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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1293.PDF
25 September 1953 CIVIL AVIATION 449 GOOD WINE: One of the most unfor gettable sights at the recent Farnborough Display was the final event—a slow, majestic fly-past by the Saunders-Roe Princess. The great boat is seen just before climbing away from the airfield into an evening sky, with retraction of wing-tip floats almost completed. F.I.T.A.P. APPOINTMENTS AS reported in the previous issue, Mr. L. G. Braathen was £ * elected 1953 president of the International Federation of Independent Air Transport Operators, whose annual assembly was held recently in London. Additional appointments for the coming year were those of Col. J. Pazo-Montes (Aviacion y Commercio) and M. Paul Bernard (T.A.I.) as vice-presidents. Gen. R. Bonneau was re-elected treasurer, and M. Jean-Marie Riche continues as secretary-general of F.I.T.A.P. Barcelona has been chosen as the scene of the next meeting, to be held on December 11th, of the association's management committee. INDIAN AIR NEWS COME of the findings of the committee appointed to study the ^ training of civil pilots in India have now been published. In the first place, it is recommended that a civil air board should be set up to advise the Communications Ministry on policy matters, to control clubs' subsidies, to lay down training conditions and to issue licences. The committee urged that the existing "A" and "B" licences should soon be replaced by the wider range of licences now issued in Britain. Clubs, it is suggested, should have 3,500-4,500 subsidized flying hours annually, and should only receive subsidies for training pupils to P.P.L. standard. All com mercial pilots, said the committee, should be trained at the Civil Aviation Training Centre, Allahabad. The annual commercial- pilot requirement was estimated at 30, of which 15 should be ex-I.A.F. pilots (India has at present 531 pilots holding "B" licences). The proposed flying syllabus for ab initio pupils trained at Allahabad is 225-250 hr on Chipmunks, 30 hr on Ansons and 30 hr on Dakotas. Discussions between Indian and U.S. delegates on the proposed revision of the bilateral agreement between the two countries are reported to have broken down. India initiated the talks last May in an attempt to reduce the amount of fifth-freedom traffic carried to and from India by American aircraft. Several improvements are being made at the Indian inter national airport of Santa Cruz, Bombay. At a cost of £37,500, I.L.S. equipment is being imported from America and will be installed early next year; a new terminal building will also be com pleted in 1954; and a £75,000 scheme for new lighting on the main east-west runway has been approved. A recent survey of bad-weather alternatives to Santa Cruz found that the most suit able airfields available were those at Ahmedabad, 300 miles to the north, and at Poona. AFRICAN MINERS' AIRLIFT TN his annual report for 1952, the Director of Civil Aviation in A Nyasaland, Mr. H. M. Johnston, says that one of the outstand ing events was the continued and increasing success of the opera tions of the charter company which carries African labour for the Rand mines to and from Nyasaland. He states that the airlift is significant, not only because it is an entirely new medium of trans port for African labour, but because of the operational problems involved. Fully half the 700 miles flown eight times weekly between Lilongure, Central Province, and Francistown, Bechuanaland, is uncleared bush, and except for the southern portion of the route, radio aids to navigation are limited to H/F radio-telephone and non-directional M/F beacons. Plans are under way to improve these facilities. A South African correspondent reports that the charter company concerned, Africair, Ltd., of Johannesburg, whose operations have until recently been carried out with two Dakotas, has acquired two more in England. A director, "Tommy" Mitchell, who arrived back in Johannesburg recently with the first of these aircraft, said that they would be stripped and overhauled for the opening up of the new route involving South-west Africa. The success of the airlift of native mine-workers has been amply proved during recent years, and it is probable that the company will later acquire a number of Skymasters. ATHLETES AND ARGONAUTS A LTHOUGH there are still occasional cases of reluctance **• among controlling authorities to use the swifter form of travel, the value of air transport as a means of facilitating inter national sport is now widely appreciated throughout Europe. Competitors not only save time en route, but usually feel fresher on arrival. An example is provided by the following account from a member of the British Amateur Athletic Board who acted as track judge at recent Berlin and Stockholm meetings: — "Twice within the last twelve months B.O.A.C. has laid on a special charter service which has enabled a team of over 40 British athletes and officials to carry through important inter- SCOTS CENTRES of air travel are the airports of Turnhouse (Edinburgh) and Renfrew (Glasgow), whose new terminal buildings are illustrated below. At Renfrew (right) work on the reinforced concrete structure is nearing completion, and the building will come into use in next year's summer season. Plans for the Turnhouse building have just been approved; it is hoped that construction will begin this year and will be completed by 1955.
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