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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1111.PDF
FLIGHT, 28 August 1953 263 CIVIL AVIATION K.LM. CONTENDER in the forthcoming London- Christchurch race is Douglas DC-6A "Dr. M. H. Damme," registered PH-TGA. Although designed as a freighter it will, as reported below, carry 65 pas sengers plus a large crew. The entry recalls the Dutch airlines second place (with a DC-2) in the 1936 England-Australia race. PRINCESS PROGRESS (COMPARATIVELY little has been heard of the Saunders-Roe ^ Princess since the first of the three great flying boats (the other two are now laid-up) made her maiden flight a year ago, although she has often been observed by spotters in points as far apart as Pembroke Dock, Cherbourg, Plymouth and the Channel Islands. However, a note on the progress of flight trials, resumed in March on completion of resonance tests and re-engining, appears in the maker's house journal; we reproduce the following extracts : "Having proved [the aircraft's control and stability characteristics] to be excellent, we were ready to make various performance measurements . . . although the present de-rated engines give only some 80 per cent of the power anticipated in the design stage, we have still been able to take-off at an a.u.w. of 320,000 lb. This is 5,000 lb greater than the original designed operational weight. . . . Pan of the Princess's aft top deck has now been comfortably furnished, and this provides a welcome 'rest room' for crew members during off-duty spells. . . . The Princess is now on the slipway and two special strain-gauged propellers are being fitted for tests to measure strain distribution in the blades during all flight conditions. When these tests have been completed, it is hoped that a full C. of A. will be just around the corner; and it will then be possible to commence the main programme of trials for the full C. of A." The journal adds that the Princess will, all being well, make more than one appearance at this year's S.B.A.C. Show. ONE COMET WEEKLY TO TOKYO IT is learned that the recent reduction of frequency on B.O.A.C.'s Comet route to Tokyo (from twice to once weekly) was planned some time ago to meet increased training commitments with these aircraft. B.O.A.C. are not only preparing for the introduction of the Series 2 Comets, but are also training South African crews preparatory to the opening of the S.A.A. services with Series is on the Springbok route. An announcement from Tokyo, quoted in Flight, originally attributed the withdrawal of one of the weekly Comet services to a decline in traffic. ROTOR-POST: Special covers, as illustrated, were designed for mail carried on the inaugural flights ofSabena's new international helicopter network. Freight and mail only are flown at present but, as described overleaf, passengers also will soon be able to fly in the company's SSSs. 8RUXELLES BRUSSEL i I L L 6 HEUBUS Mr, Stai»i*r Biliport. kills Fraaoe EERSTE GEREGELDE vtucw «* HBUCOPTER Nt 0655 PREMIER VOt RfeUUER HELICOPTERS K.L.M. RACE ENTRY l^O fewer than 65 passengers—50 of them Dutch immigrants -^ flying to New Zealand—and a crew of 12 will be carried in the Douglas DC-6A entered by K.L.M. in October's London- Christchurch Air Race. Commander of the aircraft will be Captain H. A. A. Kooper, a portrait of whom appeared in our issue of July 24th. His first officer is Mr. J. F. Griffith. Other members of the flight crew are P. J. Aarts (second officer), J. I. Noomen (third officer), H. van der Ham (first flight engineer), W. F. J. Tielman (second flight engineer), J. M. C. Kiepe (first radio officer) and J. van der Bos (second radio officer). PANAIR'S COMETS CEPTEMBER 1954 has been given as the probable starting-date ^ for the Panair do Brasil Comet service between Europe and South America. The company's president, S. Paulo Sampaio, made this announcement last week, adding that the jet airliners would reduce flight time for the 7,250 mile journey from Buenos Aires to London by about half—to 17 hr 15 min. Panair signed an order for four Comet 2s earlier this year, delivery of which will begin in 1954 and also hold an option on two Series 3 Comets. The first production Comet 2, incidentally one of the 12 ordered for B.O.A.C., has now come off the assembly line at Hatfield and at the time of going to press the first flight was imminent. CONSTELLATIONS STILL SELLING DESPITE British progress in marketing new types of com mercial aircraft at home and abroad, the industry is still a good way from overtaking America's long-founded lead in this field. There are ample statistics to support this view—such as those announced recently by the sales manager of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Mr. L. Schwarts, who announced that Super Constellations worth nearly Si50m (over £53m) had been ordered from the company by the end of June. He claimed that deliveries of aircraft abroad for the second half of 1953 would be 40 per cent greater than the combined export of large aircraft by all U.S. manufacturers during 1952. During the first six months of this year, Lockheed received orders for 21 Super Constellations from five different airlines—and Lockheed already held a back-log for 70 aircraft of this type at the end of 1952. Mr. Schwartz confirmed that Super Constellations had been ordered for the projected German airline. NON-SKEDS UNDER FIRE A RECOMMEND ATI ON of the Senate Select Committee on Small Business that some "non-skeds" should be permitted a greater field of operation has evoked protests from a number of larger airjines. Mr. W. A. Patterson, president of United Air Lines, declared flatly that some of the irregular airlines were in business "only because of their deliberate, wilful and continuing violation of the law." He continued : "The committee asks that four or five irregular carriers ... be certified without meeting the test of public convenience and necessity which the law requires and which the certified carriers have met." The Eastern Air Lines' president, Capt. Rickenbacker, commented that the recommendations, if adopted, would hand over to the irregular airlines "the very lifeblood traffic which the nation's trunk airlines have painfully developed in nearly a quarter of a century of pioneering to reach a subsidy-free status." Another critic of the committee's recommendation is Senator Edwin Johnson, who has claimed that the accident rate of the irregular airlines compares badly that of the regular companies, which he ascribes in part to the "shameful failure of the Civil Aeronautics Adminis tration to enforce adequate safety standards." According to Senator Johnson, the "non-sked" fatality rate per 100m passenger miles was 7.9 over the period 1948-1952—seven times that of the certificated domestic and international carriers.
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