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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 1136.PDF
44 FLIGHT JULY IOTH, Civil Aviation News tal lias been jointly subscribed by the two parties, and a registered office and headquarters has already been estab- lished in Gibraltar. The first service will be from Gibraltar to Tangier, but the date for commencing operations has not yet been disclosed. Details of the type of aircraft or the other routes to be covered have also to be released, and B.E.A. hope to make a further announcement shortly TRANSATLANTIC FARES '"THE existing rate of 9j cents per mile for the transatlantic-*- crossing is to remain during this year. The l.A.T.A. North Atlantic Traffic Conference has recommended that therates shall be maintained until the end of February, 1948, and there will be a meeting on November 17th to discuss ratesfor the rest of 1948. A special committee will be appointed to analyse the full year's operations which, with other factors,should permit more reliable forecasts of costs and rates. The Conference suggested also the abolition of the freightclassification "air freight" and "air express" and the estab- lishment of a single classification "air cargo." Air express isthe term used to describe air freight flown on a specified ser- vice and charged at double rates; in other words, the reserva-tion of freight space on a specified service. There is no suggestion of a change in the existing rate, which averages8/ioth of 1 per cent of the passenger fare, but operators are of the opinion that the change will eliminate the confusion tothe public which undoubtedly exists at present. A 25 per cent discount of shipments over loolb was suggested in order toencourage carriage of cargo by air. The method of calculating freight rates is to divide the passenger fare for the route by100 kilos, that being the accepted average passenger weight, and the freight charge is .8/ ioth of 1 per cent of that figure. The restoration cf pre-war arrangements for the interchangeof air/sea traffic is to be discussed, under which it would be possible for passengers to fly the Atlantic, and have heavybaggage shipped by sea. In order to encourage tourist travel a recommendation was made for an allowance of an extra 2Jper cent commission for travel agents arranging special all- inclusive toflrs in conjunction with air lines. ATLANTIC ANNIVERSARY LAST Sunday, July Oth, was the tenth anniversary of thefirst crossing of the Atlantic by commercial aircraft. Cross-ings were then made in both directions on an experimental basis by Imperial Airways and Pan American Airways. TheBritish company flew in the east-west direction with the Short "C" class flying-boat Caledonia, flown by Captain A. S.Wilcockson, and Pan American flew from west to east with a Sikorsky flying-boat, Clipper III, flown by Captain Harold G.Gray. Captain Wilcockson was later awarded an O.B.E. for his pioneer work on the Atlantic route. He is now the Operations Capt. A. S. Wilcockson Capt. H. G. Gray COMPARISON: The extended fuselage of the B.S.A.A. Tudor IV "Star Lion " can be compared, in this photograph, with the normal length fuselage of the Tudor I in the background. B.S.A.A. have not yet taken delivery of a Tudor IV and it would stem that time was running short if operations with the type are to start this summer as predicted by A. V. M. Bennett. Controller for the BritishOverseas Airways Cor- poration in London, andCaptain Gray is the assis- tant manager in theAtlantic Division of Pan American Airways inNew York. The route on the occa-sion of this first flight was direct betweenFoynes and Botwood, Newfoundland, and thetime taken in the wes- terly direction was 15 hours 10 minutes by Caledonia, and16 hours 36 minutes by Clipper 111; and in the easterly direc- tion Caledonia took 12 hours 35 minutes and the Americanaircraft took 12 hours 36 minutes. It is rather interesting to note in Captain Wilcockson's descrip-tion of the flight that weather conditions turned out to be T worse than the forecast, which included a warning of badweather for the first 500 miles. The bad weather extended for 1,500 miles, all of which had to be flown at a few hundredfeet above sea-level. B>EA. CHARTERS A FREIGHTER THE Bristol Freighter G-AHJF, which recently returnedfrom a 20,000 mile demonstration tour of Spain and oil-fields in the Middle East, was recently chartered by B.E.A. to transport a complete replacement power plant from the U.K.to Frankfurt. The aircraft was taken out of its regular service with the company Air Transport of Paris by whom it hasrecently been chartered, flying more than 100 hours in three weeks. The power plant and 400 kilos of other freight werecarried and delivered within three hours at Frankfurt. A.L.P.A. SEEKS DESIGN CHANGES TMPROVEMENTS in the design of Dakotas and other air- i- craft used on commercial air lines have been asked for by the American Air Line Pilots Association. The findings of investigations by the Civil Aeronautics Board into recent fatal crashes in which the pilots have been blamed, have been challenged. The Association has recommended that flexible cell fuel tanks should be used to avert fires in the air and after crashing, since it is considered that fires usually result from faulty or damaged wing tanks and the flexing of wings in flight with consequent loosening of rivets causing cracks, and the opening of seams. Easier access to areas in which fires are apt to start is asked for with fireproofing of the interiors to prevent fire from spreading, and the use of good basic designs for electrical systems is recommended. It is thought that the cockpit lighting should be improved, windscreens redesigned to give better visibility and better emergency exits provided. The use of dual automatic direction finders with double needles in each instrument and the installation of a reliable radio altimeter is considered necessary. Mr. David Behncke, president of the Association, in supporting the claims, said that the pilots automatically assumed ultimate responsibility for all the mistakes which were made by practically everyone else in connection with a flight, such as care- . -"• • 'ess loading, mechanical mal-functioning, inaccurate weather reports, unreliable instruments and the failure of ground navigational aids. It is understood that the Association has submitted all the recommendations to Congress; and many of them to theC.A.B. and manufactures. MANX CHARTER COMPANY A IR Charters Experts, Ltd., was•**• formed last May with the idea of starting an Isle of Man air chartercompany to fly private air charters, an ambulance service and pleasure flightsfrom the Island. The company has three Rapides and is hoping to take de-livery of a fourth in the near future. With headquarters at Ronaldsway Air-port, Air Charters Experts are in a posi- tion to help other charter companies fly-ing to the Island in the handling of pas- sengers and freight. Captain G. H.Drummond, principal of the House of Keys, is chairman of the directors, andMr. L. Vondy and Mr. W. M. Finch are
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