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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 0257.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER Editorial Director G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. Editor - -CM. POULSEN Assistant Editor - MAURICE A. SMITH, D.F.C. (VV/NG COR.. R.A.F.V.R.) Art Editor - JOHN YOXALL FIPST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE W6RLD •• FOUNDED WOD Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices.- DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 Telegrams : Flightpre*, Sedist, London. Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (60 lines.) COVENTRY : BIRMINGHAM, 2 : MANCHESTER, 3 : CORPORATION ST. * ' N G_ E D W A R D^ HOUSE, 260, DEANSGATE. GLASGOW, C2: 26B , RENFIELD ST.8- 10, wnruiwnuK °'NEW STREET Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telegrams : Autopress, Birmingham! Telegrams : Iliffe, Manchester. Telegrams : iliffe, Glasgow Telephone : Coventry 5210. Telephone : Midland 7191 (7 lines). Telephone : Blackfriars +412. Telephone : Central 4857 SUBSCRIPTION RATES : Home and Abroad : Year. £3 10. 6 months, £1 10 6. No. 2044 Vol. Llll February 26th, 1948 Thursdays, One Shilling Outlook Double, Double, Toil and TroubleR ECENTLY there has been more than the usual bubbling in that witches' cauldron which British Civil Aviation has become. Air Vice-Marshal Bennett's dismissal was the stick of wood which set the cauldron bubbling, and now it has every appearance of threatening to boil over and spilling its unsavoury brew. At question time in the House of Commons on February 18th, allegations were made that in November last year a Tudor IV landed in Bermuda with not enough fuel to taxy off the runway. The Par- liamentary Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation explained that the machine had met strong head-winds, of which the captain had not been ade- quately warned, and that in any case the dip-stick read- jjLi taken was wrong in that the aircraft was standing ^jlT-down.. There was at least ioo gallons left (B.S.A.A. .minrmed this in an official statement). Mr. Lindgren expressed the view that incidents such as this had a bearing on the lack of confidence of the board of B.S.A.A. in its chief executive. On the subject of the grounding of the Tudor IVs, Mr. Lindgren cleared the Minister of Civil Aviation of the accusation that he had taken this step on his own responsibility. Lord Nathan had obtained the opinion of the Air Registration Board, which was that it would be prudent to ground the aircraft. The disappearance of the Tudor IV on its way to Bermuda might have been due to a number of causes, one of which might have been the aircraft itself. It was scarcely surprising that Members should take the opportunity to seek information concerning the relative accident rates of the three Corporations. Even without detailed statistics, it has been obvious for some time that the British South American Airways Corpora- tion has been unfortunate in this respect. Mr. Lind- gren's figures confirmed this impression. Both in the matter of fare-paying passengers and in aircraft fatali- ties, the Corporation comes off badly. Mr. Lindgren used somewhat unusual language (for Westminster) by saying that the operations of the Corporation "were very near the bone," and when called upon to explain what he meant by that he replied: '' The inference has been made, with some justification, I think, that the training and maintenance standards were not as high as they should have been." The Corporation has denied this, although it admits that "the high accident rate has been causing us some concern." Now all three nationalized Corporations have had their knuckles rapped. B.O.A.C. and B.E.A.C. for losing a lot of money, and B.S.A.A. for its high acci- dent rate Altogether, it does not seem that the choice of civil aviation as the first experiment in nationalization has been an outstanding success. Even in the Ministry itself, all is not well. It might be said to be an Ariel House divided among itself. The Controller of Tech- nical and Operational Sendees, Air Vice-Marshal Sir Conrad Collier has, in the words of the official announce- ment, "submitted his resignation to the Minister of Civil Aviation, who has accepted it/* As no reason has been given for the resignation, and as there has been no attempt at any face-saving excuses, it may be taken that Sir Conrad finds himself in strong disagreement with the way things are going. : . - .. . Small Aircraft Engines ^";.:.:-../•":;•-, 3/ - ONE of the most serious bottlenecks in the field oflow-powered flying in this country is the supply ofsuitable engines. Through the financial assistance given by the generosity of Lord Kemsley, the Ultra- Light Aircraft Association has been able to purchase at a fairly low cost a batch of 37 h.p. J.A.P. aircraft engines in new condition, but needing overhaul as a result of having been stored. This is nov being done, and the Association is offering them to members on reasonable terms.
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