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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 0662.PDF
45° FLIGHT APRIL 21ST, 1949 IN AFRICA'S HEART: Watched by the always-interested local populace, one of the de Havilland Dove fleet of West African Airways Corporation makes a refuelling stop at Gusau, Northern Nigeria. B.E.A.'s Ambassadors : I.C.A.O. and Africa : Radio Ranges for Britain AMBASSADOR FLEET AT LONDON AIRPORT A GREEMENT has been reached between the Ministry of ii Civil Aviation and British European Airways Corporation that B.E.A.'s new fleet of Airspeed Ambassadors will be based at and operated from London Airport. Delivery of the first aircraft is expected next year and the fleet will be put into operation during 1951. Eventually all civil air services at present using Northolt will be transferred to London Airport and the intention is that the move will be completed by the end of 1954, involving an extensive building programme at London Airport. B.O.A.C BUYS SWEDISH STRATOCRUISERS TTOLLOWING the return of Sir Harold Hartley and Sir Miles -F Thomas from Sweden, British Overseas Airways Corpora- tion has announced that, with the approval of the Govern- ment, four Boeing Stratocruisers have been purchased from Scandinavian Airlines System. The purchase price, including spares, is stated to be £3,000,000, of which only a very small portion, for replaceable parts, is being paid in dollars. The Corporation has purchased these aircraft, which will in- crease the future Stratocruiser fleet to ten, to offset in parti- cular the loss of capacity caused by the grounding of the B.S.A.A. Tudors. The possibility of purchasing further air- craft is being closely considered. BIRMINGHAM'S AIR SERVICES A RECENT ceremony at Elmdon Airport, Birmingham,attended by Lord Pakenham and Lord Douglas, marked the opening of Birmingham's first air service since the war and its first direct link with the Continent since the airport was opened in 1939. A B.E.A. Dove inaugurated a service which is run jointly by B.E.A. and Air France between Man- chester, Birmingham and Paris. The full service started on Monday, April nth, with a return flight each day. I.C.A.O. AFRICAN PROPOSALS A WORLD-WIDE survey by I.C.A.O. of the facilities andservices required for safe and economical international air transport was completed in London on April 12th, when the last of the series of ten Regional Air Navigation Meetings concluded. During this final meeting air services in the African/Indian Ocean Region were reviewed in detail, and plans—stated to be "realistic and economical"—were drawn up for submission to I.C.A.O. member-states. The measures were aimed to improve such facilities as airports, air traffic control, telecommunications, meteorology, search and rescue. Instrument landing systems, it was agreed, should be in- stalled on five or six airports in Africa, and meteorologicalfacilities—which will become increasingly important with the use of jet aircraft—must be considerably extended. Search andrescue plans along the sea routes and over the vast desert areas like the Sahara were also agreed upon, and it was consideredthat with the adoption of the plans drawn up at this meeting air operations throughout the Region should become bothsimpler and safer. K.L.M. EXECUTIVE'S DEATH IT-is with regret that Flight learns of the death, after anoperation, of Mr. Henri Fuchs, assistant vice-president of K.L.M. and chief of the airline's general Operations group. Mr. Fuchs joined K.L.M. as a pilot in 1933, gained extensive experience on its routes and, eventually, in 1938, was flying as a captain on the 9,000-mile Amsterdam-Batavia service. He was 41 years of age. RADIO RANGES FOR BRITAIN HpHE announcement of the decision to instal the radio-range -*• system of navigational aid in the United Kingdom means that the Ministry of Civil Aviation has at last given up its fight for "Gee." Since most aircraft carry M.F. receivers, they can operate on the M.F. radio range. The problem has been to decide the most beneficial pattern of corridors, ten miles wide, which could be planned with the minimum number of radio ranges. Based on five installations of the Adcock type at Prestwick, Liverpool, Filton, Dunsfold, Gravesend, and possibly one on the Isle of Man, the proposed scheme covers the majority of the more heavily laden routes in the country. The routes to be covered by the air lanes will be: London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Prestwick; Prestwick, Belfast; Bel- fast, Liverpool; Dublin, Liverpool; Liverpool towards Scan- dinavia ; two lanes to France (one way only in and out); one lane to Holland and Belgium; London, Bristol and towards Shannon—which is in reality a lane to the west for transatlantic traffic. There will also be a route to the Channel Isles which will not be covered by radio ranges. The air lanes or corridors will extend vertically from 5,000ft to 11,oooft, and within them all civil aircraft will be strictly controlled and will be called upon to comply with rules which are being drawn up, but control will apply in all weather conditions. Military aircraft will also comply, though provisions could not be made for jet fighters and other types on operational exer- cises. If the Services find themselves compelled to route fighters through the air lanes the aircraft will, where possible, be kept under radar control, and information will be passed to Uxbridge, who will so far as possible co-ordinate the informa-
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