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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 0912.PDF
FLIGHT, II May 1951 571 CIVIL - AVIATION K.L.M.'s FLEET GROWS WITH the confirmation of an order for two additional DouglasDC-6Bs and four additional Lockheed L-1049C Super Con- stellations, the Dutch airline, K.L.M., has now given a furtherindication of the fact that it means to carry out a full re-equipment programme. This further order is said to have resulted from thesatisfactory traffic trend which is now being experienced. The company's total requirement is now for seven DC-6Bs and nineSuper Constellations; they will be delivered in 1952 and 1953 respectively. The decision to order further aircraft was carried out afterconsultation with the Netherlands Government and the transaction will be financed out of amounts which are to be written off fordepreciation. T.A-A. TURNS INTERNATIONAL TRANS-AUSTRALIA Airlines may shortly begin their onlyservice to a foreign country if plans now being made for a regular flight from Darwin to Portuguese Timor are successful.The distance is about 400 miles. It is known that Portuguese living in Timor have often complained of their isolation and areanxious to have such a service started. Although the crossing of the Timor Sea—notorious for itsshark-infestation—is considered rather more hazardous than normal civil operations, these flights are regularly made bymilitary and other aircraft in the DC-3 category. A survey of facilities at Timor has already been carried out by Australiancivil aviation authorities using an R.A.A.F. transport aircraft, and prospective airfields at Baucau and Dilli have been examined.It is conceivable that if hotel accommodation at these points is suitable Portuguese Timor may eventually become a tropicalholiday resort for Australians, particularly those residing in the Northern Territories. UP AND DOWNB O.A.C. last week announced several changes in the frequency• of their summer services. In most cases the changes are intended to provide additional capacity for visitors to the Festivalof Britain. The Monarch flights, operated by Stratocruisers, are now being flown daily between New York and London instead offive times a week as under the previous schedules, while two of the other five Stratocruiser services a week between these two pointsare being routed to call at Boston. From May 1st, also, flights between London and Montreal wereincreased from three to four a week, one being direct and the other three calling at Prestwick. In addition, the London-Nairobi serviceis now being operated daily instead of four times a week. In general heavy bookings are reported on services from Australia and SouthAfrica, mostly by passengers for the Festival. Other sections of the Corporation's route structure, however,are not faring so well and, in fact, severe competition on South American routes has forced B.O.A.C. to withdraw the service CONFIDENCE IN THE FUTURE: With its existing order for five DC-t>Bs now increased to seven (see this page) and nine Super Connies similarly earmarked, K.LM. seems to be expecting a profitable future. We reproduce what is termed a "photographic impression" of the DC*B as it will appear in K.LM. livery. down the west coast to Santiago, Chile. In the first 11 months ofthe financial year 1950/51 B.O.A.C.'s South American routes lost £2,120,000, more than a half of this deficit being incurred on theWest Coast service alone. This route now terminates at Jamaica. SPEAKING OF BUGS ATTENTION was focused on the subject of airport quarantine•** regulations at a conference of South Pacific operators held recently at Suva, Fiji, speakers submitting that the spread of plantand animal disease throughout the area could be postponed indefinitely if interested governments were to enforce stricterregulations at airports. Among the forms of treatment on which agreement was reached were the provision of adequate fumigationand incineration facilities at airports, together with improved insecticidal spraying of arriving aircraft. Quarantine measures willin future be applied to all aircraft, whether military or civil. It was recommended also that care should be taken not to plant nearto an airport trees or gardens which include plants known to be "hosts" to certain insects and bacteria. Each government was called upon to prepare a list of local plantand animal diseases against which precautions must be taken, and the compilation of monthly returns was called for to keep theselists up to date. Members of the conference, among whom dele- gates from New Zealand were prominent, expressed serious concernat the problems which arose from the importation of fodder, straw and packing materials for a large range of goods; "rice straw"was recommended for total exclusion from all territories. It seems, however, that bugs (not of the abstract variety) arenot always carried in aircraft unintentionally. United Air Lines recently flew 5,000,000 baby ladybugs (ladybirds to us) packed in66-gall cans from Sacramento, California, to Armarillo, Texas. The larvae, which are obtained from Californian mountain slopesand are sold at $3 a gallon, are used by Texas farmers to keep their crops free from scale and aphis. PANAGRA'S IMPROVED RESULTSP AN AGRA is reported to have flown 31,467,000 passenger-miles during the first quarter of this year, a 30 per cent increase over the total for the corresponding period of 1950. This is inmarked contrast to the 1949-1950 period, when practically_ no improvement was apparent. *.* The company, which provides the principal service'linking theUnited States with the west coast of South America, now has six DC-6s, four DC-4S and ten DC-3S in operation. Two DC-6Bswill be added to the fleet early in 1952. Panagra was formed in J_ 1929, Pan-American Airways and ARIEL AIRBORNE: The French S.O.I 120 "Ariel III" turbine-powered heli- copter made its first flight on April 19th at Viilacoublay. Develop- ment has apparently been rapid, since the order for its construction was placed only last June. The power unit is a Turbomeca Artouste of 220 e.h.p.
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