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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 1685.PDF
FLIGHT, 31 August ic5l PREVIEW DELIVERY: On August 22nd R.M.A. "Elizabethan," the flagship ofB.E.A.'s new Airspeed Elizabethan fleet, was delivered to London Airport by Mr. G. B. S. Errington, the manufacturers' chief test pilot. The aircraft has been officially loaned to B.E.A. for a short period for training purposes. In the left-hand photograph Mr. Errington can be seen handing over the ship's papers to Capt. C.E.F. Riley, D.F.C., Flight Captain of No. 8 (Elizabethan) Flight. Mr. Cordon Marshall, also of Airspeeds, is the man with the "Delivery-day" smile. CIVIL AVIATION . . . ITALY'S AIR-TRANSPORT DIFFICULTIESI T was reported from Rome last week that the Italian Govern- ment has appointed a committee of inquiry to investigate the critical state of affairs now obtaining in the field of commercial aviation in Italy. One statement says that the committee has been detailed to report whether, bearing in mind the need for State assistance, it is in the country's interest to "have civil aviation at all," Taken at its face value this sounds rather sweeping, and we can only presume that the real purpose of the inquiry is, in fact, to decide whether further participation by the State in the Italian air transport industry is justified. For some time now it has been apparent that grave difficulties have faced Italy's two major airlines, mainly owing to lack of Government support. It seems unlikely that, without further national subsidies, the two principal companies, Alitalia and L.A.I., can continue to operate their present schedules; and, as there is little likelihood of sufficient capital being subscribed locally to enable them to carry on as independent undertakings, it is conceivable that the present foreign shareholders (B.E.A. in the case of Alitalia and T.W.A. for L.A.I.) may be offered the opportunity of taking a greater financial interest in the two airlines. Incidentally, on August 20th, Alitalia reintroduced its services between Rome and London, using 44-seat DC-4S, on an initial schedule frequency of twice weekly. The service was originally started in 1947 with S.M.95S and was temporarily suspended on February 7th last. JAPANESE INTERNATIONAL SERVICES ? AN unconfirmed report from Tokyo contains the informa-- tion that Japan is planning to introduce international air services once the forthcoming Peace Treaty has been signed. September 8th is mentioned as the tentative date for the signatories to convene for this purpose. In Flight last week we reported the progress to date with the formation of a foreign-controlled domestic airline to run Japanese internal services. This latest report intimates that regular services to Indonesia, Karachi and San Francisco would constitute the first routes of the proposed international operations, for which, incidentally, the Japanese Transport Ministry has suggested the use of Super Constellations. It is understood that assurances have been obtained from Japanese heavy-industrial interests that the construction of such aircraft can be undertaken locally under licence "in order to avoid placing unfair demands on the American aircraft industry." The U.S. might be willing to sponsor and equip the inter- national airways project, which could probably be represented as part of the American plan for Japanese development in South-east Asia. Looking ahead to the possible effects of the rebirth of civil aviation in Japan on this scale, it does not seem likely that Australia would view the scheme with much enthusiasm in view of the fact that her own operator, Q.E.A., is known to be desirous of including Indonesia in its present schedules between Japan and Australia. Eventually, also, Australia might be faced with demands that Japan be accorded reciprocal rights for services to Australia in exchange for the present Qantas rights to serve Japan. RANGE TESTS ON D.M.E. AS indicated in the article on distance-measuring equipment onpages 258-259 of this issue, Ferranti, Ltd., have to date completed the installation of two of the three D.M.E. beacons which are to be located, respectively, at London Airport, Rome and Cairo. D.H. Comets should therefore be using D.M.E. on scheduled services to the Middle East before the end of this year. The beacons at London and Rome have already been tested in a series of flight trials in which a specially equipped DC-3 has been used. In view of the fact that these are the first installations in Europe to be designed specifically for civil aviation, the results of the calibration tests are of particular interest. From London Airport four tracks—north, south, east and west—were flown, and the ranges obtained varied from a minimum of 24 n.m. (at 1,000ft on a northerly heading) to a maximum of 115 n.m. (at 10,000ft on a westerly heading). Ferranti have stated that the results achieved at London agree with the theoretical ranges which were calculated on a "line-of-sight" basis, taking into account the contours of the terrain surrounding the beacon. The results achieved so far with the Rome beacon have been characterized by a wide variation in range, particularly on oversea tracks. One figure of 78 miles obtained at 1,000ft was considerably greater than the estimated maximum, and it is thought that these excessive ranges may be the result of the super-refraction effect first noticed in the Mediterranean area during the war. When the Cairo installation becomes operational and the Comets begin their flights on this route, it will then be possible to obtain information on the high-altitude coverage of these beacons. BREVITIES A RECENTLY published M.C.A. Information Circular statesthat, because of a temporary shortage of certain maintenance items, it may not be possible, until further notice, to provide G.C.A. facilities at British airports unless ten minutes' prior notice is given. To assist in conserving spares, also, only limited facilities forpractice "talk-down" approaches will now be offered. * * * To give a practical demonstration of the benefits of using helicopters on inter-city feeder services, Westland Aircraft, Ltd., last week made a series of demonstration nights with an S-51 between Manchester, Bradford, Leeds and Sheffield. The passengers included many officials of municipal authorities. A total of 22 flights were scheduled between Ringway and Yeadon airports and the Balfour Sports Ground at Sheffield. Despite the present trend of rising costs, Tasman Empire Airways, Ltd., have shown a profit of £16,591 on their operations in the past financial year. After interest on loan capital has been paid the net profit will be £781. The company now has an annual turn-over of £1,000,000 for operations over a route network of 8,549 miles. * * * Aquila Airways is believed to be the first of the British indepen- dent companies to adopt an aircrew salary-scale corresponding with that of B.O.A.C. and B.E.A. As in the newly revised Corporation rates, captains will receive increments according to seniority. Aquila, it will be remembered, operates Hythe flying- boats on the SouthamptonrLisbon-Madeira route^—a service wh "h has proved extremely popular, especially with holiday visitors.
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