FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1952
1952 - 2257.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER First Aeronautical Weekly in the World Founded 1909 No. 2274 Vol. LXII. FRIDAY, 22 AUGUST 1952 EDITOR MAURICE A. SMITH, D.F.C. ASSISTANT EDITOR H. F. KING, M.B.E. ART EDITOR JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1. Telegrams, Flightpres, Sedist, London. Telephone, Waterloo 3333 (60 lines). Branch Offices: COVENTRY 8-10 Corporation Street. Telegrams, Autocar, Coventry. Telephone, Coventry 5210, BIRMINGHAM, 2. King Edward House, New Street. Telegrams, Autopress. Birmingham, Telephone, Midland 7191 (7 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 260, Deansgate. Telegrams, lliffe, Manchester. Telephone, Bfackfriars 4412 (3 lines). Deansgate 3595 (2 lines). GLASGOW, C.2. 26b, Renfield Street. Telegrams, llifle. G asgow. Telephone, Central 1265 (2 lines). SUBSCRIPTION RATES Home and Overseas: Twelve months £3 3s. Od. U.S.A. and Canada, $10.00 BY AIR: To Canada and U.S.A., six months, $16. IN THIS ISSUE: Thunderbirds -J - - - -.198 Presidential Transport"- - 204 Passing of the Tiger - - - 205 The Britannia 209 Looking Round Italy - - -215 Mk. 2 Universal - - - - 218 Proud Trio I T is a pleasant duty to record here the successful maiden flight of another outstanding British airliner, the Bristol Britannia. This event took place according to plan on the evening of Saturday last, August 16th, and the duration of the flight was thirty minutes. Twenty-five Britannias have been ordered by B.O.A.C. and the principal article on pages 209-214 of this issue is devoted to the structure of this machine. In a period of five years three "winners" among British turbine-powered commercial aircraft have been built and ordered by the airline Corporations. Subsequently both the Viscount and the Comet, the first two designs to which we refer, have also been ordered by several other operators abroad. First of the trio to fly was the Viscount with four Dart turboprops—this was on July 16th, 1948; the Comet (four Ghost turbo jets) took to the air on July 27th, 1949; and now the Britannia, with four Proteus turboprops, joins the proud parade. It is a remarkable and praiseworthy achievement on the part of the British industry that in truly difficult times and following a period of enforced neglect of commercial designs, three such advanced airliners should have flown; and not only flown, in the case of the first two, but have actually entered service or be on the point of doing so. While other countries have so far done little more than observe, B.O.A.C. has managed to put the Comet into scheduled flight on its overseas routes, and B.E.A., after a short period of trial operations, is preparing to introduce the Viscount over Europe. Although such aircraft as these of necessity take several years to design, build, develop and produce, their manufacturers appear to have forecast well the requirements of the day. In particular, the timely introduction of the Comets has enabled B.O.A.C. alone to provide the high-speed luxury mainline services now called for by one group of inter national air travellers, while the Britannia gives every indication of being the ideal air craft for modern high-capacity long-range work. It offers speed and comfort in advance of any other machine currently in use for this rapidly expanding tourist-class travel. Together the three are able to satisfy almost all the requirments of the air-travelling public, and in the future a version of the Britannia may also be able to meet the need for a British long-range pressurized freighter. Golden [Promise It may be supposed that the Britannia's maiden flight, only made a fortnight before the S.B.A.C. Display, was not altogether a coincidence, and that this great aeronautical "manifestation" has proved a spur to the Bristol technicians, as it has to those in other factories. From these factories some vastly imposing and as yet secret machines may already have emerged, and may yet take the air in sufficient time to allow them to partici pate in the flying display. But even if these newcomers should be prevented from making their number at Farnborough, we are already assured of an array of top-liners, notable among them being the "super-priority six"—Valiant, Canberra, Swift, Hunter, Javelin and Gannet. It may be, moreover, that we shall see the Saunders-Roe Princess making her stately entry into public life, and certainly there will be a supersonic D.H.uo, four different types of helicopter, and three super-powered Canberra flying test-beds. All these will be additional to such "side-shows" as a Sprite-assisted take-off by a Comet. In the "Static" section, the two-spool Bristol Olympus and the Napier Eland turboprop will be seen to have taken their places in the fast-filling ranks of British power-plants. YOUR FARNBOROUGH SPECIAL THE thirteenth S.B.A.C. Display promises to be every bit as exciting and instructive as on any occasion in the past, and once again FLIGHT intends to publish a fully illus trated review of current British aircraft power units, proprietary equipment and ac cessories and materials. It will constitute a guide to this great exhibition and flying display, and a work of reference for the coming months. This, our annual "Britain's Aircraft Industry" Number, will be on sale next Friday, August 29th. Readers who do not have a regular subscription are advised to order their copies at once, for the demand for this issue is always heavy. With nearly three times the usual number of editorial pages, this special issue will be priced at is. 6d.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
