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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 0585.PDF
J*L1GHT, 23 March 1950 is a staunch supporter of the cause. The fear that flying-boatsmay shortly vanish for ever from commercial operations was, however, somewhat alleviated by Mr. Beswick's subsequentstatement that there was nothing about the present decision which would prejudice the use of the bigger boats now underconstruction. AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS 'T'HE sum of approximately £200,000 has been allocated by-*• the Australian Government to pay for large-scale improvements in the existing air-to-ground communicationsystems. Most of the H.F. transmitters are to be replaced, and when the work is completed there will be 140 V.H.F.stations along the Australian and New Guinea routes. The limited number of channels which were available in the 3 to 12 mc/s band had rendered the service inefficient. The present system, in fact, is now unable to cope with the traffic demands. New frequencies will be between 118 ar.<l 132 mc/s, and will be used for airfield and approach contro. and international distress channels. At present all DC-4S DC-6s, Convairs and a number of DC-3S on domestic routes and almost all the aircraft operating international routes, art equipped with V.H.F. Good progress is also reported with the fitting of this equipment in all domestic aircraft. The total requirements are for 205 transmitters and receivers with associated aerials and transmission lines; all of this equipment will be made in Australia. Stand-by equipment will be used to provide a service in the event of a failure in the V.H.F. sets. BREVITIES THE Minister of Civil Aviation, Lord Pakenham, hasappointed .Sir William MacNair, K.C., to hold a public court of inquiry into the accident to the Tudoi V which occurred at Llandow on March 12th. It is expected that the inquirv will be held in South Wales. * * * The volume of enquiries on the British charter market for tourist flights during the. summer is so great that many opera- tors—whose fleets cannot profitably be expanded in view of the seasonal fluctuations—are already having to turn down offers for this period. * * • In the 1950-51 Air Estimates (see page 367) the sum of .£270,000 is quoted for the charter of civil aircraft for anti- aircraft practice. This is an increase of /i2O,ooo over the sum spent in 1949 . . . *,••••-. * * * ' ,. ':... ~ 7>v. Traffic statistics for Australian National Airways in 1949 show an overall decrease in all activities with the exception of the carriage of freight. Passenger-mileage decreased by some 20 million to 271,280,436 last year, while the total number of passengers carried fell by some 20,000. Freight, on the other hand, showed an increase of over 12,000,000 lb. » * * The Lebanese Government has authorized the creation of a new aviation company to be known as Societe des Lignes Aenennes pour le Moyen-Orient (Middle-East Air Lines). Sub- scribed capital is to be 12,500 shares of ^.Lioo each. P.A.W. A. will participate financially to the extent of 36 per cent, but the company will remain under local administrative and operational control. * * * Nine* flights per week via Prestwick will be flown between New York and points in Europe by Scandinavian Ainines System for the summer season (May 15th to October 1st) Four of these services are routed via Copenhagen to connect with flights to Africa and the Far East. At Prestwick, con- nections are available t6 London, Paris, Amsterdam and points in Germany. * * « The American Air Line Pilots' Association is at present con- ducting tests in a DC-4 under various climatic conditions, to establish the adequacy of the present " T" category opera- tions requirements. The tests should, in addition, provide valuable data (with particular reference to maximum gross weight limitations) for aeronautical designers and airline operations departments. * * • Kalang Airport near Singapore has been opened to receive Constellations on a trial basis. Previously the runways were not considered capable of supporting such weighty aircraft. Congestion at the neighbouring airport of Tengah will thus be considerably relieved, and further advantage will accrue from the fact that Kalang is much nearer the business centre of Singapore. The first flight of Constellations from Kalang will bt on the Jakarta to Europe route operated by K.L.M. * * * The Baumann Aircraft Corporation reaffirms the fact that, contrary to general belief, it has not sold complete design rights and equipment of the Brigadier to the Piper Aircraft Corporation. The transaction over which this misunder- standing appears to have arisen was merely a sale of the first prototype to expedite development of a twin-engined tractor type aircraft upon which the Piper factory is engaged. Baumann announces that assembly of the first production Rrigadier is progressing rapidly and that the aircraft should. i'i fact, make its first flight in the early summer. The proto- type first flew in 1947. The B.O.A.C. Argonaut engaged on a trade flight to SouthAmerica, which left London airport on February 20th, reached Santiago last week. Along the route 20 demonstration flights1 were made and 625 passengers were able to. form impression; of the aircraft in the air.* * . * The growing importance of Curacao's main airport at Hatohas necessitated construction of a new 2,500yd runway. Last year's arrival traffic included some 3,461 K.L.M. aircraft, 2,069from Pan American, and 290 from B.W.I.A. There is a weeklv K.L.M. service from Curacao to Holland, via Dakar, Lisbonand Madrid, as well as two weekly services via Montreal and New York. * .• * Both Sabena and K.L.M. have decided to re-route theirBrussels-Hamburg services to call at Hanover during the period (March 2gth-April 2nd) of the Hanover Fair, one of the mostimportant of the trade exhibitions held annually on the Continent. * * * On April 1st, T.A.E. (Greek Airlines) will start to operate international services between Athens and Instanbul and Athens and Marseilles via Rome. Two services will be flown weekly. The company is also flying twice-weekly services to Alexandria. Within Greece, T.A.E. makes some 112 flights weekly. t ' ... :. . ..-.." ' .*.-.., In Notice to Licensed Aircraft Engineers and Owners, No. 34, the A.R.B. announces that recent investigations into •the cause of structural failures in two Proctors will necessitate a modification reinforcing the centre-section spars of all Proctor IVs and Vs. Certificates of Airworthiness will not be renewed unless the aircraft have been modified, and the laminated spar booms inspected, by March 31st. • - •••.;.. vl); * * » * . '. • - ". The second prototype Ambassador was slightly damaged while taking off on March 13th at Hum Airport. During a simulated engine-failure test with the starboard throttle closed and the wheels braked for retraction, the undercarriage touched a hump on the runway and the consequent deceleration caused the aircraft to sink back. Damage was restricted to the underside of the fuselage and to the port airscrew. * * * The Government of New Zealand has approved an allocation of £2,800,000 for the projected airport at Rongotai, two miles from the centre of Wellington. The present terminal is 30 miles north of the city, and passengers have constantly com- plained of the delays caused by tbe lengthy road journey. The airport will have a 1,440-yd runway and provide all-- weather landing facilities. * * * So great has been the demand for Easter air passages toParis, the Channel Islands and other holiday centres that B.E.A. has already scheduled more than 100 extra flightsbetween April 5th and April 12th. As usual, services to Paris are predominant, no fewer than 40 flights at present beinglisted for April 6th. It is thought that even more may have to be added before the day arrives. * # * Air France announces that, as a result of last year's l.A.T.A.conference in Mexico City at which the world-wide system of lares was reviewed, considerable reductions have been madein the rates from the United Kingdom to North Africa. The new fares, which came into force on March 22nd, are London-Tunis, ^25 ios instead of £35 6s; and London-Algiers, £24 ioa £52 8s). Comparable, reductions have been made for the >services from Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Belfast
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