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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1268.PDF
424 FLIGHT, 18 September 1953 THE INDUSTRY Blackburn and General Aircraft Progress OPEAKING at the recent annual meeting of Blackburn and & General Aircraft, Ltd., the chairman, Mr. R. Blackburn, O.B.E., A.M.I.C.E., M.I.Mech.E., Hon. F.R.Ae.S., said that the volume of work at the Brough factory showed a steady expansion, particularly during the early part of the year. "Later on," he continued, "the adjustments to the defence programme caused a reduction or cancellation of some of our contracts, the principal one affected being for the manufacture of the Balliol trainer, the numbers of which were reduced to one-quarter of the original quantity. In consequence, we were unable to recruit further works labour as originally planned, but the upward trend is about to commence again with the growth of work on Beverley production to meet Royal Air Force needs. The second Beverley prototype first flew on June 14th, which was, in fact, rather earlier than expected by the Ministry of Supply. There are extensive differences between the first and second prototypes, and the achievement of beating the Ministry target date reflects great credit on all concerned. A number of the smaller contracts on which we have been engaged during the last few years have been completed or substantially completed, and the main volume of productive effort will more and more be devoted to the manu facture of Beverley aircraft." At the Dumbarton factory, said Mr. Blackburn, present air craft contracts are sufficient to provide a substantial nucleus of work for the next two years or more. It was their intention to use the spare capacity for the manufacture of some Beverley components as well as for additional work from other aircraft manufacturers. Speaking of die company's acquisition of the Turbomeca engine licence, the chairman said that preparations for manufacture were going ahead, and technical and production facilities were steadily being expanded to meet the substantial demand which was expected to crystallize during the next year or two. Of another new development, Mr. Blackburn observed that there was undoubtedly a long-term market for stationary engines to meet industrial demands as well as those of Government or Ser vice departments, and if the engines which the company was developing were as successful as they expected there was bound to be a great increase in the level of their engine work. Reviewing the balance-sheet, Mr. Blackburn said that profit on trading, before providing for taxation, showed an increase of £127,000 over the previous year. Official Appreciation GUEST of honour at the recent gala sports day held by Export Packing Service, Ltd., at Sittingbourne was A.V-M. L. J. V. Bates, C.B., C.B.E., Director-General of Equipment, Air Ministry. After reviewing a guard of honour provided by No. 2230 Sqn., Air Training Corps, he declared the sports meeting open, telling the assembled staff and employees that they were part of an organization in which the Royal Air Force was ex tremely interested, and which it would not be an exaggeration to call a vital element in our defence. He could not emphasize too strongly the importance of the type of aircraft-packing work done by the company. "Anything that goes wrong through bad packing not only endangers the lives of aircrews, but it can also wipe out many hundreds of thousands of pounds in just a flash," continued A.V-M. Bates, "and that is why we really do appreciate the work that you are doing. If your work may seem tedious some times I would ask you to cast your minds back to the thought that it is a job well worth doing and worth doing well." From Far and Wide OF the many gatherings during Show Week, few can have been more international in character than an informal supper given in London by Bryans Aeroquipment, Ltd., for their overseas agents. It was quite a small party, yet France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Egypt, the Belgian Congo and Japan were all represented, together with America, Canada and Australia. Mr. C. E. Stearns and Mr. J. R. Bryans were among the directors who in brief speeches welcomed the guests, the latter telling them something of the new developments in instrument- test equipment which are on the way. Westland Presentation AS a token of their appreciation of "a considerate and under standing chief," the members of the commercial department of Westland Aircraft, Ltd., recently presented Mr. A. H. Williams with a Parker '51' pen set. Mr. Williams, commercial manager, has resigned after 13 years' service with the company, in order to take up a directorship with European Trading Corporation A.B., of Karl Gustavagatan, 20, Goteborg, Sweden. He is suc ceeded by Mr. Harold Penrose, who, as reported in Flight of August 21st, will be sales manager. Mr. E. J. Boulgar is to have the post of contracts manager. IN BRIEF The sales office of the Aluminium Wire and Cable Co., Ltd., is now at 30 Charles II Street, St. James's Square, London, S.W.I. * * * Mr. B. S. Lawrence has joined E. K. Cole, Ltd., as Press officer; he will work in the head offices at Southend-on-Sea. * * * Mr. Gordon H. Wheeler, manager of Dunlop's aviation divi sion in Canada, is on a four weeks' visit to this country. He is spending most of die time with the aviation division in Coventry. * * * Thirty-four students from 13 universities recently spent a week in Sheffield as guests of the United Steel Companies, Ltd., in whose foundries and laboratories they made practical studies as part of a short course in iron- and steel-making, steelworks engineering and metallurgical research. * * * Mr. F. W. Meredith, B.A., F.R.Ae.S., who was among those re cently announced as recipients of R.Ae.S. awards and medals, is director of the Cheltenham research laboratories of Smiths Air craft Instruments, Ltd., and was designer of the Smiths SEP.l autopilot. His award—the Wakefield Gold Medal—was "for his work in the design of automatic pilots and aircraft instruments." FIELD DAY: A.V-M. L J. V. Bates, Director- General of Equipment, Air Ministry, addressed employees of Export Packing Service, Ltd., when he opened their recent sports meeting at Sittingbourne, as recorded in Col A. Also in the photograph are, left to right, Mr. £. C. Boucher (director, Ex port Packing), Mrs. E. C. Boucher, Mrs. Botes, Mr. R. C. Boucher (managing director), Mrs. Boucher and Mr. F. L. Porter.
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