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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 2097.PDF
DECEMBER gTH, 1948 FLIGHT 693 Schiphol to New York, Curacao, Natal, Rio de Janeiro and Monte- video. On scheduled transatlantic and inter-Continental routes, 64 Constellations or Douglas DC-6s and DC-4S take off each week for one of those distant destinations. Pas- senger and freight figures at Schiphol for 1948 were: Transatlantic Europe Inter-Contmental Domestic Passengers I44-346 41.232 34,455 ... Freight (tons) 2,650 1,140 900 \ Mail (tons) 757 57o , — •=-• During 1947 604,200 people visited the airport, and this year 500,000 had visited it by August 10th. Behind this truly outstanding post-war recovery, and at the head of negotiations for future planning, is an air- minded municipality supported by the Government and to spurred on by the rapidly expanding national airline, ; K.L.M., which is, of course, very closely connected with- and consulted in the plans for developing the airport. ' There is one personality, however, who is the co-ordinator .- and enthusiast behind the scheme. He is the Airport Manager, Mr. U. F. M. Dellaert, who has served at Schiphoi for 28 years. He was a military pilot from 1916 to 1920 with Dr. Albert Plesman, with whom he went to K.L.M. after the war, in the days when Schiphol was first being used for civil purposes. He is behind the long-term plans already mentioned, which the Municipality and the Govern- ment Aeronautical Service together have produced in detail ; it now only remains for the Municipality Council and the Minister to agree to them. The present interim scheme will then become part of the whole, and eventually this north-east corner of the dried-up lake will become the technical site, while passenger-handling will be con- ducted from very much larger premises, probably in the centre of the runway system. While it is not possible to forecast for certain what system will eventually be adopted, it seemed probable from our own observations that a tangential pattern was favoured. It is certain that such a scheme could be developed from the present layout, and extensions could be made in the north-westerly direction. Total cost for the eventual plan will be some ^15 million, and when it is completed in ten years' time Holland will undoubtedly have a vast, fully equipped modern airport capable of taking the largest con- temporary aircraft at reasonable frequencies. PRESTWICK CRASH INVESTIGATION THE Minister of Civil Aviation has appointed Mr. ThomasPringle McDonald, K.C., to hold a Court Investigationinto the accident to the K.L.M. Constellation which occurred near Prestwick on the night of October 20th. This investiga-tion is to be held in the Sheriff Court House, County Build- ings, Ayr, and will begin on January 10th, 1949. Capt. Frost,B.O.A.C, has been appointed Assessor, and the case will be presented by a Scottish lawyer on behalf of the CrownAgents, the Scottish counterpart of the Treasury Solicitor. MALTA'S PRIVATELY OWNED AIRLINE AFTER two and a half years of pioneer work in civil avia-tion in Malta, an official licence has been granted to AirMalta, Ltd., authorizing them to operate scheduled airline services between Malta and North Africa and Sicily, and also •a scheduled stopping service between Malta and Rome. This is the first licence of its kind to be issued to a private aviation • company in Malta not operating in association with one of the British nationalized airways; Malta Airways, Ltd., to which reference was made in Flight, November 25th, is an associate of B.E.A. Air Malta came into being in May, 1947, as a result of amerger of three companies which had been operating aircraft from the Island since early 1946. The first of these com-panies, British Aviation Services (Malta) Ltd., was formed as a subsidiary to British Aviation Services, London, to handleand service private aircraft passing through Malta, and also to charter aircraft from the U.K., thus enabling passengerswishing to travel from Malta to do so without having to obtain high Government priority which was at that time necessary.Shortly after the formation of British Aviation Services, a second company, Instone Airlines 1946 (Malta) Ltd., wasY formed to help deal with the passenger congestion then prevailing in Malta. The third company, Chartair, Ltd., inNovember, 1947, sent aircraft to Malta, for the use of Instone Airlines and to work side by side with aircraft which BritishAviation Services had then based a* Luca. The object of these companies was to establish services on a charter basisfor flights from Malta to the surrounding cities, chiefly Rome, Naples, Catania, Palermo, Tunis and Tripoli. Owing to theamount of public support which these charter companies re- ceived they were reorganized on a semi-scheduled basis, andsince there were 1.0 other services available from the island, the Maltese Government permitted them to continue until suchtime as a licence could be issued. In 1947 the three companies were formed into one unitunder the name " Maltairline," and applications for licences to run services were made to the Italian and British Govern-ments. Since the original applications were made Air Malta, Ltd., the company formed from the merger of the three com-panies, has carried over 10,000 passengers, flown approxi- mately 4,000 hours, and covered a distance of 520,000 miles.In addition 120,000 lb of freight and 10,000 1b of mail have been handled. The company has found it extremely difficult to purchase new feeder aircraft, and says that up to date no suitable model has been found with a seating capacity of eight to ten persons which in the company's opinion has an economical runningcost. However, the management is at the moment consider- . ing purchases of the Dove or the Prince, and are watchingthe performance figures of these aircraft with other airlines. Since Air Malta is a privately owned company running entirelywithout grants or subsidies, it is of paramount importance that any aircraft purchased should be an economical proposi-tion. Aircraft such as the Viking art not considered suitable in view of the sho^t distances of the routes operated, forwhich the Viking's operational costs would, they consider, be high. Until such time as new aircraft are purchased, AirMalta will continue to use the Airspeed Consul, which they have found reliable and satisfactory. AMALGAMATION OF BLAGKBURNS AND GENERAL AIRCRAFTF OLLOWING the amalgamation of General Aircraft, Ltd.,and Blackburn Aircraft, Ltd., announced in Flight, December 2nd, the names of the companies will be changed:General Aircraft becomes Han worth Securities, Ltd., and Blackburn Aircraft, Ltd., becomes Blackburn and General Air-craft, Ltd. General Aircraft production at present in hand at Hanworth will be completed there and it is therefore impossibleto say when production will finally be centralized at Brough. When this does occur, however, some redundancy is likely toarise at Feltham and it is expected that from February, 1949, there will be progressive releases of work people from Feltham.The Ministry of Labour, the company and the appropriate trade union organizations and shop stewards are formulating plansto find alternative employment for the people released. Among the other objects of the amalgamation scheme aimed at are acombination of the best administrative technical and produc- tion ability of both companies in a single undertaking. Further-more, by transferring the aircraft production to Brough a step will be taken to reduce undesirable concentration of the air-craft industry in the London area. The Minister of Supply is said to be in general agreement with these objects of thescheme. In any case inadequate airfield facilities at Hanworth would have rendered necessary the transfer of General Aircraft,Ltd., airframe production in the near future. In an address to be made at the annual general meeting ofBlackburn Aircraft, Ltd., on December 20th reference is made to the reorganization of the Board of Directors. It is proposedthat Mr. H. V. Gort, managing director of General Aircraft, Ltd., should become a director of Blackburn and General Air-craft, Ltd., and it is further proposed that Mr. Gort and Capt. M. W. G. Blackburn should become joint managing directors inplace of Mr. R. Blackburn and Major Bumpus. It is expected that these changes will be effective as from January 1st, 1949.Such an arrangement, however, involves a breach of the con- tract between Blackburn Aircraft, Ltd., and Mr. R. Blackburnand, in these circumstances, a resolution for the payment of £12,500 representing approximately the salary and estimatedcommission on profits for one year which Mr. Blackburn would be entitled to draw under his agreement, is to be submittedto the members for their approval. Though Mr. R. Blackburn will no longer be joint managing director he will remain on theBoard as Chairman of the new company.
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