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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 2124.PDF
19 October 1951 521 the market but for the fact that all the crews capable of flying this type were being used on Yorks operating shorter flights on behalf of the R.A.F. It is interesting to note that two new companies were recently formed in London with the object of supplying free-lance crews on a hire basis to charter operators. AIR BEEF'S THIRD SEASON THE third season of successful operations by Air Beef, Ltd., inthe Kimberley country of N.W. Australia, bis just ended. A.N.A.'s project manager (and incidentally the man who inaugu- rated the scheme) reports that the company's Bristol Freighters ferried some 3,124,986 lb of beef and hides from Glenroy to the Windham meat works. This entailed a total aircraft mileage of 82,235. Although articles on the Air Beef scheme have appeared in Flight from time to time, it is still remarkable to be reminded of the fact that, whereas before the airlift was started the stock route from Glenroy to Wyndham was 300 miles by road and took 30 days to accomplish, the air distance is 183 miles and the flight time 1 hr 15 min. To date the operations have proved an unqualified success, but the future of the scheme will depend largely on the attitude of the Commonwealth Government, since it is now con- sidered that further development of the scheme is too big a matter for private enterprise to handle. Assistance is being sought in the form of either a direct subsidy or a Government contribution to the erection of killing centres in the cattle-rearing areas. TRAVEL AGENTS GO TO SCHOOL A NOVEL series of training courses, introduced by B.E.A. forthe booking staffs of travel agencies, is said to be meeting with enthusiastic response. The object of these courses, each of which lasts a week, is to give travel agents' employees a comprehensive insight into what goes on behind the scenes of an airline. B.E.A.are convinced that its agencies will be better equipped to handle their services if they possess as much background information aspossible. Between now and the middle of December about 300 bookingclerks will leave their counters throughout the United Kingdom and will spend a week with B.E.A. in London. Classes of between25 and 30 "students" will be informed on such matters as airport control procedures, aircraft maintenance, schedules, spacecontrol, traffic handling, international regulations and aircraft catering. PAN AMERICAN LOOKS AHEAD "D E-AFFIRMING Pan American Airway's projected pro- -•-V gramme to operate Atlantic tourist-class services next spring, the airline's president, Mr. Juan Trippe, expressed the opinion, recently, before a meeting of the Foreign Traders' Association in Philadelphia, that low-cost travel of this type could treble the present American tourist expenditure abroad. Two million Americans, he said, spent approximately one billion dollars over- seas in 1950. He thought that four million additional tourists would go abroad if they could afford it and he believed that the goal of three billion tourist dollars spent abroad annually could be reached during the next few years. He pointed out that tourist-class services, even when they were run in parallel with first-class flights, had developed a substantial amount of new traffic wherever they had been inaugu- rated. In the first five months of operation of the world's first tourist service—between New York and Puerto Rico—Pan American trebled the number of passengers on this route without any adverse effect on first-class revenues. BREVITIES T'HE Minister of Civil Aviation, Lord Ogmore, left London A Airport on October 10th for an informal three-day visit to the Netherlands. He met various Dutch ministers and leading person- alities in civil aviation, and also inspected Schiphol Airport. Dur- ing his tour he expressed disappointment at the lack of interest among European airlines in new British jet and turboprop aircraft. * * * The D.H. Comet on loan to B.O.A.C. left London Airport on October 10th for its first flight to the Far East. It reached Cairo (2,235 miles) in 5 hr 28 min, flew from there to Karachi (2,251) in 5 hr 9 min, Karachi to Bangkok (2,362) in 6 hr 6 min, and Bangkok to Singapore (900) in 2 hr 25 min. Chock-to-chock time was thus 19 hr 8 min, while elapsed time was 24 hr 51 min. * * * It is understood that negotiations are in progress between the French Air Ministry and the S.N.C.A.S.E. factory with a view to using a number of S.E.2010 Armagnac transports for troop-carry- ing purposes. If this plan materializes it is thought that the fleet would be maintained by Air France. * * * The New Zealand Civil Aviation Department discloses that more than 170,000 acres of pasture land were treated by aerial top- dressing in the three months ended July, 1951, as compared with 57.000 acres for the corresponding period in 1950. Some 24 com- ^l£ HORSE—NEW TRAINER: The first of the new Auster Aiglet Trainers farh t'le moc'"ne which was so convincingly demonstrated at TheTUgh by *"'ot Poneus~wa* recently sold to an overseas buyer. * 1 rawer, as its name implies. Is a suitably modified and strengthened s'°« "f the type which is proving popular with private owners. panies flew 6,000 hr in these operations and spread over 22,000tons of top-dressing material. Since the beginning of last march more than 300,000 acres have been treated. * * * Following the recent landing by a young Swiss pilot on the 14,000ft peak of Mont Blanc, the veteran airman, M. Francois Durafour, who first attempted this feat 30 years ago, has announced that he will now endeavour to repeat the exploit. M. Durafour, at 63 years of age, is the oldest surviving pioneer of Swiss aviation. * * * "Starlight" reduced-fare night-flights which have been carried out by Central African Airways between Bulawayo and Johannes- burg this summer have (as mentioned by a contributor a fortnight ago) proved very popular. Accordingly C.A.A. intend to re- introduce them next year, probably in April or May. * * * The 400ft extension to the main runway at Prestwick Airport will be completed by November 1st and the full 7,000ft will then be in use. In announcing this, the Scottish Aerodromes Board also mentioned the fact that a new £15,000 terminal building is to be erected at Grimsetter Airport in the Orkneys. Work will begin' before the end of the year. * * * Improvements in the R/T services for the handling of air traffic between Canada, Bermuda and the West Indies are announced by Cable and Wireless, Ltd. A new radio teleprinter circuit is now operating between Bermuda and Montreal in parallel with the cable circuit, and the Jamaica-Nassau radio-telegraph cir- cuit was replaced by a similar circuit between Bermuda and Nassau on September 15th. * * * According to the New York Journal of Commerce, the cheap-rate transatlantic airline traffic which may be in full swing by next summer will threaten passenger shipping on the lucrative North Atlantic route with serious competition. The cabin and upper- tourist class accommodation, particularly, is likely to suffer, the Journal says, if it is found possible to operate tourist flights between New York and London for $250 or less. * * * The Irish Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Sean Lemass, disclosed in Dublin last week that the idea of an Irish transatlantic air service has not been dropped and that new investigations are now under way. He also mentioned Aer Lingus' plans for additional services to Britain, including one to Edinburgh. The company, he said, has been encouraged to extend its operations to Scotland by the satisfactory growth of the Glasgow services which began in 1949. In one week in July as many as 2,184 passengers flew on the Dublin-Glasgow run.
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