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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 0064.PDF
54 FLIGHT JANUARY 15TH, 1948 the equivalent utilization of j,000 hours per annum, a figure which is almost frightening. In this connection it is well not to overlook the fact that, as we mentioned last week, many American opera- tors are heavily "in the red." Yet they are using modern aircraft types designed specifically for air trans- port. Moreover, the United States is, geographically, an almost ideal country, with its long distances, unifor- mity of legislation and absence within the country of Customs and other barriers. The multiplicity of types in use by B.O.A.C. is an- other source of expense, but it might be thought that the Lancastrians could have been dispensed with and the services operated entirely by Yorks. The Lodestars could, one would imagine, have been replaced by Dakotas ; and when non-delivery of Tudor Us com- pelled the ordering of substitutes, why could not an existing type have been added to instead of ordering the Haltons, with which the Corporation appears to be so dissatisfied ? In that way the number of types would have been kept down a good deal. What the Government now has to decide, and it is a dilemma of some magnitude, is whether to go on losing sterling until the new British types come along, or to buy a few more American machines with dollars. The problem is made the more difficult by the need for keep- ing the British aircraft industry going, an aspect which does not directly concern B.O.A.C. very much, but which does vitally affect the national security. Not only is it impossible to improvise such an industry in an emergency, but it is important that the British manu- facturer obtains the results of operational experience of his types. As a compromise, and by way of an interim measure, it seems worth considering the purchase of a number of CONTENTS Outlook B.O.A.C. Report Here and There Civil Aviation News •• SR/4S On the Wing Aircraft Pneumatics - Search and Rescue - ... New Year Honours - - -- - Correspondence ----- Service Aviation - - - - - Forthcoming Events, page 78 53 55 £8 59 63 69 74 77 77 78 79 D.C.4MS. This type has already done good work the Atlantic, the airframes are available for fairly q delivery and can be paid for in Canadian dollars, while the Merlin engines can, of course, be paid for in sterling. The number of Yorks, Lancastrians, Liberators and Haltons in service at present represent a total of some 60 aircraft. For an operational period of something like 3^ years, presumably an equivalent number of interim types would be needed. If the D.C.4M were chosen, the situation at the end of about five years would be that B.O.A.C. would be operating a fleet of D.C.4MS, some Dakotas, Constellations, Stratocruisers and Hermes, a total reduction to five types. After that, there could be a change from D.C.4M to the M.R.E. If the Tudor II can be brought into service on the Empire routes—and, be it remembered, it has not been abandoned officially—this would save further dollar expenditure of any kind. From every point of view that would be preferable, but the whole Tudor situation is at present a problem in itself. " Fligftt " photoy/a/ift. PIONEER TRAIL : Only the hot effluxes from its twin Rolls-Royce Nene turbo-jets relieved the wintriness of the scene as-^ie A.W.52 research aircraft, a progress report on which appears in this issue, " sat " for John Yoxall near Baginton recentl] 1
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