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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 1832.PDF
12 FLIGHT, 4 July 1952 Left, S/L Peter Fisher and FjL John Thorpe, R.A.A.F., who ferried 0 Canberra to Australia in record time, called at Luqa while the author (seen in war correspondent's uniform) was there. Right, SjL. Pat Kennedy, Officer Commanding a Vampire squadron stationed in the Canal Zone EXAMINING TOUR . . . station in the world) one gets a slight shock to see Austers parked on the strip. Eritrea, Mussolini's former colony in north-east Africa, held the first general elections in her history a few months ago in an atmos phere from which an ugly tension had been totally expelled. Less than a year before widespread banditry had harassed the British Administration and threatened to plunge the country into grave disorder. The overpowering by armed villagers earlier this year of Tesfai Merit, notorious gang leader and common law-breaker, marked the eclipse of the Shifta as a co-ordinated terrorist force. Among measures calculated to rid the country of the lawlessness that had plagued it far too long was the calling-in of the R.A.F. to work with infantry and the Eritrean Police Field Force in flushing out the bandits. First Bristol Brigand bombers, then Spitfires, joined in anti-Shifta work. But as the tempo of terrorist activities began to mount in mid-1950 a flight of A.O.P. Austers from Tripoli took over the task of locating armed bands of terrorists. The Austers kept mobile ground-forces in touch with base, dropped supplies to them, flew out wounded and ferried police and Army chiefs about the country. Today No. 1910 A.O.P. flight, which in two years has helped inflict reverse after reverse on the Shifta, is still in Eritrea, support ing police in subduing small-scale outbreaks that even now occa sionally occur in the territory. R.A.F. Asmara had, at the time of our visit, a total strength of one officer, one flight sergeant and eight airmen. The CO. was F/L. John Teare, who at the beginning of this year was requested to form an R.A.F. officers' mess. An old Army mess, previously the home of some prosperous Italian, was taken over. Next September, when the Eritreans begin to rule themselves and the British forces leave, the mess will house the British Consulate. Despite Asmara's unusual geographical position, F/L. Teare has to handle on an average 40 R.A.F. machines a month. First- line servicing can be done on the station—which is based at the civil airport. If need be, 11 visiting officers can be accommodated in the mess in Asmara township—which is also the quarters of F/L. Teare's wife and two children. Messing is under the super vision of Mrs. Teare, who makes everyone feel at home. THE TREASURY ON AIRCRAFT EXPORTS STRIKING tribute to the value of British aircraft in the export market is paid in the June issue of Bulletin for Industry, published by the Information Division of the Treasury. Recent developments in aircraft design, it is stated in a front page article, have given the United Kingdom a clear lead over its major competitors. If this lead is maintained during the next few years (and still better aircraft are already being worked on) we have an opportunity of developing aircraft manufactures as one of our major export industries. Aircraft are an ideal export of the U.K. because of their excep tionally high conversion value, says the Bulletin. In the ratios between the value of the finished product and the price of its main materials they are excelled in the engineering industry only by precision manufactures like watches. The jet airliner is mentioned as_ selling for about £10 per pound weight of aircraft compared with less than 10s per pound for a car—striking figures that have already been quoted in the pages of Flight. The value of exports of aircraft and parts has been rising since 1945 and reached £42,000,000 last year, says the report. This com pared with £365,000,000 for machinery and parts, £291,000,000 for motor vehicles and parts, and £53,000,000 for ships and boats. Bulletin for Industry then states: "Aircraft are thus already an important export. Only a small part of the total, however, has consisted of aircraft for civil purposes, because the U.K. has been unable to offer machines suitable for the world's main airline routes. Nevertheless, steady progress has been made in building up exports of smaller machines such as the Bristol Freighter, the Dove (a dollar-earner), the Heron, the Auster, small helicopters, and other types. "This situation has changed; now with the Comet we have in operation the first jet airliner in the world. The Viscount and the Bristol 175, turboprop air liners, will also be the first of their class. Potentially our competitive position is very strong. Four overseas airlines, for example, have already placed orders for the Comet and the prospect for the other types is excellent. At present, about 40 turbine-engined airliners are on order from overseas and there is little doubt that this figure will rise sharply when the time comes ... for the world's civil lines to replace their fleets. "Success or failure in this field will depend largely on our ability to offer timely and assured delivery. Here formidable problems have got to be overcome. The capacity of the industry, in both airframe and aero-engine sections, is increasing rapidly (for in stance, de Havilland plan to double the output of Comets) but the demands arising from the defence programme are heavy. The Government regards aircraft exports as of great importance and is trying to avoid conflict between export and defence needs. "Certain specific shortages face the aircraft industry, e.g., the shortage of compressor blades, but the major shortage is manpower. Here considerable progress is being made. Employment in air craft manufacture fell swiftly as the industry contracted after the war and by mid-1948 was down to 142,000. Since then the total has expanded, and manpower has been steered towards the indus try whenever possible. Between mid-1950 and March of this year the total employed in the manufacture and repair of aircraft rose by 37,000, an increase of a quarter. But serious shortages, par ticularly of skilled labour, remain." As readers may know, Bulletin for Industry is intended primarily as a progress report on various aspects of British industry. With that reservation in mind, it is still gratifying to note that the problems of aircraft manufacture are so clearly and concisely understood by the Treasury. It is particularly significant to note the emphasis placed on export value per pound weight.
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