FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1951
1951 - 2051.PDF
472 PLIGHT FROM ALL QUARTERS The Royal Journey UNDER a clear sky in which a few stars were visible theB.O.A.C. Stratocruiser Canopus took-off from London Airport shortly after midnight last Saturday carrying Their Royal High-nesses the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh to Montreal on the first stage of their Canadian tour. The ceremony which markedthe occasion was—for all its simplicity—impressive in the extreme. Her Majesty the Queen and Her Royal Highness Princess Mar-garet were there, and before the departure were escorted round the aircraft by its commander, Capt. O. P. Jones. Prior to boardingCanopus the Royal Party had been greeted by the Minister of Civil Aviation, Lord Ogmore, the High Commissioner for Canada,Mr. L. D. Wilgress, and Sir Miles Thomas and Mr. Whitney Straight, chairman and deputy-chairman respectively of B.O.A.C. As the Royal Party entered the aircraft, a miniature RoyalStandard was broken on the forepeak above the pilot's cabin to the accompaniment of cheers from the large crowd of onlookers whohad assembled on the apron 50 yards away. At 1212 hr the Strato- cruiser's engines were started, and three minutes later the machinetaxied slowly to its take-off runway. Flying north-west over London, Canopus continued on this same heading to a pointsouth-west of Prestwick before starting on the 3,000-mile oversea crossing to Gander, which was reached at 0950 G.M.T. Canopustook off again from Gander at 1215 hr G.M.T. and reached Mon- treal at 1700 hr G.M.T. Constant patrol was maintained along the whole of the Atlanticroute by aircraft of the Royal Air Force and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Coastal Command Shackletons patrolled to a point1,300 miles out from Prestwick and Canadian aircraft were respon- sible for the remainder of the route. In addition, five Britishwarships were situated at intervals of 300 miles. The decision to allow the Heir Presumptive to the BritishThrone to make the air crossing at this anxious time is, we feel, a gracious compliment to our air transport industry and a welcomeindication of the confidence which our leaders of State now place in the aircraft as a means of travel. We feel proud that for the pastfew years members of our Royal Family have made increasing use of the air for personal journeys. Apart from the encouragementwhich this practice offers to the populace at large to adopt the same method of travel, it constitutes at the same time a tribute tothe manufacturers of the machines and to the skill of the crews who fly them. Goodwill a 1'Americaine A N American Congressman, Mr. Peter F. Mack, is reported to **• have taken off from Springfield, Illinois last Sunday on the first leg of a solo flight round the world. He has been given per- mission by Russia to land at Moscow and to fly over Russia. Mr. C. A. DavisW E learn with regret of the death of Christopher AinsworthDavis, B.Sc, which occurred on October 1st, at the early age of 42. A graduate of Bristol University, Mr. Davis joined Rolls-Royce Limited 17 yearsago and was a member of the design team that produced themany variants of the Merlin and Griffon engines. In 1942, whenthe Derby, firm took over the development of the Whittleengine from the Rover Com- pany, Ltd., he was posted toBarnoldswick to infuse Rolls- Royce ideas into the design ofthe new prime mover. More recently, he had been associatedwith the design of the Avon engine and only ten months agowas appointed a deputy chief designer (projects). An active member of theDerby branch of the Royal Mr. C. A. Davis Aeronautical Society, Mr. Davis was a member of its committee,and at the time of his death was secretary of the branch. His passing, states a colleague, is a grievous loss to Rolls-Royce, andhis pleasant, friendly personality will be missed by his friends both there and elsewhere in the industry. MINISTERIAL APPRECIATION: The Rt. Hon. C. D. Howe, P.C., Minister of Defence Production in the Canadian Government (left) with Sir Geoffrey de Havilland during his visit to Hatfield on September 19th. On this occasion Mr. Howe made a 1£ hours flight at high altitude in t/ie fourth Comet (G-ALYR), now on test prior to delivery to B.O.A.C. Fireflies for Denmark r\N October 4th Fairey's Northern factory at Ringway gave a ^-' send-off to another Firefly for an overseas customer (the dispatch of an initial batch of five to Ethiopia was described in Flight a fortnight ago). This time the occasion was the departure of the first Firefly T.T.I target-towing aircraft ordered by the newly- formed Royal Danish Air Force—an event preceded by formal acceptance of the aircraft log-books by the crew, S/L. P. E. Rye Hansen and Capt. A. M. Kock, who were to fly it to Copenhagen via Manston, Ostend and Valkenburg. Before the amalgamation of the Danish Fleet Air Arm and Army Air Force to form the R.D.A.F., target-towing for both services was performed exclusively on a charter basis by a private company, using Ansons. Re-equipment of the Air Force with Meteor 8 and Thunderjet fighters has necessitated the use of faster target tugs for air-to-air firing practice, and Denmark has, therefore, followed the lead of Sweden, where a fleet of Firefly T.T.is has been in intensive service for about three years. Except for the red and white military insignia on its orange- yellow wings, fuselage and tail, the Danish Firefly T.T.i is identical with its Swedish counterpart, and is equipped to tow any type of winged or sleeve target. Normally, however, 16ft and 30ft winged glider targets will be used for air-to-air, ground-to-air and ship-to- air firing practice by all three Services. A standard Type B Mk. 2B winch with, 7,000ft of towing cable, is fitted in the rear cockpit, and a foot-operated cable-cutter enables the targets to be released and, in the case of sleeves, to be changed during flight. Maximum towing speed is 298 m.p.h. at 3,000ft with a 16ft glider target. The gliders are those built by the Swedish company Flygtjanst in association with R.F.D., Ltd. The Fairey hangars, at Ringway, incidentally, were looking rather like a United Nations headquarters. In addition to the Danish target tug, there were, on this occasion, reconditioned There is nothing of the "fussy little tug" about this handsome y Firefly T.T.1 target-tower (Rolls-Royce Griffon) which, as recounted above, was recently delivered to the Royal Danish Air Force.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
