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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 0355.PDF
FLIGHT, iO February 10.50 NOT AN OVERSHOOT, but a Stratocruiser in a " nose hangar " zz Idlewild. P.A.A. have similar structures at London Airport. CIVIL AVI AT I ON NEWS THE B.E.A. FLEET MR. PETER MASEFIELD, chief executive of B.E.A., hasrecently given a concise and revealing picture of the Cor- poration's present and future aircraft fleet. In addition, he has announced new plans for the Marathon, which include a version with a new type of high-lift flap. "So far as one can foresee at present," says Mr. Maseneld (in the current issue of the British European Airways Maga- zine), "our future requirements are: — " (1) The Airspeed Ambassador, designed to carry up to 49 passengers and to fly on routes of high traffic-density such as between London and Paris. We have 20 Ambassadors on order, the first due to be delivered on January 15th, 1951. "(2) The turbine-powered Vickers Viscount Type 701, designed to carry 40 passengers and most suitable for our longer routes of lower traffic-density, such as London-Rome. (It will reach Rome in less than four hours non-stop, cruising at up to 300 m.p.h. at 25,000ft.) The first Viscount will probably be with us early in 1952. . . . We shall require somewhere between 20 and 30 Viscounts. " (3) The Handley-Page Marathon, now intended for our short-haul routes round Scotland and between the Channel Isles, flying with up to 20 passengers. Modified, with new flaps, the Marathon will now serve as our Rapide replacement. Probably 14 will be required to succeed our 20 Rapides. " (4) A Dakota replacement, an unspecified aircraft not yet either in existence or fully investigated. It is likely to be needed some years hence to replace the Dakota on Channel Islands and other routes where low operating costs over short stages, working from short runways, are the primary require- ment. . . . Our 28-passenger Dakotas must all be retired by 1956, and some replacement must be obtained. " (5) A large and reasonably fast freighter, designed to re- place our present Dakota freighters for the development of our cargo routes. This freighter—like our present freighters— ought to be a version of one of our standard passenger types. " (6) A large helicopter for the future operation of short-haul inter-city routes, such as between Manchester and Birmingham, and Birmingham and London, carrying up to 30 passengers. Snch a helicopter canno't arrive until the late 1950s. " (7) At some time later on, we may need a high-speed jet- type for a few selected routes. ''New Feederliner.—For the really short routes of low traffic-density—the feeder and social services—we are now going forward with the H.P. Marathon. The 20-passenger Marathon is, frankly, rather too big for most of our Scottish and inter-Channel Islands routes, on which a 12-passenger aero- plane would be just about right to meet traffic requirements at the desirable frequency of services. " As you know, we drew up a specification of requirements for a Rapide replacement for these routesi We have received a large number of interesting design tenders. . . Among the submissions to the requirement is the Marathon in a form modi- fied to enable it to meet the particular airfield and en route needs of our Scottish and other short-haul services. By equip- ping the Marathon with high-lift flaps of increased travel, that aircraft can be made to fulfil the take-off and landing require- ments which we need, not only for our present routes but also for certain new services. The Marathon is, as I have said, rather too big for some of our specialized routes, but the Gov- ernment has already spent something like ^2,000,000 ondeveloping this aircraft. Provided the Marathon can be made to meet the operational requirements, it is clearly in thenational interest for us to adapt it to our needs, thereby also keeping the number of types in service to a minimum. . . . '' So then- is the pattern for our new generation of aircraft—building up an all-British B.E.A. fleet of Ambassadors, Mara- thons and Viscounts—about 60 aeroplanes altogether, costingsome ^8,000,000 sterling and able to earn about £i~,000,000 ol revenue a year. . . . Our amortization charges, includingspares, will amount to at least £1,000,000 a year on the new types. We have to earn that amount of money on them beforewe can start paying the costs of fuel, oil, crew, traffic charges, landing fees and overheads." • . -. • CLOLD DETECTION TRIALS AT the request of the M.C.A., a series of research flights withairborne cloud-and-collision-warning radar is being carried out by B.O.A.C.'s Operational Development unit at Hum. Aninterim report has already been compiled on the results obtained with Ekco equipment installed in a Hythe-class flying-boat inthe Singapore area, which was considered to offer a sufficiently high incidence of thunderstorm activity. The first half of thetrials were intended to test the efficiency of the equipment in detecting, .identifying and avoiding cumulo-nimbus cloud.Further tests to determine its use for navigational purposes are now in hand. Experiments previously carried out on these lines by the Tele-communications Research Establishment and by the R.A.F. Transport Command Unit showed that the turbulent cumulo-nimbus cloud-cores could be detected at ranges of up to 40 miles. The major requirement stressed for such equipment,however, was that the scanner should be gyroscopically stabil- ized, and the Ekco equippaent installed in the Hythe now employssuch a principle. In the Singapore tests various types of cumulus cloud withvertical depths ranging from 1,500 to 41,000ft were detected, and the avoidance of responsive cloud was found to be extremelysimple. Gaps in the cloud which were not apparent to the naked eye were prominently displayed on the cathode-ray tube. Avoid-ing action was always made directionally rather than by changing altitude. It was found that the safest way of avoiding turbu-lence was to skirt by at least half a mile all cloud areas giving radar responses. A number of instrument let-downs were alsomade with the search radar, and it was found that height could be reduced to 100ft over the edges of the alighting area withsufficient accuracy to effect a landing. AIRLINE DOCUMENTATION IMPLEMENTATION of Annex 9 to the Convention of Inter- J- national Civil Aviation, which deals with Facilitation of International Air Transport, is due on March 1st. M.C.A. Information circular No. 14/50 draws the attention of opera- tors to the revised documentation which will then be required. The new forms include a general declaration (outward / inward) and passenger manifest and cargo manifest; among those which have now become obsolete are the former passenger and baggage list, aircraft declaration of health, the air navigation report, and the general declaration of cargo. Stores lists and notices of intended departure are still required, although the
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