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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 1824.PDF
FLIGHT, 28 September 1950 367 O 7O 9- 6 •" 5UJ _j 2 4 -—• —,—1 , —.— 1——4 / —t—1— ^—- s —1—1—1 > K j_ •— •c? o 1OO UJ 90 O 3 MAMJjyASONDJ FMAMJJyASONDJ FM 1948 1949 195O Fig. 2. Greatly improved efficiency is indicated by the rise in productivity (expressed as capacity ton-mileage per employee) which has been achieved by both Corporations. the Corporation had earnings in Germany, Spain, Turkey andAustria amounting to more than /20o,ooo, which have as yet to be exchanged lor sterling. The opening of a sales office in New York has led to in-creased interline bookings, and B.E.A.'s total dollar contri- bution to the U.K. economy in the last financial year wasapproximately $1,200,000. Some idea of the influence of seasonal traffic on the overallfinancial results is afforded by the fact that in the first six months of the financial year (April-September) B.E.A. in-curred a loss of only ^84,500, while in the last six months (October-March) the deficit amounted to ^1,279,100, therevenue being only 69 per cent of that during the first half- year. Over 76 per cent of all revenue came from passengertraffic, while mail and freight accounted for 8.7 and 7.2 per cent respectively. An interesting point is that, as a result of a general policyof fare reductions, the rate of traffic revenue for each load ton-mile fell from 72.6d to 69.6d per revenue ton-mile. Thefleet total now stands at 92 aircraft and utilization has been 2O BO 7O 60 5O 4O "-— —1—1— 1—1— * v 1——~- —1—f— —i 1 — 1 1 " ! •~ .. —1—1— :—^ ~——^ —1—1—1 ! 1 —( 1—i/7 U MAMJJyA SONDJ FMAMJJyASONDJ F M 1948/49 '949/5O Fig. 3. Both B.E.A. and B.O.A.C. are making strenuous efforts to reduce their specific operating costs ; their success in this direction is clearly shown by the graph above. increased by 7 per cent during the .year. Vikings flew 63.7per cent of the Corporation's total revenue ton-mileage. The forecast of B.E.A.'s operations for the current yeargives reasonable assurance that the past year's progress will be continued, although it is not expected that the reductionof deficit will be maintained at the same rate. More than ;£i ,000,000 in capitalized expenditure remains to be recoupedfrom future operations and heavy project and development costs will also have to be borne. This winter B.E.A. isplanning to undertake conversion of its Dakota fleet and additional expenditure will also be incurred at London Air-port, where the new maintenance base is in course of con- struction. Whatever views may be held as to the shortcomings ot anationalized airline, Flight feels that no one will grudge a measure of congratulation to B.E.A. on the remarkable pro-gress which it has made in the past four years. Certainly it seems that nothing short of a major catastrophe can nowprevent a reversal of the debit balance situation within the next two or three years. UNLUCKY A.B.A.C. CONVENTION AFTER having sportingly postponed the date of its SummerConvention so as not to clash with any Royal Aero Club event, it was indeed unfortunate that the Association of British Aero Clubs and Centres should have finally committed itself to the weather-bound hours of Sunday, September 24th, for this popular annual event at White Waltham airfield. Instead of the expected colourful melee of a hundred-odd visiting air- craft there was to be seen but a mere handful of forlorn and rain-swept machines whose occupants were only too glad to avail themselves of the warmth and good cheer abounding in the West London Aero Club's clubhouse. A number of visitors arrived by road, however, and among them were Air Chief Marshal S11 Frederick Bowhill (Chief Aeronautical Adviser, M.C.A.) and Mr. Whitney Straight. Two casual callers were a Cierva. C.30 Autogiro and one of B.E.A.'s Bell helicopters en route from the Helicopter Asso- ciation's meeting at Hanworth the previous day. Despite the unwelcome vista of low clouds and murky hori- zon visible from the windows of the club lounge, all present did their best to ensure that the Convention was the intended friendly and cheerful gathering, happily de-void of "organiza- tion " and verbose after-lunch speakers. A.T.A. MEMORIAL UNVEILED A LARGE congregation filled St. Paul's Cathedral on Satur-day, September 23rd, when a memorial tablet to the 173 men and women who died whilst serving with the Air TransportAuxiliary was unveiled and dedicated. Pilots in A.T.A. uniform formed the guard of honour at the entrance to thecathedral, and two women pilots, Mrs. Bennett and ?lrs. Walker, flanked the memorial. The service opened with the choir singing a passage tromthe eleventh chapter of St. John and the ninety-first psalm. Mr. Norman Shelley read the lesson, selecting the passage fromRevelations in which St. John "saw a new heaven and a new earth" in which there should be "no more death, neithersorrow, nor crying." At the end ot the lesson, Lord Beaver brook, Dr. Matthews and Mr. Gerard d'Erlanger led aprocession via the south staircase to the crypt, when- the memorial was unveiled and dedicated. As he unveiled the tablet, Lord Beaverbrook read the inscription, " To thememory of the one hundred and seventy-three men and women of Air Transport Auxiliary representing many nations whogave their lives in the Allied cause during the World War of 1939 to 1945. Remember then that also we in a moon's courseare history." Then followed the prayer of dedication read by the Dean 6f St. Paul's. The laying of a wreath on behalf of all ranks by Mr.d'Erlanger, who commanded the A.T.A., completed the service in the crypt, and the procession returned to the remainder ofthe congregation, to whom the unveiling service had been relayed. The sermon was delivered by the Right Rev. A. G.Parham, M.C., M.A., Lord Bishop Suffragan of Reading, whe- stressed the fact that these lives were given not in oneparticulai war, but in the continuous war between good and evil. At the close of the service the whole congregation wentin procession past the tablet. THE BRABAZON'S C. of A. FOLLOWING publication, in a Sunday newspaper, of a state-ment to the effect that at the time ot the Farnborough Display the Brabazon would still not be ready for tests which would entitle it: to a C. of A. in the Experimental Category, the Bristol Aeroplane Co., Ltd., issued a statement on September 4th: slightly abbreviated, it is given below: — "The statement . . is inco:rect; in fact, a certificate of airworthiness his already been issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, at first in category G (research and experimental) and more recently raised to iategory H (demonstration). " With regard to the other statements made . . . [concern- ing work on the elimination ol engine vibration and the introduction of the gu^t alleviation apparatus] . . . both matters . . are the subject of progressive experimental work and form part ol the long-term development programme arranged betwiei- the company and the Ministry ot Supply. They are. Li fa.t no moie uhan typical of the factors which arc tn be expected in the evolution ol a new aircraft. . . Remarkable progress has been made in many other direc- tions to enable so much flyirg to have been carried out already. The part which the Hraba/i.n is faking in i he S.B.A.C. Show at Farnboroug.i is ample evidence "I the confidence of all concerned in the piogrest to date
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