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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 1803.PDF
OCTOBER I6TH, 1947 FLIGHT 449- ON SOUTHAMPTON WATER—A B.O.A.C. Plymouth Class flying boat' This Class fly twice a week between the U.K. and Hong Kong •and maintain a twice-weekly shuttle service between Hong Kong and Singapore, one of which lands at Bangkok Tudor IV Returns from Successful Tour : Full GEE Coverage for U.K. : Vickers Viking Freighter I.A.T.A. GENERAL MEETING PRESENTING his report at the opening of the International-C Air Transport Association's third annual general meet- ing on October 14th at Rio de Janeiro, Sir William P. Hildred,Director General of the Association, addressed executives of 65 airlines, assembled from 40 countries. There had been,he said, a 30 per cent increase in the overall operating efficiency of airlines and a rate policy had been adopted that had passed -on savings to the public, and which had enabled international airlines to maintain fares at a pre-crisis level, despite inflation-ary rises in costs during the past year. We were witnessing, said the Director General, a race between the increasingefficiency of aviation on the one hand and the general rise in costs on the other. "The whole idea behind this organization of internationalair operators—its philosophy, its obligations and its machinery' —made us reluctant to raise our prices in terms of money,"he added. "I do not know which of the two trends will win the race, but I do know that the race will be. so close in thenext few months that there will be a very small margin of profit, if any, for the international airlines." Using the NorthAtlantic route as an example, he pointed out that while whole- sale prices in all countries concerned had risen 30 per cent inthe last two years, airline fares had been reduced by IJ per cent—"a reduction of something like 40 per cent in the abso-lute cost of an Atlantic trip." The first morning's session was opened with an officialgreeting from the Brazilian Government, after which Dr.. J. Bento Ribeiro Dantas, president of Servico Aereas Cruzeiro doSul, Brazil, took office as president of the I.A.T.A., succeed- ing Dr. Hafez Ann Pasha, president of Misr Airlines, Egypt.Summing up the growth and improvement of international air services during the past year, Sir William reported thefollowing: — "The international air route network has been expanded from 300,000 to 500,000 miles" Cargo transport has developed phenomenally. On some route> -« already accounts for almost as much payload as passengers, anda number of lines are now regularly operating all-cargo schedules. "We are now an industry of world-wide scope, operating 2,000ftticrah, employing nearly a half-million people, turning over a Billion dollars a year and spreading business and ideas in manycountries at thousands of airports." He predicted equally large expansion of air mail and air cargovolume. " Mv pictures of the future public demand for air transport will be realized only il the price is.right," he warned. "The numberoi people who can afford to be interested in an expensive and luxurious form of transportation is limited and will continue to belimited. But the number of people interested in the principal ad- vantage that air transport can offer, time saved, is immense."Sir William warned the airlines that during the last two years there had been many passengers who chose to travel by air becausethere were no available alternatives SUCCESS OF THE TUDOR IV A.V-M. D. C. T. BENNETT on his return from the Tudor IVgoodwill flight expressed his satisfaction with the aircraft, by comparing it with the Constellation on their suitabilityfor his particular route. The Tudor was, he said, 10 per cent better from the point of view of comfort, silence, payload andcost of operation, and it was equal in speed. The new tailpipe on the exhaust had silenced the engines so effectively that theTudor IV was the most silent passenger aircraft he, had ever experienced. As an indication of the silence we understandthat the cinema in the cabin will be a talkie. On the South Atlantic route the payload would be equal to that of the Con-stellation Mark I, the range would be better, and the estimated fuel costs of £26 per hour were slightly better than the Con-stellation Mark I at ^26.4 and much better than the Gold Plate Constellation at ^29-39. These figures were calculated at anestimated payload of 12,000 lb. Above all this the capital cost of the Tudor IV was slightly more than half that of the.Constellation. A.V-M. Bennett estimates that given an aver- age payload of 60 per cent, B.S.A.A. will operate the routeat a profit with the Tudoi IV canying 32 passengers and six: crew. Passenger accommodation would naturally be reduce).1,if freight and mail commitments increased. He further state*!. that comparing the Constellation and the Tudor on equal term?,with no financial or national considerations, he.still preferred the Tudor IV foi operating B.S.A.A. services. The actual goodwill flight was made at an average height i.l22,000ft and pressurization worked perfectly. Speaking of difficulties previously experienced, he pointed out that theaircraft now showed tail buffeting at about six to eight knots above the stall. The swing was less than on the Lancastrianand slightly more than on the York, and when operating from Jamaica in temperatures of 35 deg C at its take-off weight of80,000 lb, the distance to unstick was r.ioo yd. The Tudor IVs will start scheduled operation on October 30th on the routefrom U.K. through the Azores and Bermuda to Mexico, and
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