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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0185.PDF
11 February 1955 185 Rumanian Government delegations on January 25th, an agree-ment was signed on the opening of a regular service between the Soviet Union and Rumania. Direct air communication is thusestablished on the Moscow - Bucharest route. Flying rights on this route are granted to both Soviet and Rumanian civil aircrafton an equal basis. Soviet flying personnel will supervise the train- ing of Rumanian crews. From Sofia, a report on recent developments in Bulgarian civil aviation states that three times the number of passengers and tentimes the amount of cargo carried in 1950 were transported in 1954. A new route—Sofia - Stara Zagora - Burgas - Stalin—wasopened during the year. The amount of agricultural flying done by civil aircraft increased even more; typically, no statistics aregiven, but the amount of work performed is said to be "38 times as much as in 1950." Bulgarian passenger services will offer 32per cent more capacity this year than in 1954, the report added. BREVITIES FROM February 16th all Qantas services on the London-Sydney route will be operated by Super Constellations. One of the three return flights weekly will be a "Connoisseur" service for39 first-class passengers only. From March 1st the airline will also be operating three weekly Super Constellation services on the"Southern Cross" Pacific route. * * * "FJight 1,000" is the name given by Pan American to a "paperjet operation" designed to provide information for future trans- atlantic services with jet airliners. The exercise, which is similarto tljjose conducted by B.O.A.C. and K.L.M., involves three weekly return "flights" between New York and London. f * * * Injpressive numbers of airline and executive transport aircraftare listed in the latest market report issued by William C. Wold Associates, the New York clearing house. The list includes 47Beechcraft D-18Ss, 25 Lodestars, 11 Aero Commanders, eight D.H. Doves, four Douglas A-20s, ten North American B-25s and 28 DC-3s. * * * Under the auspices of I.A.T.A., an airline public relations con-ference is to be held at The Hague from February 22nd-25th inclusive. Mr. R. J. Vogels, public relations manager of K.L.M.,is in charge of arrangements for the meeting, which will be held at the Kurhaus Hotel; secretary of the conference will be I.A.T.A.'spublic relations officer, Mr. S. R. Cohen. * * * L.A.N., the national airline of Chile, took delivery on January 27th of the first of three new DC-6Bs. To be introduced to service in March, the aircraft will link Santiago with Buenos Aires, Mon-tevideo, Lima and Magallanes; the airline is also considering the possibility of extending its Lima route to Panama, Mexico Cityand California. * * * Following the introduction of their scheduled all-cargo servicebetween London and Frankfurt on January 12th, Airwork have been granted full voting rights as an I.A.T.A. member. This isstated to be the first occasion in I.A.T.A.'s history on which an airline has qualified for full voting rights on a freight service only.(Airwork's scheduled passenger services, being operated within the Commonwealth, are outside I.A.T.A.'s sphere of directinfluence.) * * * Mr. P. K. Reynolds, European sales manager of C.P.A.,announced last week that the company's trans-Arctic service between Vancouver and Amsterdam will be inaugurated in Juneon a weekly basis. Eastbound flights will leave Vancouver on Thursdays, arriving at Schiphol 18 hr 30 min later after a refuellingstop at Churchill, Manitoba. Westbound flights, leaving Amster- dam on Friday evenings, will refuel at Sondre Stromfjord. * * * The Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation has appointedSir John Gibson Graham, M.C., as a member of the Air Trans- port Advisory Council. The appointment will run for theremainder of the Council's term of office—until July 22nd, 1956. Sir John is a director of a number of shipping companies, anunderwriting member of Lloyds and chairman of the Baltic Mercantile and Shipping Exchange, NEW ITALIAN LIGHTWEIGHTS AN Italian company called Meteor has begun production of• a light aircraft in two models, the FL 53 and FL 54, respec- tively a two- and a three-seater. The factory is at Monfalconeairfield, near Trieste, and the company states that it has taken over the aeronautical work of the Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, whichwas before and during the war responsible for the Cant-Zappata aircraft. The main differences between the two versions of the new lightaircraft are in engine power and seating capacity—two seats and 60 h.p., three seats and 90 h.p. Both are intended as successors tothe pre-war FL 3, still one of the most successful Italian club aircraft. Production is at present at the rate of two per month,and the price of the airframe is equivalent to about £1,250, the Italian customer generally being able to supply his own engine. . - . • -: - -*•-.-- --•—-1 Most frequent choices appear to be the 60 h.p. CNA D4 or the90 h.p. Continental with metal airscrew. The two-seater is intended primarily as a pilot trainer, whilethe three-seater can be used for instruction, aerial work, turismo, or glider towing, the aerial work consisting of such tasks as leafletdropping (popular in Italy) or banner towing. The rate of climb of the FL 54 with pilot only is such that it can tow a fully loadedCanguro glider (a.u.w. 1,090 lb) at 540ft/min. Electrical systems are not normally fitted in either version, butgenerator, battery and electric starter are optional extras. In addi- tion, the three-seater can carry a self-contained removable V.H.F.set instead of a third person, and full night flying equipment can also be added.Both versions are aerobatic at an all-up weight of 1,150 lb, the maximum a.u.w. of the FL 54 being 1,380 lb. A 13-gallon ventraltank can also be attached to bolts under the centre section, fuel being fed to the main tank by hand-pump along a pipe whichenters the fuselage by the leaflet chute. As the photographs of the FL 53 show, the aircraft has theslightly ungainly appearance typical of Italian machines of this class, but it has been designed for strength and durability in cluboperations. The fuselage, of mixed metal, wood and fabric con- struction, is quickly detachable from the wings and undercarriage,which come away as a single unit. The canopy has a crash-pylon structure to give protection in the event of overturning, thoughsuch a mishap is unlikely, since the undercarriage is extremely strong and stable. The wheels have ball bearings and hydraulicbrakes, and the tailwheel can be steered from the rudder pedals. Flaps are not considered necessary, but can be fitted as an extra,and the ailerons are slotted and have differential transmission. Flying characteristics are viceless, a stall resulting in a slightinitial wing drop which immediately corrects itself, and the aircraft recovers of its own accord with the nose only slightly below thehorizon. The standard instrumentation includes primary blind- flying instruments. Both the FL 53 and the FL 54 should provean attractive proposition for Italian flying clubs. The dimensions of both the FL 53 and FL 54 are 33ft 8in andlength 21ft 6in. The wing loading varies according to the air- craft's layout, but at its maximum it is only just over 9 lb/sq ft.Performance similarly varies with the type of engine fitted. Maximum speeds are between 100 m.p.h. and 115 m.p.h. andcruising speeds about 15 m.p.h. lower. Stalling speed is quoted by the makers as 37 m.p.h.
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