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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1161.PDF
FLIGHT, 19 August 1955 275 have thought it impolitic to depart from normal practice."It was possible, said the report, that the pilot saw the dry salt lakes near the Pangani River through broken cloud and mistookthem for Lake Jipi [his last reported position]. Except on an airway there was nodiing wrong about an aircraft being a fewmiles one side or another of a planned track, but as this route lay so near to high ground it should never have been flown otherthan under good visual conditions. The report made a number of recommendations, one of whichurged the formation of a permanent committee to consider ways of increasing the safety of air traffic in East Africa, including theintroduction of further advisory routes and the provision and siting of additional and more efficient radio beacons. Pendingthe completion of a new beacon at Manyani, the report advised adherence to a temporary route via Mombasa and Tanga forflights between Dar-es-Salaam and Nairobi. The Court felt unable to determine the extent to which lack of oxygen hadimpaired the judgment of the crew (the accident was at 14,500ft above sea-level), but noted that oxygen was not available to thecrew. Installation of an additional magnetic compass in E.A.A.'s DC-3s was also suggested in the report. B.E.A. recently announced the appointment of Mr. G. O. Waters (left) as chairman and managing director of Air Terminals, Ltd. His succes- sor as B.E.A.'s traffic director is (right) Mr. Edwin Whitfield, formerly special assistant to the chief executive. BREVITIES THE Ceylonese Director of Civil Aviation is reported to havetold the Minister of Transport for Ceylon that unless the airport and runway are immediately brought up to internationalstandards, he will be forced to close Ratmalana Airport, Colombo, and divert aircraft to Katunayake, the R.A.F. airfield. * * * The Kawasaki Co. of Japan is reported to have won an IndianGovernment tender for supplying five helicopters. The aircraft will be licence-built Bell 47Gs costing some £14,000 each. . * * * Mr. H. O. Houchen, general manager stations and traffic, hasbeen appointed a deputy operations director of B.O.A.C. Mr. J. R. Stainton, the Corporation's general sales manager, willsucceed Mr. Houchen as general manager stations and traffic; Mr. G. Lee will succeed Mr. Stainton as general sales manager. * * * Until June 30th next year Manston will not be available foruse by civil aircraft, and Customs facilities for clearance of passengers and crews of scheduled service aircraft have beenwithdrawn. The R.A.F. station at Wattisham, Suffolk, will be available in place of Manston as a master diversion airfield. During their two-year period of service with B.E.A., the twoViscount 736s built for Fred Olsen Airtransport will have British registrations G-AODG and G-AODH. The third of Fred Olsen's Viscounts will be a V.700D with the type-number 766. * * * On August 9th Lufthansa completed their 100th Super Con-stellation crossing of the North Atlantic since regular services began on June 8th. * * * Airwork announce the appointment of Mr. H. G. Mathesonas their manager in Germany. Mr. Matheson, who began his civil aviation career with Imperial Airways in 1932, was until recentlycommercial manager to Hunting-Clan Air Transport, Ltd. Air- work have also announced the retirement of Lt. Col. B. A. Wilson,who joined the company in 1942 and has been one of their sales staff. * * * Fairways (Jersey), Ltd., are registered owners of the Avro XIX,G-AHIG, which ditched near Calshot Pier on August 6th after engine trouble during a flight from Jersey to Blackbushe. Evi-dently a high-density version of the familiar Anson, the aircraft was reported to have been carrying a pilot and ten passengers, allof whom survived. FROM THE CLUBS THIRTY pilots and student pilots—all of them employees ofthe Smidis Group of aviation companies—took part in last month's rally at Thruxton, flying there from such widely scatteredpoints as Denham, Luton, Southend, Stapleford and Staverton in nine aircraft. Prize-winners were Mr. R. Bagot, flying a Hertsand Essex Club Auster (spot landing); Mr. T. Kennedy in a Cotswold F.C. Tiger Moth (time of arrival); and Mr. C. F.Matdiews, whose radio-equipped Auster from Southend Flying Club won the concours d'elegance. Both Smiths and KelvinHughes run assisted flying schemes. Smiths employees taking advantage of the scheme number 46—15 of them licence-holders—and hours flown by them over the past three years total 1,000. Forty-eight employees of Kelvin Hughes have applied to takepart since this company's assisted flying scheme was launched last summer. A NEW chief flying instructor, Mr. Eric Hustwayte, is nowinstalled with the Coventry Aeroplane Club, which also reports that flying hours from the beginning of the year to theend of July exceed 500 hours. This total was not reached until November last year. FORTHCOMING events noted in the newsletter of the York-•T shire Aeroplane Club include the annual ball, to be held at the Hotel Majestic, Harrogate, on Friday, September 23rd (tickets30s, from the secretary), and the competition for the R. H. Braime Navigation Trophy, which is open to both student and privatepilots. The closing date for the competition is September 20th, and details may be had from the C.F.I. The newsletter alsocongratulates club-member Mr. Peter Green "on completing his first solo amid, to the C.F.I.'s horror, a sudden and unexpectedstorm." HOURS flown by the Wiltshire School of Flying at Thruxtonduring the first half of 1955 amounted to 1,358—185 more than in the first half of 1954. The school has announced a numberof staff changes. In particular, Mr. John Heaton has taken over from Mr. Wade-Palmer as C.F.I. He will be assisted by Mr.Cook, until recently an instructor with Airwork, and Mr. Mumtaz, who, at the beginning of this year, was an ab initio pupil with theschool, and has qualified in turn for his P.P.L. and his instruc- tor's rating "and is now in the last throes of his commerciallicence." - - THE Home Counties Flying Group, which recently operatedfrom Denham, has now transferred to its new base at Pans- hanger aerodrome. P.P.L.-holders interested in flying thegroup's Tipsy Trainer (£2 2s per hour) should write to the secre- tary, Mr. R. P. Mayes, 47 The Birches, Winchmore Hill, London,N.21, for further details. YET again the weather conspired to limit the activities of theVintage Aeroplane Club on July 24th, when low cloud per- sisted until lunch time, preventing 14 out of the 30 Rally entrantsfrom reaching the field, as well as half of the display items. However, an impromptu programme was hurriedly arranged forthe benefit of the large crowd which assembled as the sun came out after lunch, and the garden party atmosphere was developedwith the aid of the sideshows. In the air, Ranald Porteous delighted the on'ookers with oneof his superbly judged displays, and Terry Dawson proved that he was as much at home when upside down in a Magister aswhen the right way up. The hardy Vintaee C'ub Formation team split up after their fly past and performed individually, "Pander"Watson cavorting in the Tiger Moth, Dennis Sweeting in the Spartan, and—in the Club's own Cadet—Ron Gillman, who con-fesses that he inadvertently discovered a new aerobatic manoeuvre to be known as the "fall off the top." Bill Sykes leaped from anAuster with commendable precision attached securely to a rara- chute, and—according to a Denham corresoondent—"Wilbur"Wright, Denham's C.F.I., "went mad in a Piper Cub and bad to be shot." A balloon bursting competition was won by HaroldBlank of the Airways Aero Club.
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