FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1091.PDF
5 August 1955 203 January 1945: the first of T.W.A.'s five re- built Stratoliners (still bearing its original U.S.A.F. serial number and military insignia) takes off on a test flight at Seattle. they charge the cheapest fare between these two cities—$150against the standard I.A.T.A. tourist fare of $187. It is apparent that the small number of Stratoliners built have,even now, several years of useful service ahead of them. Their history suggests that the useful life of a modern transport aero-plane is quite often in excess of the figure of seven to ten years often quoted nowadays. At the time of writing, Aigle Azur's five are flying on the twiceweekly Paris-Saigon schedules, covering the 12,560 km in 40i hours' flying time, with night-stops at Beyrouth, Karachi andCalcutta. They also operate special charter nights between France and Madagascar; the writer saw one of them at Mombasain January 1954; it was en route from Tananarive to Paris. Although I cannot, unfortunately, quote precise airframe hoursfor these French-owned Stratoliners, I understand from reliable sources that each of them has logged some 30,000 hours in itslifetime of 14j years. Quite a remarkable achievement! Leading data for Boeing Stratoliner SA-307-B: Four Wright GR-1820 Cyclone- engines, 1,200 h.p. each; 38-passenger, long-range, transport; wing span 107ft 3in; length overall 74ft 4in; height overall, 20ft 9.38in; empty weight, 30,310 Ib; gross weight, 42,000 Ib; top speed, 246 m.p.h.; cruising speed, 220 m.p.h.; maximum range, 2,390 miles; service ceiling, 26,200ft; wing loading, 28.3 Ib/sq ft; power loading, 9.6 Ib/h.p.; fuel capacity, 1,700 U.S. gal. THE AERONAUTICAL BOOKSHELF "Jump For It" by Gerald Bowman. Evans Brothers, Ltd.,Montague House, Russell Square, London, W.C.I. Illustrated. Price 12s 6d.TN ideal conditions, parachuting requires nerve and a modicum •*- of luck; and seldom does anything go seriously amiss in theprocess. If a premeditated jump is properly carried out, the main pre-requisite is nerve. In an emergency escape from what Mr.Bowman calls a doomed aircraft, the situation is to a considerable extent reversed. Under the stimulus of fire or structural failure,the nerve is rarely if ever lacking, but the calm conditions of practice are only too conspicuous by their absence. Anythingmay happen, and the theme of Jump For It is that practically everything, in fifty years of flying, has happened. The would-beescapee can be dragged behind his plunging aircraft by his intercom lead, set alight by the flames from it, unable to extricatehimself from the fuselage, or simply deposited on the unyielding bosom of mother earth in some impossibly complicated position.Some pilots, Lindbergh among them, have been hounded, during their descent, by the aircraft they have just abandoned. With a brief history of the development of the parachute byway of introduction, Mr. Bowman (a squadron leader during World War 2 and a pilot), sets out the experiences of some ofthe members of the Caterpillar Club who had a rather rougher time than others. In the face of some first-class factual story-telling one has to forgive him a slight over-emphasis of the "true- blue" qualities which make many war-films stick in one's throat.Jump For It is a fine record of some of the parachute escapes which have been made and includes what must be the first fullpublished account of an emergency ejection from Sabres. If the writer could have had access to some of the accident summariesproduced, but not released, at about the same time he would have had much worthy material. Even so, the book stands as anotherfacet of the many-sided history of aviation. "Aviation English" by S. Humbert. Dunod, Editeur, 92 RueBonaparte, Paris 16e. In two volumes, price 850 francs (approx. 17s 6d) each.THESE two small volumes are intended to enable a Frenchman to learn English up to the standard required by the NATOand other international organizations, for normal radio and spoken communications. The first part extends to the officialelementary certificate standard and the second to that for radio operators. M. Humbert is professor of English at the Centred'Enseignement Superieur Aerien and president of the Anglo- French Institute, and he also teaches at the French Air StaffCollege and School of Air Warfare; he is therefore well quali- fied in his subject.The two volumes are divided respectively into 75 and 100 lessons, each complete with vocabulary and exercises, with correctanswers in appendices; and particular care has been taken to inculcate correct pronunciation and sound basic grammar rightfrom the start. Only in the second volume does M. Humbert deal with exceptions and complications. OF a considerable number of papers recently delivered beforeItaly's Centro per lo Sviluppo dei Trasporti Aerei (Society for the Development of Air Transport), several will be of interestto air transport operators and authorities in other countries. They are available as reprints on application to the Centro at18, Piazza Grazioli, Rome. All are in Italian. Brief summaries follow: — Air Insurance (L'Assicurazione Aeronautica), by Prof. Dott. BrunoDe Mori, president of the Italian Air Insurance Confederation.— A discussion of the technical features of air risks considered as a seriesof events relating to persons, things and responsibilities, with particular emphasis on the importance of statistics. Relationship of Air and Surface Travel (Rapporti tra LineeMarittime e Linee Aeree), by Dott. Francesco Manzitti, president of the marine finance company FINMARE.—The author deals with the relativepotentialities of the two forms of transport and gives, in an appendix, a series of comparative traffic statistics. The Planning of Transport Economy and the Politics of AirTransport (Pianificazione di Economia dei Trasporti e Politico dei Trasporti Aerei), by Prof. Aw. Renato Trevisani, director of the Instituteof Applied Economics of the University of Trieste.—The author deals with the situation in Italy where, after the war, plans for civil aviationwere not included in those for economic revival. He sets out the condi- tions which apply in this particular sphere in re-establishing air transportalongside other forms of transport. Flight Information and the Safety of Air Navigation in Europe(/_.'Assistenza al Volo e la Sicurezza della Navigazione Aerea in Europa), by Dott. Publio Magini, director of Decca Navigator Italiana.—Dr.Magini analyses the various navigation aids available at present and appeals for rational, standardized equipment suitable for all altitudesand giving accurate coverage, on the lines of the Decca system. OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED High-speed Aerodynamics and Jet Propulsion, Vol. VI:General Theory of High-speed Aerodynamics, edited by W. R. Sears. Oxford University Press, Amen House, Warwick Square,London, E.C.4. Price 100s. High-speed Aerodynamics and Jet Propulsion, Vol. IX;Physical Measurements in Gas Dynamics and Combustion, edited by R. W. Ladenburg, B. Lewis, R. N. Pease and H. S. Taylor.Oxford University Press, Amen House, Warwick Square, Lon- don, E.C.4. Price 84s. Highway to the North, by Frank Illingworth. Ernest Benn,Ltd., Bouverie House, Fleet Street, London, E.C.4. Price 25s. The Jet Aircraft of the World, by William Green and RoyCross. Macdonald and Co. (Publishers), Ltd., 16, Maddox Street, London, W.I. Price 30s. Le Droit Aerien, by R. Saint-Alary. Librairie Armand Colin,103 Boulevard Saint-Michel, Paris. The Hydrogen Bomb, by James Shepley and Clay Blair, Jr.Jarrolds Publishers (London), Ltd., 11 Stratford Place, London, W.I. Price 12s 6d.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
