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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1659.PDF
740 FLIGHT CIVIL AVIATION **' /«*••• —^HSSU '•'•'' • •" • :•••••'• ••• • ' THE VISCOUNT'S CENTURY O FFICIALLY, the number of Vickers- Armstrongs Viscounts delivered or ordered at the time of writing was 93. How ever, two airlines—Central African Airways and Lineas Aeropostal Venezolana—have announced their inten tion to sign contracts for eight more Viscounts, bringing the total to 101. The L.A.V. announcement, made in Caracas on May 25th, said that three Viscounts would be bought, at a cost of more than £1,400,000 with spares, for service on Venezuelan domestic routes. S.A.S. POLAR ROUTE APPROVED UNITED STATES Government approval has been granted to the joint Danish, Norwegian and Swedish request to operate a trans-Polar air service terminating at Los Angeles. Subject to Canadian government approval for an application to pick up and set down traffic at Edmonton, S.A.S. hope to begin the service within 60 days. Several proving flights over the Polar route have already been made by the Scandinavian airline's DC-6Bs, which, in regular service, will carry 48 first-class passengers. Copenhagen will be the European terminal, and transit stops will be made at Sondre Stromfjord (Greenland) and Edmonton. These aircraft will carry a crew of nine, three of whom—on westbound flights —will leave the aircraft at Edmonton after completion of the Arctic leg. HELICOPTER FERRY PLAN APPARENTLY referring to the Fairey Rotodyne, A. Cdre. G. J. L Powell, managing director of Silver City Airways, said last week that one British manufacturer, after study of the specification issued by his company, was able to build a car-ferry helicopter with a load and performance similar to those of conventional ferry aircraft. Such a development, having regard to the rotorplane's comparative immunity from weather problems and the shortness of the route, would represent an enormous step forward for the channel air ferry. Silver City Airways have applied to operate scheduled helicopter services, initially with single rotor machines and later with multi-engined types, over all their cross-Channel routes. Commenting on the application, A. Cdre. Powell said that the company realized that helicopter operations with payloads comoarable with those carried on the present ferry services were not less than four years away, but that it was anxious to keep as up-to-date as possible with helicopter development. Another application to operate scheduled helicopter services has been made by B.E.A., who intend to introduce their Bristol 171s to scheduled passenger services between London Airport and Eastleigh, Southampton, during the twelve-month period begin ning on June 14th. A frequency of one to two services daily is envisaged. GLOBETROTTING HERON T'HE de Havilland company's prototype Heron 2, G-AMTS, -•- recently returned to Hatfield after spending the winter months in a protracted demonstration tour which took it first to Germany and France, then via Tripoli, Algiers, Spain and Portugal, and all the way round the African Continent and then to India. On the European part of the tour the Heron met some of the cold weather which later assailed England, but soon it headed southwards for the sun, visiting Dakar, Liberia, the Belgian Congo, Southern Rhodesia, South Africa and Mozambique. Demonstrations were given in each of these regions and visits paid to those who were already using de Havilland aircraft there, particularly the Spanish company Iberia, who have operated Rapides from Fernando Po for the last 14 years. A number of operators of Beavers and Doves were also visited. The Heron continued through Kenya, Ethiopia and Egypt to Jordan, where King Hussein pSoted the aircraft. Next came the Persian Gulf and then India, where comprehensive performance demonstrations were given over several chosen routes. All these places provided ample opportunity for the Heron to justify its makers' claims regarding hot-weather, high-altitude and engine- out performance. SOUTHERN CONSTELLATION, now in service between Sydney and Vancouver, is the flagship of the Qantas Super Constellation fleet. The Australian airline has been asked to release earlier-type Constellation 749As to ease B.O.A.C.'s equipment difficulties. The Heron finally returned to the U.K. via Jordan, Cyprus, and Greece, where King Paul I of the Hellenes, an experienced pilot, took the controls for an hour. Further demonstrations were carried out at Urbe airport, Rome, before the return flight to Hatfield via Nice, Toussus (Paris) and Lympne. Altogether, G-AMTS spent four months abroad, and flew more than 215 hours uneventfully. A number of routine maintenance inspections were carried out, several in fairly primitive conditions. THE COMET INQUIRY HP HE Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport and •*• Civil Aviation, Mr. John Profumo, was asked in the House of Commons on Monday by Sir Robert Perkins (Con., Stroud and Thornbury) whether he would consider extending the terms of reference of the public inquiry into the Comet accidents at Elba and Naples. Sir Robert suggested that the inquiry should cover the previous accidents at Rome, Karachi, and Calcutta, and asked wheuier the British Air Line Pilots' Association would be per mitted to give evidence. Mr. Profumo replied that each of these three accidents had already been investigated and that it was for the court to decide from which sources the evidence would be taken at the forthcoming inquiry. In a further question Sir Robert said that the British Air Line Pilots' Association considered that in the case of the Rome acci dent the pilot, Captain Foote, was wrongly blamed; in this case the inquiry sat in private and no machinery existed for Capt. Foote to appeal or clear himself except to the court which had already convicted him. In view of the fact that since this accident there had been three changes in Comet take-off technique, Sir Robert asked, would the Minister institute a full public inquiry to enable this innocent man to clear himself? Mr. Profumo replied that the question of the amendment of the regulations was under con sideration; if B.A.L.P.A. wished to take up this matter they could write to the Treasury solicitors. A B.A.L.P.A. statement on this subject was issued as we went to press. HELICOPTERS IN PARLIAMENT IXELICOPTERS were discussed during last week's House of * * Lords debate on Civil Air Estimates. Lord Douglas of Kirde- side said that he could not avoid the impression that there was a marked indifference in the minds of the Air Staff to the develop ment of this type of aircraft. He was one of those who believed that in the next ten years all the shorter air routes up to 200 miles in this country and on the Continent would be flown by big multi-engined helicopters going in to the middle of cities. For tunately, said Lord Douglas, the civil and military requirements of helicopters broadly coincided, so that the development of one assisted trie other. There was no doubt that the development of the helicopter in this country was lagging and that we were being outstripped by the Americans; there was not enough pressure or sense of urgency behind helicopter development. Lord Winsrer agreed that development of the helicopter "seems to have lagged a bit" and, in a reference to Lord Beaverbrook, said that he was deliehted to see that a former Minister of Aircraft Production was lending his weight to popularizing the helicopter and pushing it forward. For the Government, Lord De L'Isle and Dudley said that he shared the enthusiasm for the helicooter and regretted that we had been outstripped by the United States, which was, however, a very rich nation. He believed there were over 3,000 helicopters in the United States Army alone. Vast sums of money must have been poured into research and development; and, "being a highly efficient and techn'cally skilled nation they get results." Lord De L'Isle and Dudley added: "I believe we shall gain a great deal if we build on their experience, coming perhaps rather late into the field, although I would remind the House that there is in existence the Bristol 173 which has been flying for two years
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