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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0021.PDF
FLIGHT, 2 January 1953 21 CIVIL AVIATION ON COMMON GROUND : The setting for this attractive study of an Aden Airways Dakota and a B.O.A.C. Hermes is Khartoum, where the smaller company's service from Asmara con nects with the main B.O.A.C. routes to West and South Africa. QANTAS BRITANNIAS? AS a "gesture of friendship", B.O.A.C. has offered to let • Qantas take delivery of six of the Corporation's 26 Britannias, provided the Australian airline places a firm order with the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Sir Miles Thomas, who announced the offer on Monday, said that Qantas acceptance would speed the start of British trans-world services by turbine aircraft, and might also "prime the pump" for export sales of the Britannia. By accepting, Qantas would get Britannias at least a yt;ar earlier than if they waited for completion of the full B.O.A.C. order. Australian reactions to the proposal are not yet known. During a recent visit, Mr. Hudson Fysh, chairman of Qantas, gave the impression that he was more likely to order Comet 3s than Britannias. COMET ORDERS AND DELIVERIES IT was announced recently by B.O.A.C. that its option on Series 3 Comets is for ten aircraft. The first operator to place an order for Comet 3s was Pan American World Airways who also hold an option on a further seven. Assuming a total delivery of only 20 Comet 3s, the number of Comet variants now delivered, on order, or almost certain to be ordered, is more than 80—a figure which from the manufacturer's point of view fully justifies all the financial risk involved in the Comet project. It may be remem bered that, in a recent lecture, Mr. C. T. Wilkins, de Havilland's assistant chief designer, said that the company originally estimated that 50 Comets would have to be sold in order to break even. The number of Comet is and iAs ordered was 21—two for the Ministry of Supply, nine for B.O.A.C., three for Air France, three for U.A.T., two for C.P.A. and two for the R.C.A.F. Inter viewed recently by our Australian contemporary Aircraft, Mr. W. E. Nixon, deputy chairman of the de Havilland Aircraft Co., said that these orders would be completed by June, adding that the first of B.O.A.C.'s eleven Series 2 Comets would be delivered in August. Mr. Nixon announced that there were now orders for 42 Comet 2s, all of which would be completed by mid-1956; this statement indicates that considerably more progress has been made in selling the Avon-Comet than might have been assumed from earlier official announcements. Firm orders for Comet 2s so far published involve only 16 machines, the operators concerned being B.O.A.C. (11), J.A.L. (2), L.A.V. (2) and the Ministry of Supply (1). Among other likely purchasers are B.C.P.A., U.A.T. and PanAir do Brasil. Mr. Nixon refuted suggestions that production of Comet 2s would be curtailed to promote earlier •concentration on Series 3s; he said that if possible de Havilland would begin deliveries of the latter before mid-1956. The Comet 4, which could be expected in i960, would have longer range, greater speed and high carrying capacity; it "will not be a supersonic job—just a logical develop ment carrying 80 to 100 passengers." ANGLO-JAPANESE AGREEMENT CONCLUSION of a bilateral agreement between the United Kingdom and Japan was announced by the British Embassy in Tokyo on December 29th. Signed at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the agreement is basically similar to those negotiated with other foreign countries; it enables designated air lines of both nations to operate scheduled services "between London and Tokyo and between Singapore, Hongkong and Tokyo with certain extensions beyond." Provision is also made for British airlines to operate London-Tokyo services via Canada— a route which B.O.A.C. intend to open with Britannias. FIRE SERVICES REORGANIZED A SUBSTANTIAL reorganization and re-equipment of the M.C.A. Fire Service was recently authorised by the Minister of Civil Aviation. Fire cover necessary at M.C.A. aerodromes will be reassessed in the light of past experience, which has shown that the first three minutes of an outbreak of fire in an aircraft are vital, and that speed and flexibility are the first requirements of an effici ent fire-fighting organization. To this end more modern fire tenders and additional fast rescue vehicles will be provided, and there will also be greater standardization of equipment. The result of these changes will be to increase the speed of rescue from crashed aircraft by a smaller fleet of faster and more up-to-date vehicles, manned by fewer men. It is expected that the rate of application of foam to a fire in the first few crucial minutes will nowhere be decreased, and in many cases substantially increased. A.T.C. DISCUSSIONS IN ROME REPRESENTATIVES of interested airlines forming I.A.T.A.'s Eumed. A.T.C. Panel met in Rome from November 24th to November 29th, with the Italian airline L.A.I, acting as hosts. Specialists of the Italian Air Ministry were invited to a number of the meetings, at which the development of facilities in Italy (including the forthcoming advisory air routes and new Air Traffic Control Procedures for Milan and Rome) were explained and discussed. Other matters which came up for discussion included the redefinition of V.F.R. conditions and methods of control of mixed V.F.R. and I.F.R. traffic; Spanish airways; dummy attacks on civil aircraft; and the future take-over of facilities by the German Government in Western Germany. Rome Airport, incidentally, became the first in Italy to offer V.O.R. for civil use when the installation at Castel di Decima (ten miles west of Ciampino) went into service on December 3rd on a test basis. The equipment, which is American, operates on a 24 h'basis with a frequency of 115.1 megacycles. INDIA-PAKISTAN DISPUTE SOME progress is reported by I.C.A.O. towards a settlement be tween Pakistan and India on the question of permitting Indian aircraft to fly directly over Pakistan territory from New Delhi to Kebul. The direct route is 642 miles but Pakistan has always insisted on a 1,900-mile detour, claiming that unfriendly tribesmen would make it unsafe for Indian aircraft to cross the Pakistan territory concerned. Delegates of the two governments have been asked to report to I.C.A.O. with a solution to the problem by SYDNEY HERON : November saw the introduction to regular service of the first D.H. Heron to be delivered to Butler Air Transport. The aircraft. registered VH-AHB, is seen at Sydney, the centre of the company's 3,000-mile network of domestic routes.
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