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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 1090.PDF
FLIGHT, 8 June 1951 679 \s>.Personalities in S.A.S.: (Above, Neft) Per A. Norlin, president; (afewe, right) Maj. Gen. Riiser- Larseh, in charge of the Nor- wegian Region; (left) Per M. Hansson, chairman of the S.A.S. working committee for 1951. IN THE WAY OF THE VIKINGS of Rear-Admiral in the Norwegian Navy, was chief pilot ofNorway's first airline, established in 1918. One felt it an honour indeed to meet this famous explorer. About half of Norway lies within the Arctic Circle, and thereforeimposes some unusual operating conditions over a large proportion of the routes. The coastal services up to Tronic are flown insummer with two Short Sandringham flying-boats; Ju 52s on floats complete the service from Tromso to Kirkenes and othernortherly points. D.N.L., incidentally, has been using Ju 52s since 1935, the two now in service being ex-Luftwaffe. Many of the services are essential mail and supply linksand, in order to continue operating them, a large subsidy has to be provided by the Government. Imported vegetables form a largeproportion of the freight loads, but the Sandringhams are also used on the popular "Midnight Sun" tourist flights, which mustcertainly offer some of the most beautiful scenic attractions in the world. In the interests of economy, however, the Sandringhamswill probably be withdrawn as soon as the new airstrip at the northern town of Bodu is completed. Oslo itself, tucked away in the less mountainous south ofNorway, is, at the moment, served by two airports. Fornebu dedj with all medium traffic, but any aircraft larger than DC-4Smust go to Gardermoenen, some 25 miles farther north. The •eventual plan, however, is to extend the runways at Fornebu sothat all traffic may be concentrated there. It is hoped to increase the runways from is3oo metres to 1,600 metres in length by next year. Fornebu has S.A.B. and I.L.S., but, again, it seems that pilotsare keen to get G.C.A. installed. In Norway's case this may be difficult, not only for financial reasons, but also because of asevere shortage of radar technicians. For navigation in this vast country there is almost completecoverage by M/F. beacons, but, looking ahead, the Norwegians Me very much in favour of the idea of Decca, mainly because of its useful shipping application. The maintenance organization. atFornebu deals with most of S.A.S.'s hard-worked DC-3S, and also with the Scandias. There are two hangars (unfortunatelysituated on different sides of the field) and a brief tour showed quite convincingly that maintenance and overhaul work there isnP to the same high standard as that at Bromma and Kastrup. Apart from S.A.S. there are also two other fairly large operatorsat Osloy-the Braathens S.A.F.E. long-distance charter organiza- tion, using DC-4S, and Fren Olsen Air Transport, Ltd., whoseDC-3S carry large quantities of freight and mail to outlying districts. Both companies make use of S.A.S. overhaul facilities. The last leg of my Scandinavian tour, from Oslo to Kastrupvid Gothenburg by Scandia, proved an interesting flight over very unusual scenery. Hundreds of rocky islets with wooded slopes andsandy coves, set in a bizarre pattern of fascinating complexity, passed in endless procession beneath our wings. Flying overNorway in good visibility is sheer delight for the passenger and, I suspect, never palls on the crews. After a brief call at Gothenburg, we set course for Kastrupand the tour, regrettably, was almost over. Throughout, there had been a continual impression not only ofS.A.S.'s high standards of efficiency and good "airlineship," but also of that subtle extra touch of friendliness shown towards allpassengers by all personnel. It was the sort of thing which, coupled with the undoubtedly correct policy reflected in thenewly revised merger agreement, will constitute formidable competition for other European operators. I (Above) A view of the main terminal at Fornebu, Oslo, the new home of the S.A.S. Scandia fleet. (Below) The terminal building at Gothenburg, as seen from the writer's arriving Scandia.
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