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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0034.PDF
34 FLIGHT FROM ALL QUARTERS INTERCEPT ER: Streaking out over the south coast, this Hawker Hunter F.I typifies a class of aircraft first intro- duced into the Royal Air Force by the Hawker Fury biplane—similarly Rolls- Royce-powered. BRITANNIA AND THE SEVEN SEAS ON Monday last the Ministry of Transport confirmed that theMinister had received from B.O.A.C. a letter concerning approval to buy nineteen Douglas DC-7Cs. B.O.A.C. couldneither confirm nor deny such a request, which had been headlined in a Sunday newspaper. It will be remembered that only last October a great controversyraged over the suggestion that B.O.A.C. might order DC-7Ds powered by Rolls-Royce R.B.109 turboprops. The DC-7C nowbeing considered has, on the other hand, American Wright piston engines, and the purchase of a fleet of 19 would entail the expendi-ture of over £15m worth of dollars. B.O.A.C.'s anticipation of more criticisms was expressed in aNew Year message to the Corporation's staff from Sir Miles Thomas, when he said: —". . . We should never be deflected ... by ill-informed and at times ill-natured criticism of our policy and aims. In the public controversyaroused by our aircraft equipment problem, particularly that concerning the next four to five years, too many people fail to appreciate that theprimary and statutory duty of B.O.A.C. is to operate a world-wide airline, and that if we do not take steps to have the right aeroplanes at theright time, Britain will cease to rank among the major inter-continental air transport undertakings. ... As we are in a fluid and rapidlydeveloping industry, our motive must always be to offer the kind of aircraft most suitable for the routes on which they fly and to give thebest possible service to our customers in whatever country they may be. If we do not, then our traffic will unquestionably go to our competitors—let no one have any illusions about that hard, inescapable fact." Earlier, when admitting that the Corporation was "informallydiscussing the potentialities" of the DC-7D, B.O.A.C. had pointed out that "the idea of helping to encourage the use of British enginesin aircraft which would probably be sold to airlines throughout the world is naturally of interest." This reasoning could not, ofcourse, apply to the proposal to buy DC-7Cs. The decision as to whether an order for DC-7Cs is necessaryto maintain B.O.A.C.'s competitive position resolves itself largely into a comparative analysis of the DC-7C and the Britannia interms of performance and availability for first-line service. The DC-7C, to be known as the Seven Seas, is a long-rangeversion of the DC-7 now used on American domestic routes by several airlines. It differs in several respects, notably in dimen-sions (10ft more span, 3ft more fuselage and a 2ft higher tail), increased tankage (7,860 compared with 6,400 U.S. gallons),slightly greater climb power and higher all-up weight (139,000 instead of 122,000 lb). So far 25 Seven Seas have been ordered: 15 by P.A.A., eightby S.A.S., and two by Swissair. The maiden flight is expected to take place towards the end of this year, and deliveries toP.A.A., the first customer, are to begin by June 1956. Deliveries to B.O.A.C. could begin late in 1956.The main attraction of the Seven Seas will be its ability to operate transatlantic services non-stop in both directions withhigh regularity, and carrying an economic payload. Douglas quote a range of 5,000 miles with 62 first-class passengers plusbaggage, cargo, mail and reserve fuel. Aircraft with such a performance would be able to claim most of the first-class trans-atlantic traffic; existing equipment would then be relegated to tourist services making at least one stop. By the end of 1955B.O.A.C.'s North Atlantic services will be operated exclusively with Stratocruisers, which are not capable of direct westboundcrossings but can occasionally fly eastbound non-stop with the aid of strong tailwinds. The Corporation's ability to meet com-petition from DC-7Cs and long-range Super Constellations there- fore depends solely on the Britannias which it now has on order. Of the 25 Britannias being built for B.O.A.C., the first 15 willbe of the Mk 100 type (Proteus 705), which is not regarded as a transatlantic airliner. The others will be Mk 300s (Proteus 755),some of which will be the "L.R." type with extra fuel tankage. It is Bristol's claim (though B.O.A.C. have not endorsed it) thatthe Britannia 300 L.R will be superior to the DC-7C on all counts. In terms of payload and speed, the Britannia 300 L.R. is estimatedto have a 20 per cent advantage over its competitor in both direc- tions between London and New York. The Britannia 300 shouldbe in service with B.O.A.C. by June 1956, and January 1957 is quoted as the introductory date for the longer-range version. Bythis time the Mk 100 should have seen nearly 12 months' service. The size of the DC-7C order proposed by B.O.A.C. comes asa surprise. Obviously everyone here would rather see B.O.A.C. purchase only British aircraft, but we would certainly not sub-scribe to the principle that restrictions should be placed on normal international trading relationships, even in the case of a nationalCorporation. American interests seem to have taken a broad and generous view of Capital's large Viscount purchase. This countryshould do likewise in the event of another British purchase of American airliners if this is shown unquestionably to be in thebest interests of B.O.A.C. But it does not require nineteen DC-7Cs to guarantee competitive North Atlantic services in1957, and regardless of the merits of these aircraft now, they are unlikely, with four large piston-engines, to remain competitivefor passenger travel for more than two or three years. If the development, production and early service of the turbopropBritannias proceeds smoothly they should be capable of stealing the bulk of first-class traffic by 1958, and of carrying it moreeconomically than any piston-engine type. There is the slight possibility that DC-7Cs might be successfully re-engined duringtheir careers to bring them nearer to Britannia and DC-7D standards and those of the jet airliners of the late 1950s. Neither the Seven Seas nor the Britannia 300 L.R. is yetflying, so comparisons can be made only between their "paper performances." On this basis, the Britannia promises to be morethan a match for its rival, and so far as delivery dates are concerned there is little to choose between the two. By ordering both,B.O.A.C. would certainly achieve insurance against failure of the large turboprop airliner, or further delays in its evolution. It willbe for the Government to decide whether the risk justifies so costly a premium. DC-8 Order Forecast "DEPORTS from America suggest that the first airlineiv order for a U.S. jet transport will be placed this year. The operators concerned are United Air Lines, whose president, Mr.JW. A. Patterson, states that the initial investment will be some $50m. United's choice is likely to be the projected Douglas DC-8^-which would be introduced in 1959-1960. The cost of the aircraft, including its four J-57 turbojets, is expected to be about $4.5m. In an interview with Aviation Week, Mr. Patterson describeddiscussion of long-range turboprop transports as "shadow-box- ing," adding "There is no engine available." He said that onstages of over 1,000 miles the jet transport promised to be more economical than the DC-6B. United would continue to operatethe DC-6B and DC-7 until the time came to operate pure-jet air- liners : "We think that if you buy a turboprop plane today, yourcompetitor can buy a jet and whip you by 200 m.p.h." The United president implied that he was not interested inbuying the Boeing 707. His airline wanted a transport designed initially for commercial rather than military use. He indicatedthat Douglas proposed to enter a military version of their civil design in the U.S.A.F. tanker-transport competition. Civil pro-duction, however, would depend on the company's ability to build
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