our contemporary, the American com- panies made between them 2,898 flights ; B.O.A.C, 194 ; K.L.M., 189; and the Scandinavian, 113. Figures such as these, especially when contemplated against the back- ground of the pioneer flights which laid the foundations for trans-Atlantic air transport, provide encouraging proof of the progress that has been made. There is certainly no room for complacency, and we shall have to do very much better in the future, but at least these achievements should serve to show that fly- ing, at any rate trans-Atlantic flying, is not as dangerous as the distorted picture served up to the general public is calculated to suggest. Headaches AheadT HE decision of the Australian Government to make Qantas Empire Airways an Australian State- owned concern by buying up B.O.A.C.'s share is likely to raise a number of thorny problems. Discus- sions have begun between Mr. Hudson Fysh, B.O.A.C. and the British Government, who will be joined by Mr. Drakeford, the Australian Air Minister, as soon as he B 1
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