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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0283.PDF
4 March 1955 A recent arrival from Australia was Mr. C. 0. Turner, general manager of Qantas Empire Airways (right), seen here with Mr. Keith Granville, sales manager of B.O.A.C. Their respective companies operate the London-Sydney "Kangaroo" route in partnership. An application to fly non-stop between New York and Nassauhas been filed with the C.A.B. by Pan American World Airways. The American airline says that approval of the application wouldenable it to compete effectively with B.O.A.C., at present the only company providing direct services.* * * In preparation for the delivery of Viscounts during the comingfinancial year, British West Indian Airways will intensify then- sales campaign in North America; the airline hopes to attract anincreased share of tourist travel to the Caribbean. The campaign was discussed at Nassau last week at a conference attended bysenior officials of both B.W.I.A and B.O.A.C., including Sir Miles Thomas, who has been making a tour of stations in the Caribbean. * * * According to French newspaper reports the compensationoffered by de Hayilland to U.A.T. and Air France for the losses incurred with their Comet Is amounts to half the initial cost ofthe aircraft. This would be paid not as cash but in the form of credit towards the cost of new Comets. French newspapers saythat this would represent less than a quarter of the total amount lost by the two companies—estimated at some £6m.* * * With the object of improving R/T communications on North Atlantic routes an experimental station has been set up by M.T.C.A. at Mangersta, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides. The Station will carry out trials of "ground wave" propagation on highfrequency R/T and of directional aerial arrays for V.H.F. R/T. Details of the H.F. transmissions are given in InformationCircular No. 23/1955, and the V.H.F. trials will be described in a later circular. * * * In reply to a parliamentary question last week, the Minister ofTransport and Civil Aviation said that work on the second runway at Prestwick should be completed in the spring of 1956. Limiteduse of the runway, without its associated taxi-track, should begin in the autumn of this year. A new control tower would be readyby 1956, and plans were being prepared for a new terminal build- ing which would become necessary "in the course of the next fewyears." CLUB AND GLIDING NEWS AFTER a period of seven years without any accommodation for>• its members, The Scottish Flying Club recently received per- mission from the M.T.C.A. to rent a building on Renfrew Airportfor use as a clubhouse. This important occasion was celebrated on January 22nd with a cocktail party, at which some 100 memberswere present. The building now occupied was the Club's pre-war sleepingquarters, and a number of the bedrooms have been retained. The lounge, although small, has .been tastefully decorated under thesupervision of Mr. F. A. W. Mickel, the Chairman, and a limited amount of catering can be provided. It is hoped that the Club will regain its pre-war popularity nowthat it is able to offer members a comfortable meeting place. The facilities offered are adequate for the present, but not on such alavish scale as before the war, when the S.F.C. occupied its own premises. The committee are a little more confident of the futureand look forward to an improvement in the financial position, as a great deal of money has been lost during the past seven years. An encouraging fact is that flying hours are increasing. During1954 just under 1,000 hours were completed; were it not for the bad weather and shortage of aircraft this figure would have beenmuch higher. Thirteen Private Pilot's Licences were gained. Vf EMBERS of the Liverpool Flying Club succeeded in flyingTA 67 hours during December and 65 in January, despite very bad weather over Merseyside during these months. Three pupilsmade their first solos during the same period, in addition to one first night solo. The dub fleet now consists of one Gemini, threeAusters and one Taylorcraft. One of the Austers is equipped for night flying which, the club reports, members find extremely goodvalue at only £3 10s per hour as against £3 per hour for day flying. The social side of club activities has been taken over entirely bythe members through their committee and, since this arrangement came into force, three very pleasant dances have taken place. AT the annual meeting of the Northamptonshire Aero Club,* ** held in the clubhouse on February 18th, Alderman C. M. Newton, M.B.E. (chairman), said in his review of die year thatthere had been an increase in both membership and flying hours, despite the rather unkind flying weather. He felt that the maincredit lay with the club's flying instructor, who had worked hard in coaching the many new young members. Of these, 46 had beengiven instruction and 44 had flown solo. Sixteen Private Pilot's Licences had been obtained. The A.T.C. Flying ScholarshipScheme had again operated and ten cadets had been chosen for the course. Six had so far achieved their Pilot's Licences. In the annual flying contests the results were: Best studentpilot, C. Boddington; Navigation contest, M. H. Burrill; "Find your way home" contest, A. West; General flying, G. Thomas. Social events had included a lunch patrol and garden partywhich were attended by numerous pilots from clubs as far afield as Elstree, Liverpool and Darlington. A flying weekend to the Isle ofWight was very popular, as were the many dances, including the annual tramps' party and punch party. THE Isle of Wight Gliding Club reports that it is at last opera-tional, just over a year from the first public meeting. One Cadet glider has been overhauled and has a C. of A.; a second machine(minus centre-section fabric) is used for ground-sliding. On January 30th, T. R. Beasley (secretary) first test-hopped theCadet and followed this with a number of circuits in order to give the winch-driver some experience. February 13th was the first realtraining day; after the air test, slides and hops proceeded, mainly for power-pilot members and two ex-A.T.C. members who gained"C" certificates well over a year ago. This proved a very successful day, in which all members learned a lot about ground-handling—and were introduced to the frustrations of gliding. Modifications are in hand to convert the club's ex-fire engineinto a self-propelling winch. The club is fortunate in having the use of Sandown airfield, including hangarage and an excellentclubhouse. Chairman of the new group is Mr. R. Stratton. SINCE the Avro Gliding Club started operations in May, 1953,members have logged over 2,000 launches and gained 22 "A", 22 "B" and 5 "C" certificates. This has been achieved with onewinch, a T.31B and a Tutor. The club operates from the company's airfield at Woodford inCheshire. This is a flat site about three miles west of the Derby- shire foothills and, in certain east-wind conditions, soaring is pos-sible in quite good waves. So far, no wave has been experienced this year, but last December one was contacted at 500ft and a rapidclimb to 3,400ft was followed by a flight of one hour's duration. These figures still stand as club records. Last year proved a very difficult one for the club, which wasplagued with more than its share of snags in the form of an un- willing winch and retrieving vehicle (a motor-cycle combination)—as well as the weather. In addition, members lost the services of their first chief instructor, Mr. P. G. Sharman (who joined theR.A.F.), and Mr. Peter Rivers, who had also put in a lot of hard work for the club in the early days. A second winch is now in operation, and a Ferguson tractor isbeing purchased for retrieving purposes. With this new equip- ment, members hope to achieve a lot more gliding during 1955. THE Aero Club of Ireland, founded in May last year, now has60 members, 20 of whom own their own aircraft. Other news contained in a letter from David Montgomery, the club's secre-tary, is that an "air pageant and flying display" is planned for Whit Sunday and Whit Monday, May 29th-30th. British andoverseas pilots will be invited to take part in "many speed and novel events." RECENTLY formed, the Southampton Group of the PopularFlying Association is now operating the German Zaunkonig G-ALUA, previously flown by the Experimental Flying Groupand, more recently, the Ipswich Group. Main supporters of the new group at Southampton are John Squire (chairman), JohnIsaacs (hon. secretary), Colin Green and Peter Whatford, all mem- bers of the Hampshire Aeroplane Club at Eastleigh Airport.
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