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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 0967.PDF
FLIGHT, 18 May 1950 CIVIL AVIATION NEWS THE WAY OF THE HERON : Mr. Geoffrey Pike expressed himself well satisfied with the handling of the de Havilland Heron on its maiden flight at Hatfteld on the evening of Wednesday, May 10th. This first flight view shows this new feeder-liner to reproduce the salient recognition features of the Dove, many components of which are, in fact, incorporated. This close relationship between the two types means that Herons can be quickly produced from existing tooling. HATFIELD IS HAPPY HAVING completed its tropical trials, the de HavillandComet returned to Hatfield from Cairo last Thursday,May nth; the journey to London was made in 5hr 39min 2i.5sec. This represents an average speed of 385.91 m.p.h., which (by reason of head-winds) is hardly comparable with previous Comet performances; nevertheless, it will be sub- mitted to the F.A.I, as a point-to-point record, for which, over this inward route, no previous figures exist. Since it left Hatfield on April 24th the Comet had flown some 4ohr, bringing its total air time to about 287hr. The tests at Khartoum and Nairobi confirmed that gas turbines are rather more sensitive than piston engines to tropical conditions, but only three man-hours had to be spent on maintenance. A minor undercarriage fault developed at Khartoum, which delayed the aircraft a few days and necessitated flying a small bracket and jacks out from England by B.O.A.C. On his return G/C. Cunningham said that the serviceability of the airframe and power units had been remarkable, and that a valuable amount of operating data had been accumulated. The triumphant return of the Comet was not the only reason for jubilation at Hatfield last week, for, as depicted above, the Heron feederliner had made its maiden flight on the pre- vious evening and, according to Geoffrey Pike, the pilot, had performed very satisfactorily. The Heron, designed as a replacement for the faithful Rapide, is intended for use from small airfields and on stage-lengths of up to 500 miles. It can accommodate from 14 to 17 passengers. TALKING TECHNICALLY - / '"THE I.A.T.A. Technical Conference now in progress at -«- Asbury Park, New Jersey, U.S.A., is the largest annual gathering of technical and operational representatives from air- lines throughout the world. Approximately 200 technicians froir. the 70 member-airlines are participating, together with repre- sentatives of I.C.A.O., the C.A.A., the C.A.B., Air Transport Association of America and communications organizations such as Airinc, International Aeradio and S.I.T.A. The conference, which is the fifth of the series to be held, is discussing all airline technical matters which require present action or future planning, and its proceedings will provide a comprehensive review of all the major problems encountered by scheduled air transport operators. Following the general meeting held on May gth, at which the chairman was elected, the conference resolved itself into three working groups to study, respectively, communications and radio aids; engineering and maintenance; and operations. One of the major items on the agenda of the general meeting was a symposium of papers on the maintenance and opera- tional problems of jet aircraft. Other subjects included a discussion of cross-wind components for take-off and landing and their effect on runway utilization—this included presenta- tion of data by the Netherlands Airport Construction Company and the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company, Ltd.—approach lighting, airport servicing and traffic-handling problems. A three-day display of the latest airborne radio equipment such as D.M.E., I.L.S., V.O.R. and other various types of radar is FfRST SCHEDULEDHELICOPTER PASSENGER SERVICE FOR THE B*I*F , LONDON & BIRMINGHAM MAYS®. ©5 IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE : A. Cdre. Harold PrimroV and Mr. Leslie F. Dyer.Vireciors of Rotor Stations, Ltd., waiting for the weather to clear before the first helicopter service is flown (asVelated overleaf) from London to Birmingham. On the right is a view of the Castle Bromwich B.I.F. taken from the Westland-Sikorsky ,-ithe landing ground? by the main entrance, is at the.top right of the picture.
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