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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1914.PDF
FLIGHT, 25 June 1954 869 35 YEARS AFTER THE unveiling at London Airport on June 15th, of the memorial to Sir John Alcock and Sir Arthur Whitten-Brown brought back vivid memories of their arrival at Euston Station after they had made the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic, on June 14th and 15th, 1919. The actual landing was unfortunate, in that it was made on boggy land and the Vickers Vimy stood on its nose. At every stop on the way from Holy head to London they were greeted by cheering crowds. Capt. Vickers and Rex The scene at Euston Station as Capt. John Alcock and Lt. Arthur Whitten-Brown (they were knighted later) left for the Royal Aero Club in Col. McClean's car. "Flight" photographs Air. Lennox-Boyd un veils the memorial to Alcock and Brown at London Airport. Later it will be moved to a position near the per manent buildings in the centre of the airport. Pierson, the designer of the aircraft, travelled with them and the party was joined at Crewe by Claude Johnson, then managing director of Rolls-Royce Ltd. At Euston a tremendous (and largely straw-hatted) crowd made it very difficult for the police to clear a way for them to board Sir Francis McClean's famous white-painted Rolls-Royce car, which was then almost a land mark at every aeronautical function. Eventually, however, a procession was formed leading to the Royal Aero Club where, after the official reception had finished, the two airmen presented themselves on the balcony to the big crowds waiting outside. The excitement of the occasion had been heightened by the arrival at Euston of Harry Hawker, who had been rescued after being forced down in the Atlantic consequent on an engine failure. Last week's ceremony was placid by comparison, yet all round was the daily life of the busy international airport from which a Stratocruiser was then making the 14,150th scheduled Atlantic crossing by B.O.A.C. and its predecessors. In a brief speech before the unveiling, Lord Brabazon painted a picture of flying as it was in 1919, reminding his listeners that in those days the employment of two engines did not necessarily give added safety but more often doubled the expectation of trouble. Mr. Lennox-Boyd, •Minister of Civil Aviation, who unveiled the memorial, said that contributions towards its cost of £5,000 had come in from both sides of the Atlantic—between 400 and 500 Americans had subscribed, including Col. Lindbergh, who eight years later was to make the first solo, non-stop crossing. Many of the pioneers of British aviation were present at London Airport. A group from Vickers included 12 men who worked on the construction of the Vimy; and A. H. Couch and R. Dicker who were members of the Vickers ground party at St. John's, Newfoundland, where the flight started. J.Y. CORRESPONDENCE .a The Editor of "Flight" does not hold himself responsible for the views expressed by correspondents in these columns; the names and addresses of the writers, not necessarily for publication, must in all cases accompany letters. Too Many Hands? Y OUR leading article in the June 11th issue, whilst it has undoubtedly a good motive behind it, calls for some comment. You criticize close allies working along parallel lines to develop certain kinds of expensive equipment, but your solution does not seem to be far different from nationalization of the industry. Your suggestion is that the brains of both of two allies should be put together and that die work should then be shared out; but who would get what share? And what would happen to your smaller companies who would not be asked to partake in this exchange of views, but on whom, for some types of work, our country is entirely dependent? The fairest share possible could be meted out only by an impartial third party; such a party does not exist, other than the Government, and one wonders sometimes how impartial they would be. There are some other things which want looking into which are much closer at home and are not of an international nature. It is possible, today, for a company to spend two years, or more, in developing an item of equipment, and then for the fruits of its labours to be spread amongst half a dozen or more other companies, on the grounds of economy, through competitive tender. True, a designing firm is supposed to get the first con tract, but that first contract can be a very small one and die sub sequent one comparatively large. (I quote from actual cases.) In any case, this open-tender business is costing a lot of money and endangering the financial stability of a lot of skilled firms with design facilities. It is also employing a lot of Civil Servants, who seem to have embedded in their minds that any job which comes along must be submitted to all and sundry, quite irrespective of the technical skill of die one firm that designed it and knows all the answers. I suggest, therefore, that it would be better to put our own house in order in this direction first, before we presume to tell our allies how we should work together more economically in our common cause. If we don't, and if we take your suggestions too literally, we shall find even the aircraft industry drifting into that frightful state called nationalization, which will be the ruin of this country if we adopt it for our basic industries. London, S.W.I. MUSKETEER. Agricultural Aircraft—New Figures THE abstracts from the Sydney R.Ae.S. symposium on "Air craft in Agriculture," which appeared in your June 4th and lldi issues, were extremely interesting, although it was dis appointing to find that there were only two British aircraft
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