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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1595.PDF
710 FLIGHT CIVIL AVIATION... TAKING SHAPE: This recent view of the central area of London Airport, taken looking northward from a B.E.A. Bell 47 helicopter, shows how the control block and traffic terminal building are progressing. HOT NEWS S USPENSION of newspaper deliveries from London to the west country, which might otherwise have followed last week's Western Region rail dispute, was avoided by the swift action of B.E.A. on the day the trouble started. In co-operation with three independent companies, Eagle Aviation, Transair and Hunting, the Corporation delivered some 45 tons of papers to Cardiff and Exeter in the early hours of Wednesday, May 19th. Deliveries on a similar scale were continued on the Thursday and Friday. The B.E.A. aircraft, which were three Pionairs and six Admiral-class Vikings, left Northolt in quick succession, and arrived at Cardiff and Exeter Airports after flights of 1 hr 10 min. CENTRAL AFRICAN RESULTS A PRELIMINARY report issued by Central African Airways *»• on the financial year ended March 31st, shows that during that period they carried over 115,000 passengers, as against 98,165 in the previous year; total passenger-miles flown being 58,986,521 or 27 per cent more than in 1952-53. Freight traffic also increased—by over 80,000 ton-miles to 599,218, which was 15 per cent higher than in 1952-53. Commenting on the results, a C.A.A. spokesman said that it would be remembered that during April, May and June the Viking fleet was withdrawn from service to undergo main-spar repairs. During the year the cheap-fare Zambezi service increased in popularity; without it "the traffic figures would not present anything like such a good picture." C.A.A. have also announced the introduction of new South African Airways timetables to provide Rhodesians who travel on the C.A.A. service to Johannesburg with direct, same-day con nections to and from Capetown. Same-day connections to OUTMODED (not that it was ever fashionable) by the new L.A.P. buildings is the miscellaneous line of hutments straggling alongside the Bath Road. In the foreground can be seen the traffic roundabout and the entrance to the tunnel which will give access to the central area. Northern Rhodesia are made possible by the new C.A.A. night flights to Lusaka and Ndola, on two evenings a week. It will now be possible for a passenger to accomplish the 1,800-mile journey from Ndola to Capetown in 12 hours, and from Salis bury (1,400 miles) the time will be only 8j hours. CENTAURUS OVERHAUL-LIFE INCREASED AS briefly mentioned in our special "Power Units of the World" •**• issue of April 9th, the approved overhaul-life of the Bristol Centaurus 661 fitted to B.E.A.'s Elizabethan aircraft has recendy been increased from 800 to 1,000 hours. A further increase to 1,200 hours in the near future is hoped for. The operational record of the Centaurus with B.E.A. is impres sive. The first Elizabethan was delivered to B.E.A. in September 1951, the Centaurus engines beginning their civil career with the conservative life of 300 hours (subsequently raised to 600, 700 and finally 800 hours). After eighteen months' service, 40,250 engine flying hours had been completed and the average life achieved was 480 hours per engine. During 1953 this average increased to 585 hours and, over the first three months of 1954, to 835 hours. Engine flying hours since the start of operations now total over 80,000, and 91 per cent of permissible life has been achieved. BREVITIES "lyORTHOLT will be closed to civil flying after October 31st, -*-~ 1954, and from that date it will no longer be available for civil aircraft either as a regular terminal or as an alternative airport. This was announced by the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation on May 12th, in reply to a Parliamentary question. * * * For the past two years traffic controller (developments) for B.O.A.C., Mr. D. O. Bustard has recently been promoted to the position of traffic manager. * * * News of an unofficial record set up by a S.A.S. DC-6B for the westbound transadantic crossing has just come from Scandinavia. The aircraft, Vidar Viking, flew the 3,207 miles from Prestwick to New York on May 1st in 11 hr 7 min, arriving four hours ahead of schedule. * * * The first of five Super Constellations ordered by Air India International called at London Airport on May 14th en route for Bombay. The aircraft, named Empress Nurjehan, was flown from Burbank by an Indian crew. On June 8th it is scheduled to inaugurate the company's latest service from Bombay to London. * * * B.O.A.C. announce that their engine repair factories at Tre- forest have won a U.S.A.F. contract worth $250,000 (£90,000) for the overhaul of Pratt and Whitney engines. The Corporation states that the contract was open to tender and was won in the face of keen competition from Continental overhaul organizations and other concerns. * * * The award of two $2,000 fellowships at Columbia University, providing for original research on a graduate level into potential markets for the company's transatlantic freight services, are announced by Seaboard and Western Airlines. The recipients are W. A. Jordon, a former cargo sales representative for Air France in New York City, and E. B. Gasser of the University of Zurich. Two similar fellowships were awarded last year. * * * An additional weekly tourist service from New York to Manchester was introduced by Sabena on May 18th; subject to Government approval, an extra weekly flight in the reverse direc tion will be offered from June 14th. Sabena first operated a weekly round-trip tourist service between Manchester and New York on October 28th last year and a weekly first-class service was added in December.
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