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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0571.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER First Aeronautical Weekly in the World Founded 1909 No. 2311 Vol. LXIII. FRIDAY, 8 MAY 1953 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 fines). MANCHESTER, 3 260 Deansgate. Telegrams, lliffe, Manchester. Telephone, Blackfriars 4412 (3 fines). Deansgate 3595 (2 lines) GLASGOW, C2. 26b Renfield Street. Telegrams, lliffe, Glasgow. Telephone, Central 1265 (2 lines). SUBSCRIPTION RATES Home and Overseas: Twelve months £3 3s.0d. U.S.A. and Canada, $10.00. BY AIR: To Canada and U.S.A., six months, $16. IN THIS ISSUE : A Study in Discomfort - Third-Prize Two-Sectter Stratojet at Work - - Boeing Jet Technique Civil Aviation Administration - - The Latest Vampire Trainer - - - - - The Proteus Story - - Kemano-Kitimat - - - Canadians at Zweibriicken - - - 566 571 572 573 574 578 581 582 583 T! A Matter of Perspective ^HE thoughts underlying this leading article have been forming in our minds for some time past. The question now arises as to whether their expression is timely in view of the tragic news of the loss of a Comet, with all on board, during a storm over India. We believe the answer to be yes; to think otherwise would make us guilty of the very lack of perspective to which we shall be referring. More than most races, the British general public is apprehensive about "flying." These are hard words, but ones which we believe to be perfectly true. One inherent cause is probably the fact that because air travel in the British Isles has had to grow up in com petition with particularly well-established and elaborate ground transport systems (which would be referred to as conventional), it has always been regarded as something "new fangled," to be indulged in by not entirely normal people. Very different is the attitude of the natives of wild or undeveloped countries who welcome an aircraft as a new means of transport and an attractive alternative to donkeys or their own two feet. But in spite of the conditions which ruled in Great Britain when the public were first offered air transportation, it is more difficult to find an explanation for the continued outlook of so many of our population who remain determined, it seems, to keep both feet firmly on the ground. It cannot in every case be the high cost of flying; it may per haps be the constant association of aircraft with a variety of dangers—an attitude of mind too often fostered by a sensational daily Press whose aim it should be to inform the public as well as (if it must) to cater for morbid tastes. Here, however, we must interpolate the remark that the handling of last weekend's cruel news from Calcutta, by the London papers at any rate, was generally restrained and reasonable. Typical of their editorial comment was this observation in the Daily Express : "... Sir Miles Thomas, chairman of B.O.A.C., has unhesitatingly announced that the Comet services will continue with out interruption. It is certain that his decision was not based on expediency. It was based on knowledge and confidence. . . ." Several other newspapers expressed similar sentiments, some quoting the Comets' fine record, which includes almost 105 million passenger-miles safely flown. But there is another aspect: can we hope for a decrease in the amount of attention devoted to incidental interruptions of airline schedules and to normal airfield precautions : fire-engines and ambulances always stand by. An impression has undoubtedly been created in some quarters that air travel is a "dicey," haphazard business, and that the traveller who reaches his destination safely and punctually is indeed a lucky man. That well over 40 million people travelled uneventfully on the world's airlines last year is news worthy of a headline, yet the public have not had the fact brought home to them. Late last year one of the most widely read dailies reported that a B.O.A.C. Stratocruiser, carrying a Commonwealth Prime Minister, "jettisoned its cargo" after diverting from Gander to Sydney, Nova Scotia, where it "circled for nearly an hour before landing with an eggcupful of petrol left." In fact, the "eggcupful" was about 850 gallons, the cargo was not jettisoned and the aircraft did not circle Sydney at all. Again, a current B.B.C. television serial has probably persuaded hundreds of potential passengers never to^set foot in an aircraft. In one instalment, the hero is seen arriving at Northolt, where he waits for an interminable time in a rather inhospitable room with a collection of other passengers. The time appears to be spent chiefly in a discussion of airsickness (a malady practically unknown on main airline routes today). Eventually, the tension is relieved by an announcement telling all passengers to board their aircraft. But they are away a few minutes only; the "port engine was missing," says one know ledgeable type on return, and a second tense period ensues. Finally they do get away, and viewers see a B.E.A. Viking, in full livery, taxying away to the runway. But, alas, the Viking, with effects-department aid, crashes on take-off. Since such accidents can and sometimes do happen, the author of a play has every right to include one in the plot. But the unfortunate fact remains that thousands of viewers who know no better have been given an utterly false impression of all phases of an air departure from London. We appreciate how difficult it would be to dramatize the fact that last year, at the large international airport concerned, airliners took-off or landed 52,921 times without a single passenger receiving so much as a scratch.
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