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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1649.PDF
FLIGHT, 18 December 1953 803 "Flight" photograph Series 701 Viscounts are now delivered to &.E.A. with both fore- and aft- facing seats, as in the Elizabethan, The interior shown is that of G-AMOO. VISCOUNTS FROM HURN . . . the signature; 50 more were in various stages of negotiation. Vickers came to Hum in May 1951, when the first prototype Valiant was sent there for flight trials; one hangar was acquired for this purpose. The total area occupied by the company has now reached over 320,000 sq ft and the factory consists of seven hangars widi annexes, and 25 other buildings. Until recendy the main activity was the assembly of Varsities at the rate of eight a month, together widi the manufacture of major components for the Varsity, small parts for the Valiant, and flaps, dorsal fins and bulkheads for the Weybridge-built Viscounts. The factory now has 900 employees (planned strength is 1,500), and its facilities include a small machine-shop; a section in which the electrical assemblies are built up; a design drawing-office and stress office; a tool drawing-office; rate-fixing, planning, ordering and com mercial departments; progress department and production control; and a works surgery. There is also a new building for pressure- testing of Viscount fuselages. During a tour of the factory last week we saw machines for four different operators—B.E.A., Aer Lingus, Air France and T.A.A.—in varying stages of construction. The tour began at a fuselage jig containing a single frame for the third T.A.A. Viscount and concluded with the almost-completed G-AMOP, last of B.E.A's initial order for 20 Series 701s. Fuselage assembly is undertaken in hangar No. 103, where both the tail sections and the main portions of the fuselage are fabricated. Noses and the tapering front and rear sections of fuselage are built up in another hangar (No. 267), which is also responsible for other cabin assemblies, including the cockpit coaming and nosewheel compartment. To provide for eventual production of "stretched" Series 800 Viscounts, the main fuselage- assembly jigs in hangar 103 can be adjusted by moving back the empennage pick-ups. The wings, which are made under sub contract by Saunders-Roe, Ltd., are prepared for assembly in a third hangar, No. 101. Two other ancillary sections are hangars 104 (where completed aircraft are prepared for flight) and 105, which houses a fitting shop and spray shop. Viscounts begin to take shape in hangar 107, which is the first part of the main assembly line. Fuselages are brought here after pressure-testing and as they move down the line on rails are fitted with inner wings and tails and provided with power units from the neat rows of Dart turboprops which flank the hangar walls. Undercarriages are then fitted, and the aircraft are wheeled into die seventh hangar (106) for further assembly work, emerging as brand-new Viscounts complete with glistening airline colour schemes. Hum's output will gradually be stepped up throughout next year, and by January 1955 Viscounts should be coming off the line at the rate of six per montii. The Weybridge factory has now almost finished the initial batch of 24 aircraft, but will not cease completely to be concerned with the Viscount. Three of B.E.A.'s first 20 Series 701s (six more are on order) are still under con struction at Weybridge. As reported in Flight last week, the Corporation received £1.4m revenue from an average fleet of seven Viscounts during the first six months of scheduled services. Full results are as follows:— Revenue hours flown, 6,140; revenue utilization hours per annum, 1,560; passenger miles flown, 45,000 000; passenger load-factor, 76 per cent; direct operating costs, £545,000; surplus on direct operating costs, £855,000; total costs (including all overheads and interest on capital), £1,005,000; surplus on total costs, £395,000; revenue load-factor to cover direct operating costs, 28.1 per cent; revenue load-factor to cover total costs, 51 per cent. "C.G.G." MANY in the aircraft industry must, like ourselves, have been saddened by the news of the passing of C. G. Grey on Wednesday, December 9th. On the day before he died he lunched, as on so many previous occasions, with colleagues and friends of the Circle of Aviation Writers. At the time of his death he was attending a reception at the Admiralty. He was 78 years old, and for the last year or two had been in indifferent health; yet, though he often joked about what he thought should be written in his own obituary, his many friends had come to regard him as well- nigh indestructible. Charles Grey Grey will be remembered in particular as the founder of The Aeroplane and as its editor until 1939. He was born on November 13th, 1875, and was educated at the Erasmus Smith School, Dublin. He trained as an engineer at the Crystal Palace School of Engineer ing, and subsequendy joined the staff of The Autocar. In his own Story of "The Aeroplane," he describes how, as a member of the staff of The Autocar, at Christmas, 1908, he was sent by the editor to report the world's first aero show in Paris; and as a result of his report he was called upon by Iliffe and Sons, Ltd., to edit a penny weekly aviation paper called The Aero. In 1911, in partnership with Mr. E. V. (Later Sir Victor) Sassoon, he founded The Aerop'ane, of which he retained the editorship until 1939. His editorship of Jane's All the World's Aircraft dated from 1916 and continued until 1941, and from 1939 he was air correspondent of xheYorkshire Evening Charles Grey Grey British Air Ministry (1940), The Luftwaffe (1944) and The Civil Air War (1945). He was a founder-member and Honorary Companion of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Anyone who read C.G. in the twenties and thirties without having met him might have supposed mat his critical references, and sometimes perverse and acid com ments, reflected his nature and personality. Nothing could have been further from the truth. As long as we knew him he was a gentle and kindly man, always charming and generous to his friends, among whom he numbered rivals. Principal of these for many years was, of course, the late Stanley Spooner, founder-editor of our own journal. At a dinner in 1930 to mark 21 years of Flight, C.G. said he was reminded of the story of the little boy who, on being seen playing by himself, was asked if he had no little friends and who answered: "Yes, I have one, but I hate him." He had, he said, only one enemy—Stanley Spooner —and he loved him. Today there are men on Flight's staff who recall a kind word of encouragement here or a spot of advice there from the one-and-only C.G., particularly when they were taking their first tentative steps in the hard and competitive world of journalism. His goodwill continued to be reflected in frequent correspondence. From the first to the last occasion upon which we talked to him, he never once failed to express either an original thought or to reveal an unexpected viewpoint on some current topic. Neither his writing nor his conversation was ever lacking in humour. News, Lancashire Evening Post, Edinburgh Evening News, and Regardless of one's age, Charles Grey was indeed an interesting various overseas journals. His books included A History of the companion as well as being the first great aviation journalist.
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