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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 1653.PDF
242 FLIGHT NEWS OF THE WEEK More About Russia's Aircraft TT is confirmed in Washington that a captured Mig-15 Soviet- -*- built jet fighter, shot down by carrier-borne aircraft off the coast of Korea, is now at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, for detailed study. It is described as being in "fairly intact" condition, though it is doubtful if it can be put into flying trim. The Mig was shot down last spring and fell in shallow water near Simni Island, off north-west Korea. A raid by South Korean paratroops, with the object of securing the machine, was driven off by air attacks, but on July 20th General Ridgway, the United Nations Supreme Commander, despatched a Naval force, including the 13,000-ton aircraft carrier Glory, which, with the help of divers, secured the prize. Efforts were made to capture a second Mig which fell inland, but the Naval landing party was beaten back by the enemy. More news of Soviet aircraft comes from a correspondent in Germany, who says that fuel for Russian jets stationed in that country is produced at Boehlen, near Leipzig, and at Zwickau. The tank wagons to be seen on all airfields in the zone bear the marking D.H.D. (Druck-Hydrier-Dtisenstoff), signifying "pres- surized hydrated jet fuel." This, it is reported, is further desig- nated "Ale. Naphtene," and has a boiling point of 180 deg. Fuel for reciprocating engines is produced in the same works under the designation H.L.K. (Hoch-Leistungs-Kraftstoff), signifying high-octane fuel. The octane value is reported to be 120. It is further reported that at Juterbog the runway has been lengthened to 2,000 metres, the work having been commenced on February 1st and finished on April 20th. Some 260 workers were engaged in this enterprise. Commander of the airfield is Col. Limonow and reconstruction work was controlled by General Orlow. Other leading figures are named as Capt. Baranow and Eng. Capt. Iwshin. In April this year five Mig-I5s, three lease- lend Mitchells, and 60-70 Tu-2s were stationed at Jiiterbog. Since that date the Tu-2s have disappeared and the new twin-jet bombers are coming in. There are four underground tanks capable of holding 50,000 litres of fuel. Information has also been received that, in addition to numerous jet bombers at Schoenwalde, over 170 Il-io ground-attack aircraft are stationed at the nearby airfield of Staaken. A squadron of nine Li-2s (Dakotas) has been busy this month in bringing spares to this great base in the centre of the Eastern Zone. There is an unconfirmed report of a new type of Russian air- craft, probably a fighter, having an unswept mainplane and swept back tailplane, as on the new twin-jet bomber. The power plant is internal. The Corporations' Annual Results T^HE annual reports and operating results of the two BritishA Airways Corporations for the year ended March 31st, 1951, were published last Wednesday, August 29th. They show that in a difficult year, and in spite of a backgroundof rising prices throughout the world, both B.O.A.C. and B.E.A. have made substantial all-round progress which is reflected in amarked improvement in their financial results. As the advance copies of the reports became available only shortly before this issue went to press, we publish here a summary containing onlysalient features, and intend to include a fuller examination of the results in a forthcoming issue. British Overseas Airways Corporation: A reduction of £3^ millionwas made in the annual operating deficit. In 1949/50 the loss was £7.79 million; it has now been whittled down to £4.56 millionan improvement of 41 per cent. Flight capacity offered was increased by 18 per cent to 161,700,000 capacity ton-miles, whileoperating revenue for the year rose by 24 per cent to £24.25 million. Operating costs, which had been reduced from 56.6 penceper c.t.m. in 1947-48 to 43.5 pence per c.t.m. in 1949-50, were brought down still further to 39.5 pence in the year under review,,a reduction of 30 per cent over the three-year period. : In spite of the increase in output and the larger amount oftraffic carried, it was still found possible to reduce B.O.A.C.'s personnel strength; at the end of the year only 16,000 personswere being employed, as compared with 17,340 twelve months earlier. The productivity of the staff, measured in c.t.m. peremployee, rose to 9,770 compared with 6,963 in 1949-50, a gain of 40 per cent. These advances were assisted, states the report,by the facts that during the year under review the Corporation's administrative pattern had been re-organized and integrated intoa more effective commercial entity; that by the end of the year B.O.A.C. was, for the first time, fully equipped with modernfour-engined pressurized aircraft; and that the Corporation was able progressively to concentrate its formerly dispersed main-tenance organization in the United Kingdom at two bases, Londcn Airport and Bristol (Fkton). British European Airways Corporation : B.E.A.'s loss for theyear was reduced to £979,000 as compared with £1.36 million in 1949-50, a reduction of 28 per cent. The loss for 1950-51 isactually little more than one third of that incurred in 1948-49, which was £2.76 million. The volume of traffic carried rose to31,680,000 load' ton-miles (an increase of 23 per cent on the previous year's figure), while the amount of revenue earnedincreased by over £2,000,000 to £9,000,000—an increase of 31 per cent. The total of passengers carried—939,000—was188,000 more than that for the previous year. Although the amount of traffic handled increased by as muchas 23 per cent, personnel strength rose by only 11 per cent to 7,279. As an indication of increasing efficiency, it is worth notingthat the productivity-per-employee figure rose by 21 per cent to 7,769 c.t.m. per employee. This is all the more remarkable inview of the relatively short stages flown on most of the Corpora- tion's routes, the delays in the delivery of new aircraft, and theneed to employ small and uneconomic machines on several routes. Unit operating costs were further reduced by 8 per cent from the1949-50 figure to 42.9d per c.t.m. It will be recalled, incidentally, that the past year was a notableone for B.E.A. in that they had the honour of introducing the world's first regular passenger helicopter service and, in July andAugust, 1950, the first passenger services with turboprop-powered aircraft. Thus the combined losses of the two Corporations last yearamounted to £5.54 million as compared with £9.16 million in the previous year—a reduction of 39 per cent. Their output increasedby 22 per cent from 177,900,000 c.t.m. in 1949-50 to 216,500,000. Over the four years commencing1947-48—the first full year of opera- tions under the arrangements estab-lished by the Civil Aviation Act of 1946—the loss per unit of output ;has been steadily reduced from ••', 23.8d per c.t.m. to 6.od per c.t.m., a ;sure indication of the progress which j Britain's nationalized airlines are jmaking towards their goal of a combined annual operating profit. The two reports are obtainablefrom His Majesty's Stationery Office, at prices of 2s.6d (B.O.A.C.) and3s.6d (B.E.A.) respectively. RECONNAISSANCE: The de Haviiiand Comet at the new Livingstone Airport, Rhodesia, during the return journey i'om its recent trial flight to Johannesburg.
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