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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 1538.PDF
188 FLIGHT, 17 August 1950 LIVINGSTONE AIRPORT OPENED —by Lord Pakenham : A Brilliant Ceremony AS forecast in Flight last week, when we published aphotogravure feature illustrating the location and layoutof the magnificent new £1 million airport at Living- stone, Northern Rhodesia, the opening ceremony was dulyperformed by Lord Pakenham, Minister of Civil Aviation, on Saturday last, August 12th. The spectacle was a brilliant one, the duck-egg-blue build-ings in the dazzling sunshine forming a background for a great crowd of appropriately dressed white people and somethousands of gaudily attired natives, .many of whom had trekked from remote villages, led by their paramount chief. Lord Pakenham praised the great enterprise of the NorthernRhodesia Government and reminded his audience that B.O.A.C. would soon be using the new airport as a stop ontheir Hermes route between London and Johannesburg. He welcomed Sir Miles Thomas, chairman of B.O.A.C., whoreferred to Rhodesia's increasing strategic and economic im- portance, in which the new airport would be a vital link anda big dollar-earning tourist attraction [It is so near the Victoria Falls that the spray can be seen from the controltower.1 In 1952, said Sir Miles, the D.H. Comet would also be calling there; it would fly from London to Johannesburg in 22| hours, which will include 5J hours on- the ground. Lora Pakenham performed the ceremony in the presenceof H.E the Acting Governor, Mr. R. C. S. Stanley, CMC, O.B.E., who read messages from the Governor, Sir GilbertRennie, who is on leave in Britain, from the Transport Minister of South Africa and from the Governor of Southern Rhodesia. The inaugural flying display which followed caused immenseinterest, many of the spectators had never seen a jet aircraft, so it can be imagined that a fine exhibition of formationaerobatics by four S A.A.F. Vampire pilots (shortly to leave for Korea) caused something of a sensation. Among the out-standing demonstrations ot civil aircraft were those by Capt. J. J. Veasey in the B.O.A.C. Hermes IV Hengist, by F/L.D. J. Broomfield, Handley Page test pilot, and by a Con- stellation. From the Livingstone ceremony Lord Pakenham went onto Pretoria for talks with South African transport officials before returning to England in a Skymaster of South AfricanAirways. The Editor of Flight flew out to the opening in the Hermes,and his impressions of the historic ceremony will appear in a forthcoming issue AIR RACING NEXT SATURDAY Kemsley Trophy Race in South Wales NEXT Saturday, August 19th, another event in the NationalAir Races series will take place, this time at Fairwood Common Airfield, Swansea, where the Swansea and DistrictFlying Club is co-operating with the R.Ae C. in staging the Kemsley Challenge Trophy Race. Eight entries have been accepted, the pilots and aircraftbeing: C. J. de Vere (Hawke Trainer), D. C. Jemmett (Hawk Trainer), F. Dunkerley (Gemini), S/'L. VV. I. Lashbrook(Proctor), J. N. Somers (Gemini, Gipsy Majors), C. G. Alington (Sparrowhawk), Lt. Col. D. S. Fanali (Fiat G-46),and S/L. Neville Duke (Hurricane) The Trophy, first awarded at Elmdon last year, was pre-sented by Viscount Kemsley. With the Trophy is a first prize of £100. The second prize is ^75 and the third ,£50, A sumof £50 will be awarded to the pilot making the best time over the course. The race is open to aircraft of any nationality with aminimum sea-level speed of 140 m.p.h. The course is a seven- sided circuit of 28 miles round the Gower Peninsula and will $[be lapped three times, making a total distance of 84 miles. " The start and finish are at Fairwood Common, with turningpoints at Salthouse Point (Llanmorlais), Whiteford Point, Burry Holms, Rhossili (Kitchen Corner), Port Fynon Point, Ifand Oxwich Point. Last year's winner, Neville Duke, will fly the HawkerHurricane (No. 41) which was second in the King's Cup Race To support the race a full-scale air display is being held,with a programme of ten events including an exhibition by the famous Patrouille d'Etampes of the French Air Force.The main display programme begins at 2.30 p.m., and the race takes place at 3.45. Admission is 2s 6d (children is). The final event of the National series takes place at Baging-ton, Coventry, on September 2nd, when the Siddeley Challenge Trophy (ten entries) will be flown; after that the DailyExpress South Coast Race on September 15th will bring the 1950 air-racing season to a close. FUEL FOR THE FUTURE FOR the past 29 years the Anglo-American Oil Co. have hada refinery at Fawley, on the western shore of Southampton Water, and this establishment, covering something over 200 acres, has an output of 900,000 tons a year. Since August last year, however, work has been going forward at a phenomenal rate on the construction of a new installation. Housed on an adjacent 450-acre site, the new plant will supplement, but remain a separate entity from, the existing refinery, and is designed to handle the enormous intake of 5,500,000 tons of crude oil per year. In other terms, this is equivalent to i 10,000 barrels per day (i ton = ~;\ barrels, =ind 1 barrel = 40 gallons). When completed, the new refinery will be exceeded in size only by a few of the very largest U.!s. refineries and, of course, those at Abadan and Aruba, which are the largest in the world. It is the largest single refinery project in this country and Europe at the present time, and when in full operation will contribute approximately 25 per cent of the refining output of the United Kingdom. Trie scheduled date for completion of the project is January 1st, 1952, but it is possible that some parts of the plant will be in operation toward the end of 1951 In the main, the output of the new refinery will be high- quality petroleum products, and in this connection, the cata lytic cracking plant, which is now in process of construction, will have a production capacity of 1,000,000 gallons of petrol per day. This, too, is the approximate capacity of the Edelanau plant, the purpose of which is to improve the quality of the product. The variety' of final products which may be derived from the basic crude oil is very wide indeed, and runs the gamut from gases through solvents, petroleums, lubricating and pro- cessing oils, by way of soaps, salves and ointments, down to asphaltes, emulsifiers and the heaviest fuel oils. From a primary quantity of 100 gallons of crude oil. the product yield is approximately: petroleum, 37 gallons, fuel oil, 39 gallons; miscellaneous, 17 gallons; kerosene, 4.5 gallons; lubricants, 2.5 gallons. This breakdown is somewhat arbi- trary, and from a given primary quantity of crude oil, the extraction of any one final product, e.g., aviation turbine fuel, can be increased, within certain practical limits, at the expense of its complementary derivatives. NEW FORK-LIFT TRUCK A RECENT demonstration near London of the first Britishfcrk-lift truck to be equipped with giant pneumatic tyres gave spectacular evidence of its ability to traverse both rough and soft ground while carrying heavy loads. The vehicle is the Matbro "Pneustac," built by Mathew Bros., Sandy Lane North, Wallington, Surrey, and at the demonstration it carried a bulk load measuring 7ft x 5ft X 6ft, and another load to its full capacity of 4,480 lb. Motive power is either by a Perkins P.6 oil engine or a 30 h.'p. Fordson petrol engine. The hoist and tilt are hydraulic- ally operated, and the lifting height is 9ft. The gears give three forward speeds and reverse and maximum speed is 15 m.p.h.
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