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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0917.PDF
17 July 1953 73 V-SIGN: New views of the Handley Page Victor B.I, one of Britain's three "V'-bombers ordered for Bomber Command re-equipment. Since its maiden flight last Christmas Eve the Victor has been undergoing con tractors' trials and on one day recently was airborne six times. Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, contended that the Minister had made a complete case for the timing. There were problems to be solved about the railways, about road transport, and about sea transport, as there were bound to be in relation to all forms of transport. If ever there was a need to get policy into one Department and under one Minis ter it was in this case. Transport could not be static. There was no case for saying that everything was settled either in civil aviation, the railways, sea transport, or road transport. Civil aviation, internationally as well as nationally, had been dry nursed, but sea transport had not. Civil aviation was a new industry coming up, but some time, fairly soon, someone would have t3 decide whether sea transport was to be subjected steadily to air competition. Sea transport paid all its own expenses, but civil aviation was still in a very privileged position. This was not necessarily wrong, because civil aviation was relatively an infant industry, but it was infinitely better for one Minister to be responsible for balancing these matters than to have two fighting a sort of battle. G/C. C. A. B. WILCOCK (Lab., Derby, North) described the merger as the de-grading, or down-grading, of the M.C.A. It was clear that the Government regarded civil aviation as just another means of transport and not as a fundamental development in the progress of civilization. A. CDRE A. V. HARVEY (Con., Macclesfield) approved of the merger. He suggested that the Minister should delegate more of the administra tion of civil aviation to the Air Registration Board. MR. IAN MIKARDO (Lab., Reading, South) maintained that there were still foundations to be laid in civil aviation, and that 1954 would have been a better year for the amalgamation. MR. GEOFFREY DE FREITAS (Lab., Lincoln) expressed the view that the move reduced the status of civil aviation to the level of a branch line of British Railways. MR. ERNEST DAVIES (Lab., Enfield, East) said that while the Opposi- liiiik^l]S'.y: tion were not in principle opposed to the merger, it might have been better to have waited until the Corporations were no longer in need of subsidies, because so long as nationalized industries were receiving subsidies, then there was every justification for greater interference and a larger measure of control being exercised by the Minister responsible. MR. J. D. PROFUMO, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, replying to the debate, said there was no fundamental intention to cut down large numbers of staff. The Government were trying to carry out an operation which would in the end mean a more efficient administration. There was no ground whatsoever for thinking that the development of civil aviation would suffer, as the departmental organiza tion would remain largely as at present. Major Draper—£10 Costs THE pilot who flew an Auster Autocrat under 15 Thames bridges (see Flight, May 15th), Maj. Christopher Draper, D.F.C., 6i, was discharged conditionally when he appeared at Bow Street on June nth, but was ordered to pay £10 costs. He was dealt with on one summons only—to which he pleaded guilty—that of flying an aircraft under Waterloo Bridge so as to cauSe unnecessary danger to persons and property. Announcing his decision, the Magistrate, Air. Frank Milton, said he had taken into account Maj. Draper's character and ante cedents. The offence was a piece of folly which should never have been undertaken. He had been greatly impressed by Maj. Draper's gallant and splendid past and his difficult struggle against adversity in recent periods; but it should be known that similar offences would be severely dealt with. SHAPES AND SIZES: The scene at Odiham last week, with the aircraft, and some of the personnel, to be inspected by Her Majesty the Queen in Wednesday's historic review, in close and orderly array. Sabres, Hastings, Lancasters, Lincolns, Varsities, Neptunes and Valettas can be made out in the foreground. A detailed and fully illustrated description will appear in our next issue.
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