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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 2055.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER Editorial Directn G. GEOFFREY SMITH, MB.E. Editor - -CM. POULSEN Assistant Editor - MAURICE A. SMITH, D.F.C *> (WING CDR., R.A.F.V.R.) Art Editor • JOHN YOXALL FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD •• FOUNDED Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 Telegrams : Flightpre*, Sedist, London. Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (60 lines.) 8- 10, COVENTRY : CORPORATION ST. BIRMINGHAM, 2: KING EDWARD HOUSE, NEW STREET. Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Te,egroms . Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Coventry 5210. Telephone : Midland 7191 (7 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 : 2 6 0, DEAN SG AT E. Telegrams : Iliffe, Manchester. Telephone : Blackfriars 4412. GLASGOW. C2: 26B, RENFIELD ST. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glatgow. Telephone : Central 4857 SU3SCRIPr(O.M RATES : Home and Abroad : Year, £3 I 0. Registered at the C.P.O. as a Newspaper 6 months, £1 10 6. No. 2031. Vol. LH November 27th, 1947 me Outlook Thursdays, One Shilling International Air Transport WHEN it was decided that civil aviation was ofsufficient importance in the affairs of the nationto merit the establishment of a separate Ministry, the post of Director-General became redundant and the holder of it, Sir William Hildred subsequently became Director-General of the International Air Traffic Association. This country's loss has proved the world's gain, for in his new capacity Sir William has a much wider field, and he has already become an inter- national figure of high standing. In his annual report to the third general meeting of I.A.T.A. at Rio recently, where a vast amount of work was done, and at which very good agreement was achieved on many important aspects, Sir William pleaded for the airlines to take the public more into their confidence. It was not, therefore, surprising that when he addressed, on November 20th, the National Aviation Clinic at Springfield, Illinois, U.S.A., he should draw a realistic picture of the present position & international air transport. Sir Williate stated quite'frankly that no form of trans- port has been so over-sold as international air transport, but he thought that vvrJeji the drive was first promoted it served a good and useful pilose. Public interest has now been channelled into the topic of air safety, and Sir William delivered one of his epigrams by saying that "There is no single safety problem. Running,an airline is a matter of fanatical attention to a multitude of small details." The truth of that is obvious to operators, but not generally appreciated. Impatience with the slow progress that is, apparently, being made is very natural, but criticisms often fail to take into account the vast number of interests concerned. For example, in connection with airports the inter- national air transport network is based upon something like 200 Government jurisdictions, either national, man- dated, insular or colonial. In the case of landing aids, Sir William pointed out that the choice was extremely important since so much money would be involved that it would determine the course of development for years to come. And it had to be universal, as aircraft could not possibly carry a separate set of electronic devices for every country. When commenting on the I.L.S. and G.C.A. systems, Sir William made the interesting statement that airlines have, a general preference for the former as a primary aid and the latter as a supplementary one. G.C.A. (Ground-Controlled Approach) is a talk-down system. That is adequate within any one country, but as Sir William said, "We must think of the Venezuelan pilot landing in China. If we are to depend upon anything, therefore, it must be upon instruments which have no language barrier and which are not dependent upon the spoken word." In that statement there may be a pointer to future development. The view is shared by a. con- tributor in this issue, who also fears the language diffi- culty. We rather feel that this fear is exaggerated. The difficulty does exist, but the vocabulary needed is not extensive and should not be beyond the capacity of air- crews to learn in several languages. Realism EITHER the American nor the British aviation industry is yet in a position to lay down a basic design for a commercial plane to utilize jet power and say, ' This is it—now put it to work on the air- line*'"" This very realistic view is expressed by Mr. W. E. Beall, vice-president for engineering of the Boeing Aircraft Company, in the Boeing Magazine. The article in question gives several reasons why regular commercial travel in jet-powered air transports is not likely to materialize for ten years or so. There are many aerodynamic and structural airframe problems to be solved, and the jet engine itself suffers, again to quote Mr. Beall, from lack of reliability, brevity of service
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