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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 1353.PDF
FLIGHT, 13 July 1950 A VOLCANO'S VISITOR : Photographed from the Valetta which accompanied it, the Vickers Viscount is shown against the' picturesque summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, while undergoing tropical trials recently in East Africa. The Valetta acted as servicing aircraft. AIRWAYS SAFETY AGREEMENT DURING the course of the Committee of Supply debate onthe Civil Aviation Estimates in the House of Commons on July 6th, some important announcements were made by theParliamentary Secretary to the M.C.A., Mr. Frank Beswick, concerning the Ministry's policy on controversial problems. Dealing with the much-discussed question of safety measuresin the overall control of military and civil aircraft flying in the vicinity of civil airways, Mr. Beswick referred to the agree-ment in principle which had previously been reached for a system of national airways, along which, for a width of 10miles and between heights of 11,000ft and 5,000ft, all aircraft would be controlled. This had presented some difficulty in that civil pilots pre-ferred the airways to be restricted to transport aircraft, which would constantly be under positive control. The R.A.F., onthe other hand, had been anxious that the airways should not interfere with operational exercises which had to be carried outin the limited air space over Great Britain. Mr. Beswick said that an agreement had now been reachedwhich was acceptable to both parties. The broad details of the plan were that jet and other fighter aircraft which hadoccasion to cross specified airways would normally do so under radar control, while all other military aircraft wouldnormally obtain clearance for such a crossing—either before take-off or when airborne. Further details would be publishedin the near future. Mr. Beswick announced that "Green Airway One," whichstretched from the Pembroke coast to the Metropolitan Control Zone, and would serve the main transatlantic routes, wasexpected to go into operation at the beginning of next month. All other airways south of Birmingham would be in operationby November, and the target for the remainder was the end of this year. It was hoped that " Green Airway One " wouldprovide valuable experience, on the basis of which further im- provements could be made in subsequent parts^of the scheme. Several other aspects of civi] aviation were also dealt with,among them being the operation of the '' Associate Agree- ments " which had been concluded between charter companiesand B.E.A. In view of general criticism of the short period for which these agreements had hitherto been granted, Mr.Beswick said, it had now been decided to amend the directive to the Air Transport Advisory Council in such a way that itwould be possible, in suitable cases, to extend the period of agreements to a maximum of five years. Charter companieswould thus be able to contemplate purchase of new equipment to obtain the full benefit of the services flown, Replying to Opposition accusations that there had been dis-crimination in the selection of B.O.A.C.'s staff for redundancy, Mr. Beswick gave details of the method by which the selectionhad taken place. The numbers involved were 677 for B.O.A.C. and 33 for B.S.A.A., and there had been no suggestion that B.S.A.A. men had been treated with anything but the utmostfairness. Referring to the Bristol Brabazon as '' that controversialgiant," the Parliamentary Secretary said that there were two proposals for using it on a limited number of commercial ser-vices, but that "a good deal of commercial development was necessary at a much more rapid rate than that which the firstprototype had enjoyed." The Mark II prototype was due to make its first flight in September, 1952, but no decision wouldbe made about the other three aircraft until more operating experience had been acquired. It was also announced that the Minister's decision on thereport of the committee which had been investigating the future of Prestwick Airport would be published within thenext few weeks. TOASTING THE MARATHON AT the conclusion of a highly successful demonstration tourof New Zealand, Australia, India, Pakistan, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, in the course of which morethan 40,000 miles were flown, the crew of the first production Handley-Page Marathon, G-ALUB, were officially welcomedback to this country at a cocktail party given at Londonderry House by the manufacturers os July 6th. Among the dis-tinguished guests were Lord Pakenham, Sir Miles Thomas and Sir Archibald Rowlands. Sir Frederick Handley Page waspresent as the host. During the evening the Marathon's pilot, Mr. Hugh Kendall,and G/C. A. F. Bandidt, who was in charge of the mission, both spoke in glowing terms of the aircraft's exemplary be-havioui throughout the tour. G-ALUB had reached Sydney on January 27th, and during the following three months hadmade more than 300 take-offs and landings, and amassed a total of over 300 flying hours. Pilots converted to the type duringthe tour were said to have been particularly pleased with its handling qualities, the straightforward stalling characteristics,and the spacious cockpit layout. Because of the keen interest which was displayed in theaircraft the tour became much more extensive than was originally planned. At Q.E.A.'s request, for example, it wasflown from Sydney to New Guinea for four days of intensive operations in mountainous, jungle-covered territory wheremost of the peaks were over 14,000ft in height and the passes seldom lower than 8,000ft. Airfields were short and uneven,and often had extremely difficult approaches; the prevailing weather, too, was of a type which included frequent andviolent thunderstorms. The Marathon's performance under these trying conditionswas said by Capt. Orme Denny, of Q.E.A., to have given every satisfaction. Capt. Ivan Holyman, the managing-director of A.N.A., was said to consider that an aircraft of the Marathon type could fill a definite need in Australia. Passengers also were unanimous in their praise of the com-paratively low temperature in the cabin, which was possible because of the shielding effect of the high wing. THE CHARTER MARKET ACTIVITY in the charter section of the Baltic Exchangehas in recent weeks tended to be somewhat slack. At the beginning of the year, there had been good prospects of some
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