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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 0025.PDF
JANUARY IST, 1948 FLIGHT CORRESPONDENCE The Editor does not hold himself responsible for the views expressed by correspondents. [hi names and addresses of the writers. not necessarily for publication, must in all cases accompany letters. WOMEN PILOTS A.T.A. Records Show Equal Efficiency WE are not concerned to argue the relative merits of menand women as pilots, but certain statements in the letters of your correspondents L. Heather and F. S. Symondsoncannot, in fairness to the women A.T.A. pilots, be allowed to remain unchallenged.Over a period of several years we had to examine daily, weekly, monthly and yearly the results achieved by each ofthe A.T.A. pilot's pools. The statistics which we had to analyse included the number of aircraft ferried, types of air-craft, hours flown, accident rate, illness rate, etc., etc., and these returns we can state categorically that the two-poolsied solely of women pilots were in every respect as ^ as theii male counterparts from whatever angle one chose to consider the results. Furthermore, every A.T.A. pilot had a personal flying recordcard which contained the fullest details of his or her flying activities includiug numbers and types of aircraft ferried, hoursflown, progress through the flying schools and accidents, the latter with a report from the A.T.A. Accidents Committee asto the cause of, and responsibility for, the accident in question. From close analyses of these cards it was abundantly clearthat the efficiency or otherwise of a pilot had nothing to do with his or her sex. The women were in every respect as goodas-the men. Various remarks have been made in the correspondencereferred to endeavouring to compare the performance in A.T.A. of R.A.F. pilots and women pilots on A.T.A. ferry work. Thefact is that quite specialized training was needed to produce a competent ferry pilot, irrespective of sex, and that this train-ing was needed just as much by trained R.A.F. pilots as by anyone else before they could be converted into efficient andsafe ferry pilots. After such training there was no difference between pilots of either sex.GERARD d'ERLANGER. P. A. WILLS, B. L. BATHURST. FLYING BOATS Capt. Brice v. Capt. Courtney T ET it be agreed that on a number of occasions a flying boat-L' can effect an alighting on the sea. Let it be also agreed that in this respect it has an advantage over the landplane.Considering, however, that at least a third, and sometimes a half of the major air routes are over land, this advantage losesa great deal of its significance. On the North Atlantic the route is mostly over water, but since, as I have already pointedout, everywhere north of New York ices up in the winter, the Atlantic is not a good flying-boat route. The sector Shannon-New York, of about 2,700 nautical miles, has great commercial as well as technical drawbacks, especially as there are noU routes such as the landplanes employ in the case of i headwind component over the direct route across In spite of his superior age, I do not agree with Mr. Court-ney's views that the land airport expansion which will be necessary in the future will be too expensive to be borne byall save the few remaining wealthy countries. All over the world big construction jobs are being undertaken. Bridges,tunnels, reservoirs, power stations, dams and other such utilities are being built, the cost of which certainly rivals, ifnot exceeds, that of the necessary strengthening or extending of existing runways. There is no reason that I can think ofwhy civil aviation should become the poor relation of a country's utilities, especially as it is directly concerned withthe external trading of any state. Mr. Courtney's point that, with the proper airline organiza-tion behind it, the Shy Queen could have been salvaged, is not borne out by the facts of the other occasion on which aBoeing A314 landed in the sea. During the war Pan American Airways had one of their boats forceland in the Pacific, andalthough all on board were rescued, the salvage of the boat was considered to be quite impractical due to the very lowtowing speed which is possible .with flying boats, and the yawing tendencies which develop. " Air Transport Captain " is correct in his assumption aboutmy unawareness of the artificial flying-boat base at Rome. I always used Lake Bracciano before the war. The conversion of a lake, such as at Alexandria, into a flying-boat base does notconstitute constructing an artificial base, any more than the rolling-flat of some piece of desert can be compared withputting down a large acreage of cement. His point that the laws of the Corporations prohibit himfrom indulging in controversial correspondence is not borne out by the fact that he is already writing letters to the Press.Surely any pseudonym would suffice to protect him from the wrath of the executive, if such wrath existed? DAVID BRICE. CUMBERBATCH TROPHY Suggestions InvitedM ANY people will remember that some years ago Miss AliceCumberbatch presented to the Hanworth Club a trophy for presentation in competition. It was not, however, foundpossible to make the award. Arrangements were concluded by which the trophy was pre-sented to the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators of the British Empire, who will award the trophy in respect of anyact tending to increase reliability within British Civil Aviation. The trophy is an exceedingly handsome one designed by OmarRamsden, and is of considerable intrinsic value. It is in- scribed : — " I was wrought in utmost faith and hope by command olAlice Beatrice Martha Cumberbatch in the year of Our Lord 1931 for the promotion of reliability in Civil Aviation—to thememory of those who have gone before and encouragement to those to come.' Apart from the difficulty of awarding anything among a num-ber without dividing it up, there umains the delicate business of deciding what sort of act tends to increase reliability. Relia-bility is so essentially a growth, and the outcome of unostenta- tious work. This trophy was originally given by Miss Cumberbatch tobe awarded to those endeavouring to make air transport safer and more reliable, and in so doing the public would beencouraged to use the air. During and since the war, it has not been possible to make any award, but we now feel that thetime has come for it to be put on a substantial basis. We are. therefore, at present endeavouring to draw up more concreteterms of award, and would be very grateful to receive sugges- tions and interpretation of the most suitable estimate ofreliability, as it is felt that the term "reliability" is in itself somewhat vague The underlying idea is that it ;hould form an incentive forreliability in operation, and we should be pleased to have readers' views as to the most suitable points on which assess-ment may be made for the award of this trophy. THE COURT OF THE GUILD,Londonderry House, Park Lane, London, W.I. AIR TRAVEL Make a Fuss of the Passenger T^VERYBODY who takes an interest in aviation matters-*—* has been dumbfounded by the colossal financial losses incurred by B.O.A.C. and B.E.A. As everyone knows, 1946and 1947 were boom-years in air transportation. The clearing of the chaos left by the war, the claustrophobia of mankindlocked in airtight compartments for more than five years, the general dislocation of life, coupled with a commercial andindustrial hausse, have set the skies all over the world ahum. Most Continental airlines have had a thumping good year,and it is, therefore, all the more surprising that Britain's effort should have resulted in such losses that had it not been forthe Treasury (your pocket and mine) the companies involved would have ended in the bankruptcy court. In spite of owning my own aircraft I travel a great deal onthe airlines of Europe. Why is it, I have often asked myself, that I prefer K.L.M., Swissair, Sabena to B.E.A. ? This summerI travelled some half-dozen times by B.E.A., just to see what it was like. From a technical point of view I admit there waslittle difference, apart from the fact that I prefer the Viking to the Dakota. But it was in the auxiliary services that theBritish lines fell short. Airlines do not live solely by the custom of Government officials and tired business executives.
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