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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 2266.PDF
FLIGHT, 78 December 1950 629 BREVITIES '"THE first American experimental turboprop transport, the-*• Convair Turboliner, is reported to be nearing the flight- testing stage; it is equipped with two 2,750 e.h.p. Allison T-38s.* * * A. V. Roe Canada, Ltd., has filed a patent for a " drain wick "to carry moisture outboard from the cabins of pressurized airliners. * * • It is rumoured in the United States industry that A. V. Roe(Canada) may tit American gas-turbine units in their second Jetliner, now under construction. Such a choice would, ofcourse, have a strong appeal to U.S. operators. * * • As a result of an agreement between the Chilean State airlineand S.A.S., a two-day service has now been made possible between Scandinavia and Santiago. A new run, linking Sant.agowith Montevideo and Buenos Aires, connects at the latter pojit with the S.A.S. services to South America. * * * ^ As, under present legislation, the M.C.A. will not permit single-eng.ned helicopters to cross the Channel with fare-paying passengers, it seems unlikely that authority will be obtained for the proposed London-Paris service to bring visitors to the Festival of Britain next year. * * * The C.A.A. is reported to be contemplating a revision of thetransport category requirements for the Curtiss C-46. It is believed that substantial reductions in permissible gross weightare involved; if this is the case, the revision may possibly have a serious effect on many "irregular" American charteroperators. * # * Production versions of the S.O.30C, the cargo version of theFrench Breragne airliner, will be modified to incorporate wings of greater span than those of their passenger counterparts.Designed to give higher payload and shorter landing runs, the larger wing-span is being achieved by fitting extensions to theexisting centre-section. * * *Having served as a member of the board of directors and as secretary-treasurer since the company was organized in 1932, Mrs. W. H. Beech has now been elected president and chief executive officer of Beech Aircraft Corporation. Mrs. Beech, who is also well known in America as a social worker, will fill the vacancy created by the death of her husband on November 29th. * * # Following an increase of 4id per gallon in the price of aviationspirit in Australia, Butler Air Transport, the largest internal operator, has already announced a 1\ per cent increase in fareson all routes. Although the new prices will mean an increase of £163,000 a year in T.A.A.'s costs, this company has not, asyet, announced higher fares. The French Foreign Ministry has granted permission for Pan American aircraft to land at Orly, and the company will now inaugurate a schedule between New York and Paris with an initial frequency of three flights weekly. The service will be extended to Rome as soon as permission is obtained from the Italian authorities. This will be the first time that Stratocruisers have operated to Paris on scheduled flights. * * * B.E.A.'s Edinburgh-London services, which had been suspended for three weeks for technical reasons, were resumed on Monday, December 18th. The M.C.A. has stated that alter- ations to the runways at Turnhouse Airport will not interfere with regular schedules. B.E.A. is also to inaugurate a new service between Renfrew, Manchester and Paris, and is con- sidering the introduction of flights on other routes. In the coming year twelve new associate ser- ^» PATIENTS ENTRANCE: vices, mostly from ^^A Demonstrated at London Air- Prestwick, to Bir- ^^A port last week by Mr. D. mingham, Exeter, ^^A Lowry—the versatility o the Isle of Man, Liver- ^^^K Chrislea Series IV Skyieep. pool, Manchester ^^^A which has a hinged rear- aad Blackpool, will ^H^R fuselage decking to facilitate be operated by ^^^^B, loading a stretcher or lengthy Scottish com- ^^Hk freight. The engine is a panies. ^^^^^ Cirrus Motor III. BRITAIN'S AIRLINE OUTLOOK (Concluded from p.614) of the fact that the most intensive exploitation of the North Atlantic traffic potential—including the ability to fly direct—is vital to the advance of our air-transport industry. Clearly, there- fore, the readying of aircraft suitable for this purpose is one of our most pressing problems. And now to turn to the British independent charter operators, under whose envious gaze the year's crop of civil aircraft dis- ported themselves at Farnborough—well out of reach of pocket to purchase and also, in most cases, of opportunity to operate. Under the British system of State-regulated competition on internal routes, the charter companies find themselves having to use mainly second-hand aircraft—usually those for which the corporations themselves have no further use. Many operators have doubtless shown an interest—though often a purely academic one—in aircraft such as the D.H. Heron, whose per- formance marks it as an ideal feeder-liner, but whose price (£35,000) places it beyond their reach. At 13,500 lb a.u.w. and assuming an annual utilization of 3,000 hr, direct operating cost is reckoned to be slightly over 20d per ton-mile for stages between 200 and 600 miles. This increases to 25-30d for a utilization of only 1,000 hr. The Percival Prince and the H.P Marathon are similarly placed. It therefore seems that, for passenger services at least, the choice of the charter companies will be confined to modernized and possibly re-engined version of types already in use. It does seem regrettable that nearly all new British types otherthan those ear-marked for the corporations should be forced to seek their fortunes only in the overseas market. Nor does thepresent state of international affairs favour the placing of sub- stantial orders by foreign airlines; and most of our sales forsome time to come, therefore, will probably be of limited numbers of aircraft to small private companies. Having acquired such desirable airliners as the Comet andthe Viscount our Corporations stand to gain a onsiderabie ad- vantage from the extra traffic which they should be able todivert from foreign rivals using less competitive types; but it is also desirable that we should sell similar aircraft to non-competing operators in order to reduce our own initial costs. These types will have the added attraction of having beenproved in service. This, then, is the general outlook for British air-transportequipment for the next few years. However unsuited for our needs they may have been in the past, British airliners nowcoming into production are unquestionably among the world's finest. Given a reasonably equitable state of international rela-tions in which to ply their trade it seems that our airlines may look forward, if not to speedy prosperity, at least to solvencywithin the foreseeable future. Given good fortune as well, Britain might even displace America from her present position inworld airline operation. E. A. G. R.
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