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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1455.PDF
30 September 1955 565 CIVIL AVIATION the African sun shines on G-ANBC, third pro- duction Britannia, seen in transit during its second proving flight to Johannesburg. The famous signpost in the foreground identifies the setting—Eastleigh Airport, Nairobi. ELECTRAS FOR E.A.L. f~)NE of the biggest single orders ever^ placed by an airline operator was announced this week by Eastern AirLines. The order, placed with the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, is for 40Electra turboprop airliners and 10 L.1049G Super Constellations. The con-tract also includes an option on 30 more Electras, which, if taken up, will bringthe total value of the order to about 125 million dollars (nearly £45m). This announcement supports Lockheed's hope that theElectra will become standard equipment on all major United States domestic routes. E.A.L.'s contract was signed nearly threemonths after American Airlines placed the first Electra order— for 35 aircraft. In the case of A.A. the new aircraft was chosenprimarily as a replacement for their company's 75 Convair 240s and Eastern presumably selected it as the successor to their 60Martin 4-O-4s; the capacity of the Electra will also enable it to take over from DC-4s, DC-6s and Constellations. These ordersaccount for two of America's four major domestic airlines; of the other two, T.W.A. are regarded as likely purchasers of theElectra, but little is known of U.A.L.'s plans. The Electra is expected to have a cruising speed of about410 m.p.h. and a maximum stage-length of 1,850 miles. The Eastern Air Lines version will be equipped to carry 66 first-classor 91 tourist passengers. The design is based on the 3,750 h.p. Allison 501 turboprop, though Eastern have not yet decided ontheir choice of powerplant. Two weeks ago it was announced by Allison that American Airlines had placed a £4.5m order forModel 501 turboprops, after a survey of "all available engines." The first of three Electra prototypes is due to make its maidenflight in October 1957 and deliveries of certificated production Electras to American Airlines are scheduled for August 1958. AIR KRUISE BUY HERALDS AN order for "not fewer than six" Handley Page Heralds was• announced on September 22nd. The announcement was made by Mr. Eoin C. Mekie, chairman of British AviationServices, Ltd., parent company of Air Kruise, Ltd., who have chosen the 44-seat Herald to supplement and eventually replacethe DC-3s now used on their cross-Channel passenger services and inclusive tours to various Continental destinations.Other subsidiaries of British Aviation Services are Silver City, Aquila and Britavia. The company's managing director, A. Cdre.G. J. Powell, has described the Herald as ideally suited to the short- and medium-range traffic of Air Kruise: "It can use thesmaller airfields on both sides of the Channel yet still has the speed, range and pressurized cabin to take passengers comfortablyto the middle and far European resorts." The announcement states that "the order, as is usual, is con-ditional upon the new airliner obtaining a Certificate of Air- worthiness and successful flight trials." This is the first Heraldorder to be announced by an airline operator. Handley Page, Ltd., have already announced orders—from Australia andColombia—for 29 Heralds, with first deliveries due to begin in late 1957. ,Air Kruise's re-equipment decision follows an extremely successful season of coach-air services to the Continent, during This view of the Boeing 7OTs spacious flight deck was secured during a recent series of demonstration flights to executives and pilots ot Pan American, American and United Air Lines. Up-front on this occasion were A.A.'s director of flight operations, Mr. Walt Braznell (left-hand seat) and, behind him, Mr. Don Beard, the A A vice- president for research and development. Boeing's chief of flight test, "Tex" Johnston, is acting as check-pilot which the company's DC-3 fleet has grown from one to sixaircraft. Flights have been running at a frequency of 75 services weekly, and Air Kruise aircraft have carried over 40,000 peoplefrom some 1,200 coaches. The managing director, W/C. Hugh Kennard, reports that "bookings for next year are double all thetraffic carried this year. Substantial growth is also foreseen in our scheduled passenger services to Ostend and Le Touquet and inthe road-air-rail connections to Paris and Brussels. "The provision for road- or rail-air connections to Paris,"W/C. Kennard adds, "has long been a speciality of Air Kruise. Passengers proceed by road or rail to Ferryfield, are flown acrossthe Channel in 20 minutes and then proceed by the fast expresses of French National Railways to Paris. It is likely that a returnfare of £6 or £7 can eventually be offered." THE ARGONAUT ACCIDENT "CIFTEEN lives were lost when a B.O.A.C. Argonaut crashed-^and caught fire near Idris Airport, Tripoli, on the night of September 21st. The aircraft, G-ALHL Altaxr, was operatingservice BA 255 from London to Lagos. Of the 32 survivors, 17 were injured. Ahcdr was carrying a full complement of 40passengers, of whom 13 were killed; the two crew-members lost were a steward and a stewardess. According to reports, the Argonaut struck some trees |-milefrom the airport while approaching during a sandstorm; it is stated to have made two previous attempts to land. B.O.A.C.executives and M.T.C.A. investigators flew to the scene of the accident the following day. This is the first fatal accidentinvolving the B.O.A.C. version of the Canadair Four since the fleet of 22 entered service with the Corporation in 1949.
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