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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 2043.PDF
25 July 1952 107 A FLYING START to the athletic efforts of Britain's Olympic team was given by this York of Lancashire Aircraft Corporation. The com pany is carrying the entire British team and the Canadian horse-team; its Yorks are making some 20 flights to Helsinki from Rovingdon. service on September 1st. During the next few weeks, work will begin on the installa tion of landing beacons, radio direction and range-finding apparatus at Jan Smuts Airport. Work is also going ahead at Durban, where, following successful completion of the six-year task of diverting the Umlaas River, final construction of the city's new airport at Lamontville is now being accelerated. At one time the Umlaas used to meander across the track of the projected 6,800ft main runway, but it has now been re-channelled into a specially constructed 2j-mile concrete-lined canal; The latter is 240ft wide and 15ft deep, and has involved the removal of over 5m cu yd of soil and rock from a formidable range of hills known as the Bluff. Aircraft are now using one half of the new bitumen-surfaced main runway and the whole of the No. 2 grass runway. The north end of the bitumen strip has been provided with a 300ft by 200ft concrete touch-down point, mainly to avoid possible damage to the tarmac by jet-powered air- • craft. The temporary buildings which have been in use at Lamontville for the past two years are expected to have been replaced by the end of next year. By making the best possible use of its uncom pleted airport, Durban has enjoyed the service of four-engined aircraft since 1950—three years before scheduled completion of the work. CENTRIFUGALS OR AXIALS? SPEAKING in the House of Commons during the debate on civil aviation reported on page 105, Mr. Dudley Williams (Con., Exeter) maintained that the adoption of axial-flow Avon turbojets for the Comet II was "a retrograde step." He under stood that the tendency to place the emphasis on axial-flow types did not receive the support of Sir Frank Whittle, and he thought the Government were unwise completely to ignore Sir Frank's advice—just as they had done in 1936. Mr. Williams also criticized the B.O.A.C. order for Britannias; he was sure that if the Corpora tion persisted in following up their purchase of these aircraft they would soon find themselves in the red again. Mr. Geoffrey de Freitas (Lab., Lincoln) took up the argument by suggesting that axial-flow engines might continue to be required for civil aircraft, but that centrifugal turbojets were more suitable for military types. Inevitably, logistics would demand that the military must have centrifugal units; this would produce a large production demand. But if it were decided that axials were more suitable for civil aircraft, the Minister should not be stam peded into sacrificing civil-aviation requirements to those of the fighting Services. We would never require more than scores of purely civil type aero-engines, whereas vast numbers of centrifu gals would be needed. BREVITIES IIKE B.O.A.C., Air France made its first profit last year. The J French operator's report for 1951, just published, shows that nearly one million passengers were carried during the year, com pared with 770,000 in 1950. Turnover was £32 million (compared with £26 million in 1950), of which £52,000 was profit. * * * Further helicopter tests are to be made over London's South Bank Site by B.E.A. during the next few weeks, using a Bristol 171. The aircraft will not land and the main purpose of the experiment is to enable noise-levels to be measured. * * * A colonial civil aviation conference is to be held in London after the S.B.A.C. display and exhibition. Items to be discussed during the conference, which will begin at the Colonial Office on Septem ber 8th, include the supply of aircraft, progress on airports, the relationship between scheduled and irregular services on colonial routes, and search and rescue facilities. * * * Mr. Thomas MacDonald, the New Zealand Minister of Civil Aviation, stated last week that his Government had reversed its pre-election policy of selling New Zealand National Airways "lock, stock and barrel" to private enterprise. He said that the original plan had been followed up, but that there had been no private applications to buy the airline. Investigations had also been made into the possible introduction of private capital, but that no practical method of doing so had been evolved. * * * During the five-week period which began on July 18th, the scheduled flights of Aer Lingus are reaching their peak—some 650 services weekly. The average daily number of Dublin-London return flights is now 16, of which four are cut-rate "Starflights ; these nightly services have now also been introduced on the Dublin- Manchester route. The company is also operating regular services between Dublin and Liverpool, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Bristol, Cardiff, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Amsterdam and Paris. * * * Swissair have been given a contract by the American authorities in Germany for periodic overhaul of Dakotas, to be carried out in the airline's workshops at Cointrin, Geneva. * * * Although the fuel shortage forced Central African Airways to curtail its services by one-third during the latter part of May, the total traffic carried by the company during the month was 37 per cent greater than in May 1951. * * * The Butler Air Transport Company of Australia is reported to have ordered two Herons for replacement of the Rapides used on its feeder services in New South Wales; the first Heron is expected to be in service by the end of the year. * * * The recent ruling by the Australian Department of Civil Aviation that all airliners should be fitted with rearward-facing seats has evoked protests from operators that heavy costs would be involved in converting aircraft interiors—as much as £100,000 in the case of a Constellation. Airlines have now been told to submit their objections to the order in writing, together with estimates of conversion costs; meanwhile the order has been suspended. * * * Hunting Aerosurveys, Ltd., have been awarded a contract by the Crown Agents for the Colonies for photography of up to 25,000 sq miles in British Guiana and 1,250 sq miles in Jamaica. The survey, which is due to begin in August and will continue for a year, will be made with a Lockheed 14 based at Atkinson Field, Georgetown. The pilot and manager of the four-man expedition will be Mr. H. F. Warwick.
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