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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 1888.PDF
38 ELIZABETHAN FLIGHT . . . Elizabethan fleet was seven aircraft, the total number of aircraft-miles flown was 301,000. During this time 20,100 passengers were carried. There were a few teething troubles, including excessive cabin temperature at medium heights and some faults in the braking, electrical and radio systems. Most of the troubles are now being eliminated and it is encouraging to record that the engine overhaul life has been raised in two stages from 300 to 500 hours since February. Refrigerators are being installed to keep the cabin cool at lower altitudes and work is in hand to achieve an extra 10 m.p.h. by improving the engine "cooling drag". The flight now has nine Elizabethans and the delivery of a tenth will soon bring it to half strength. By the end of the summer there will be 26 complete Elizabethan crews and when all 20 Elizabethans are in service next summer there will be 45 crews. On the busy London-Paris route Elizabethans have shared B.E.A. services with Vikings to an increasing extent since March 13th. They have been used exclusively on the longer London-Zurich-Vienna and London-Milan routes since April 20th and Elizabethan night services to Nice have been operating since May 1st. The Earl of Leicester inaugurated a new weekly service to Cyprus on June 21st, flying via Rome and Athens. The next route to be taken over by the new aircraft will be that from London to Stockholm via Copenhagen and this service is expected to begin on or around July 20th. On all except the Silver Wing luxury service to and from Paris each day the Elizabethan carries the full 47 passengers. Business has been very good so far on all routes, particularly the Zurich-Vienna service, for which there is a waiting list. Schedules are based on an output of 1,150 h.p. per engine with a permissible increase to 1,300 h.p. to maintain the schedule. The normal operating height is between 16,000 and 20,000ft, at which height there is a pressure differential of 4.2 lb/sq in and an equivalent cabin altitude of 8,000ft. On the London-Paris route, however, the cabin pressure is kept down to sea-level as the best height for this short stage is around 10,500ft, unless bad weather makes it necessary to climb. Most economical performance is, of course, given by low r.p.m. with high manifold pressure, and the pilot's task of selecting suitable settings is greatly simplified by the torquemeters which give an almost direct reading of the engines' output. For navigators, the main aid is a radio compass, but eventually, it is hoped, the Decca Navigator and Flight Log will be added. Every day, at lunch-time, 40-seat "Silver Wing" Elizabe thans fly between London and Le Bourget. This service is claimed by B.E.A. to be the finest means of inter-city travel anywhere in Europe (a claim, incidentally, which has gained much support from passengers since the inaugural flight on June 9th), and increased bookings are expected to compensate for the loss of seating. The fare is the standard one of £8 17s, and passengers are provided with a four-course lunch, champagne and cigarettes. The Silver Wing lunches are cooked just before take-off by B.E.A. chefs F. Keel and L. Stinton in the catering section at London Airport. Meals are then placed in specially designed G.E.C. electrically-heated containers, each capable of holding 12 plates or one and a half gallons of liquid. Shortly before take-off the two stewards arrive to check the contents of the containers, which are then taken out to the aircraft and plugged into suitable power points in the galley. The containers have glass-wool insulation to ensure that no heat is lost in transit to the aircraft. At the same time the stewardess takes charge of blankets, newspapers, magazines and "flight companions" (small personal folders for each passenger containing airmail paper, a post card, route map, and a printed brochure describing the aircraft). Flight companions, incidentally, are expensively produced and form a fairly weighty item in the airline budget, and having frequently seen their contents scattered around aircraft interiors we were gratified to note that economy-minded B.E.A. salvages and repacks them for further use. Asked to give some idea of the type of meals served on the Silver Wing, Mr. S. A. Jeanmond, B.E.A. catering official FLIGHT, 11 July 1952 Stewards Mitchell and Melton take delivery of 40 freshly cooked Silver Wing lunches from the catering section, where the key wen are Chief Catering Official S. A. Jeanmond and chefs L Stinton and F. Keel (below). in charge at London Airport, handed us a set of mouth watering menus appropriately embellished with silver silhouettes of the Elizabethan. A typical example reads : Potted Morecambe shrimps, brown bread and butter; Roast Norfolk turkey with braised York ham, Kentish scarlet runner beans, new Jersey potatoes; Cape pears preserved in port; Cheddar cheese, water biscuits, rolls and butter, coffee. The Silver Wing service takes ten minutes longer than the normal London-Paris run by Elizabethans, which normally cover the 216-mile route in 1 hr 20 min. Even so, stewards and stewardess are kept constantly on their feet serving the meals and drinks which, as the menu indicates, more than compensate the passenger for the slight delay in his journey. By the end of the year B.E.A. expect the Elizabethans to have logged nearly 20,000 flying hours, or about 4 million aircraft miles. There can be no doubt that by then this excellent aircraft will have fully lived up to Lord Douglas's conviction that it is not only economical to operate but also a powerful earner of revenue. R.B. All set: The tarmac observer reports by "walkie-talkie" that all 40 passengers are safely aboard BE 333, the 1 p.m. London-Paris service.
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