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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 0473.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER Editor/of Director G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.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 1909 Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 Telegrams : Flightpi-es, Sedist, London. . Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (60 lines). COVENTRY: BIRMINGHAM, 2: MANCHESTER, 3 : GLASGOW, C.I 8-10. CORPORATION ST. KING EDWARD HOUSE. 260. DEANSGATE. 26B RENFIELD ST.NEW STREET. Telegrams: Miffe, Manchester Te/egrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telegrams : Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone. BUckfriars 4412 (3 lines). Te/egroms : Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone : Coventry 5210. Tefephone : Midland 7191 (7 lines). Deansgate 3595 (2 lines). Telephone : Central 4857. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Home: Twelve months, £3 Is. Od. Six months, £1 10s. 6d. Overseas: Twelve months, £2 18s. 6d. BY AIR : To»ny country in Europe (except Poland). Twelve months, £5 Is. Od. Six months, £2 10s. 6d. To Canada and U.S.A. Six months, %\6. No. 2099. Vol. LV March 17th, 1949 Thursdays, One Shilling <7Ae Outlook A Doubtful Decision 'y'r:.-.-^.^'•• •".">; •T HE decision to merge British South American Air- ways and B.O.A.C, announced by Lord Paken- ham last Tuesday, is no more welcome for having been expected. Rumour had been busy for many weeks that such a step was contemplated as a result of the ban on the Tudor for carrying passengers. That the position of B.S.A.A. has been rendered extremely difficult through the resulting lack of aircraft is undeniable, but less drastic steps might have been taken. If the shortage of aircraft is actually the chief reason for the merger, it is not very clear how matters are to be assisted by the absorption of B.S.A.A. into B.O.A.C. The fact of combining the two corporations will not in itself produce aircraft out of a hat, even if that hat is a very large one. . - One would have thought that a mare Wsonablej solu; tion would have been for- B.O.A.C. to lend B.S.A.A. some of the Canadairs when they become available, and when the former corporation gets its Stratocruisers it might have spared some Constellations for -B.S.A.A. Doubtless there would be objections'-that this voirid upset the working of B.O.A.C., but there njust^be a "certain amount of that in any case. The late Air Commodore Brackley fought hard for the flying boat, and it was very largely due to him that the SR-45S were "saved." It is, perhaps, unthink- able that these boats could now be scrapped, but B.O.A.C. has never tried to conceal its dislike of flying boats, a dislike not shared by the passengers, and it would be childishly naive to expect that flying boats will be given a fair trial under the new set-up. The combination corporation will, presumably, use them because it will have to, but there will be little enthusiasm at headquarters, whatever is the spirit at the operational terminals and among the crews who will be manning the large Saro " flying ships." The Debit SideD OUBTLESS it will be argued that the merger of the two corporations will result in economies. Some small saving may be possible in avoiding overlapping of booking and certain other facilities, but they will be insignificant in relation to the whole picture, and the price to be paid is likely to outweigh the advan- tages. At the top, the two boards may be in fairly good agreement, and Mr. Booth will become equal joint deputy chairman with Mr. Whitney Straight. But one very much doubts that the amalgamation will be wel- comed by very many outside the boards. There will undoubtedly be redundancies, although presumably B.S.A-A. will not be the sole sufferer in this respect. But even if dismissals do not turn out to be on a very large sca £ the fact that the number of corporations is to be reSuped to two will lessen by that much the chances of good men making a career in British civil aviation. There will be less opportunity for getting varied experi- ence, and if a man sees no prospect of advancement, there will be nowhere else for him to go. The result is likely to be that many good men will leave civil aviation and try to make their living in other spheres. This was realized in the early days when nationaliza- tion was being planned. Mr. Ivor Thomas, when he was Parliamentary Secretary to M.C.A , explained that the reason for establishing three or more corporations was that it was desired to have flexibility, to provide different methods of approach to the problems, to avoid the risk involved in placing responsibility in the hands of one managerial group, and to encourage the competi- tive spirit. Those objects are as valid to-day as they were in 1945, but they appear to have been forgotten. The decision to merge the two corporations will necessitate new legislation, but there is little doubt that this will be passed by Parliament. B T
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