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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0682.PDF
An early demonstration of the helicopter's humanitarian role was the supply mission flown to the Wolf Rock Lighthouse in February 1948 by the Westland Aircraft Company's S-51 demonstrator. Pilot Man Bristow was subsequently awarded a R.Ae.C. Silver Medal. HELICOPTERS AT WORK . . . have taken advantage of the indirect subsidy available from airmail, which can demand a relatively high return per ton-mile in return for a speedy and efficient service over short routes. Inci dentally, a spokesman of Los Angeles Airways has claimed that on a cost per ton-mile basis his company's mail pay is only about 25 per cent of that received by the best fixed-wing local airlines. L.A.A.'s helicopter mail services in the Los Angeles area began in October 1947 and its aircraft have since flown aver 30,000 hours. A close second is Helicopter Air Service, which began operations in the Chicago district in August 1949 and has since carried about 7,000 tons of mail without accident. The company now holds a passenger licence. After operating a scheduled freight service in the New York area for nine months, New York Airways opened, in July last, a passenger service connecting the three major New York airports. National Airlines recendy became die first of America's established fixed-wing carriers to enter the helicopter field: this company has one S-55 and proposes to operate two more on an inter-city network in Florida. Existing and proposed helicopter services fall into two categories —metropolitan and inter-city. Fending the advent of large heli copters, most American operators are thinking in terms of metro politan services, which would carry passengers on the same basis as mail and freight, i.e., at the highest rate which the traffic will bear. This philosophy is summed up in another quotation from the Los Angeles Airways spokesman: "If the helicopter can save the passenger an hour or two over the taxi it should get the same fare as the taxi; viz, 25-30 cents a mile. On longer trips, of course, the cost should drop, but 10 cents a mile would be the absolute minimum." In Europe, opportunities for metropolitan service are fewer. The Post Office, for example, have been unable to continue their encouragement of B.E.A., who are also virtually prohibited from operating their present equipment into the heart of London by the lack of a suitable heliport and the performance regulations affecting single-engined helicopters. Although the Corporation's helicopter unit was founded as long ago as 1947, its operational experience has consisted mainly of mail and passenger services operated in each case for a very limited period only. In contrast with the plans of the U.S. metropoliton operators, B.E.A. envisage 310 FLIGHT helicopters which will compete with fixed-wing, land and sea ser vices on distances of up to 200 miles. The advent of a suitable British helicopter for this purpose, large enough and ready for passenger service, remains at least five years distant. Belgium's national airline, Sabena, opened a 270-mile inter city mail circuit with Bell 47s in 1950. The tonnage carried on this route now approaches 200. In June last year the airline began to take delivery of its three S-55s and the first stage in a logical progression from mail to passengers began in August with the inauguration of an experimental freight service. By September 1st, Sabena were ready to open the world's first international pas senger route flown by rotary-wing aircraft. The S-55 network now flown takes in eight cities in five countries, and the large Sikorskys have also taken over the mail circuit from die Bells, which have been sold. Since "fixed-wing" fares are charged, Sabena's inter-city S-55 network is evidently uneconomic as such; but this apparent disadvantage is easily offset by (a) the experi ence gained; (b) the fact that a good proportion of the helicopter passengers are fed into long-haul services operated from Brussels; and (c) the prestige value of being the world's first operator of international helicopter services. The total flight time built up with all types of rotary-wing aircraft is estimated to be in the region of three million hours; helicopters produced by the Bell company alone have logged over This study of a New York Airways S-SS "Skybus" over the temporary terminal area at Idlewild illustrates well the "metropolitan" role of the helicopter: i.e., as a connecting link between neighbouring airports and between city-centres and airports. National Air Lines, owner of the DC-6 on the left, recently became the first large American fixed-wing carrier to operate helicopters. one million. One of the most intensely utilized Bell 47s, the first of six delivered to Helicopter Air Services of Chicago, recently passed the 4,000 hr mark. Although it still has the original set of rotor blades, this machine has outlived eleven transmission systems. Component-renewal on such a scale is, of course, an expensive business and, coupled wim high fuel and maintenance costs and small payloads, accounts for the present small scale of airline operations with rotorcraft. Outside die realm of scheduled transport, however, most appli cations of the helicopter are essentially economic: high operating costs become of secondary importance when the helicopter is shown to be capable of tasks which would be impossible to per form, or would take years to complete, with any other equipment. The founder of Okanagan Helicopters of Vancouver, Mr. Carl Agar, has done more than most people to demonstrate the unique powers of the helicopter. We quote some examples of the tasks successfully performed with Okanagan's fleet of three S-55s and five Bell 47s in turbulent mountain districts at altitudes of up to 10,000ft: transporting on to a mountain platform pre-fabricated components for a complete village of 25 houses; moving 13 tons of freight, consisting of mining equipment, food, living accom modation for seven men and a cookhouse, from a floating platform on a river to a mountain ridge 18 miles away and 3,000ft high; a 200-ton lift of all structural material required to dam the Palisade Lake, plus a concrete mixer and a rowing boat. Undoubtedly the largest engineering project which has yet involved the use of helicopters is the Aluminium Company of Canada's plan, now well advanced, for damming a chain of lakes and transferring water by tunnel through the mountains to a
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