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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1784.PDF
FLIGHT, 16 December 1955 907 COMMERCIAL PROGRAMME —or, Only Seven Shopping Days to Christmas "See the perfect detail and high-gloss finish." By P. de MATANTE THIS feature comes to you by courtesy of Flight. Remember,only Flight has that real jet-age atmosphere, produced by asecret blend of printing ink and paraffin. Just the job for afterburning. Try burning this page after you've read it: you'll never regret it. Do you know the date? You don't? Then be sure to buy an Iliffe diary. Remember, the dates to buy the family this Christmas are all in Iliffe diaries. Watch for the names on the covers—"Amateur Photographer," "The Autocar," "The Motor Cycle," "Wireless World" and "Yachting World." Packed full of useful data, their prices range from 4s 2\d to 10s 2\d, tax paid, in leather or rexine. Remember, only Iliffe diaries are good enough to record 366 happy days in 1956. Ah, but December 2nd, 1955, was not a happy day for Basil B.Bull, public relations officer of British Imperial Airways Corpora- tion. It brought the words he had dreaded to hear—a summonsto meet his chairman, Sir Vim Wright. For years the true state of B.I.A.C.'s operations had beenconcealed by the skilful distribution of charts obtained from the local fever hospital and disguised to look like payload and revenuegraphs. Now, the man responsible for them had left the Corpora- tion. Bull knew the game was up. Sir Vim had discovered thatthe Corporation had a perfect safety record only because nobody ever flew B.I.A.C. He would have to come clean with Vim. His hand shook as he lit a cigarette to steady his nerves. . . . Do your nerves need steadying? Even if they don't, make sure that, like Basil B. Bull, you always smoke the best. You can't go wrong with State Express 555, and they come in special packs for Christmas. There are colourful greetings packs of State Express 555 costing only 10s for 50 or 20s for 100; and for that extra special friend a dignified primrose and gold cabinet of 150, price 30s. Nor is that all. What better gift could there be for a man than an English hammered- pewter tankard, with a traditional glass base and containing an airtight tin of 50 State Express 555 cigarettes? Only 27s 6d for a half-pint tankard or 37s 6d for the pint size. Give the best this Christmas. Give State Express 555. What wouldn't Bull have given at that moment to be sharing a pewter tankard or two with all the other P.R.O.s at the Aero Club? Instead, he knocked timidly at Sir Vim's door and in a second found himself wading ankle deep through carpet towards the chairman's great titanium desk. , Less than a minute later he was out again, with Sir Vims parting burst still ringing in his ears: — "A passenger by tomorrow, or you're fired." Sadly he walked back to his office, past 14 of his assistant P-R.O.s and five pretty secretaries, who hardly looked up from their football pools and knitting as they chorused "Good morning, Mr. Bull" for tEe fourteenth time. "What's good about it?" he growled, slamming the door of his. "What better gift could there be for a man than an English hammered - pewter tankard? . . ." IN presenting this modest feature, of pre-Chrisrmas topicality, we wonldimpress upon the reader that, though the veracity of the main narrative is open to considerable suspicion, the facts in the italicized interpolationscome from much more responsible sources, and can be relied upon. office so hard that the bottles in his filing cabinets rattled."A passenger by tomorrow." What a hope. Who would fly B.I.A.C. when American Atlantic Airlines were giving everyonewho flew on their pay-in-1995 family fare service an overnight suitcase containing two Cup Final tickets, a solid silver swizzle-stick and a photo of Sabrina? You've never heard of a solid silver swizzle stick? Then write now for a Christmas catalogue from Skinner and Co., the R.A.F. jewellers. It's chock full of bright ideas. What stewardess would say "No" to a beautiful pair of gold Con- stellation dress clips? What wife would not powder her nose more proudly from a compact carrying a pair of R.A.F. or F.A.A. wings? What more dignified way to commemorate great flights or good fellowship than with a solid silver model aeroplane? When it's presentation, wedding, engagement, anniversary or Christmas time, it's time to visit Skinner and Co. at 35 Old Bond Street, London, W.I. Bull lost count of time. Hour after hour he sat deep in thought. He telephoned his friends, begging them to fill just one seat,or two seats to Brighton, only to be told: "Not if you paid us, old boy." Obviously, they had heard of the fatigue in the stairwayleading to the cocktail bar in the Corporation's Stratoboosers, which had earned B.I.A.C. the name of "the tea and coffee line."What did it matter that the Stratobooser was the safest, most comfortable aeroplane in the sky? They preferred AmericanAtlantic, just because Ted E. Boyes, the Hammersmith Heart- throb, and all the other bobby-dazzlers were photographed on thesteps of American Atlantic aircraft. He knew that Boyes had simply climbed aboard the aircraft,dashed through its cabin and out the other side, because his agent said the million-dollar insurance on his dimples ruled out flying."Stunts—that's all folk are interested in," mused Bull, savagely prodding the props of a model Croydon Cargoplane that soaredat an impossible angle from the ashtray on his desk. Obviously Basil B. Bull's Cargoplane did not come from Westway Models (of 15-17 Brunei Road, London, W.3). See that you don't make the same mistake. See the perfect detail and high-gloss finish of this Westway model of the Canberra Mk8. See the grace with which it is poised on a gunmetal spiral rising from the polished walnut base. See that your models, vjhether mass-produced wooden giveaways or fine silver-plated trophies, are craftsman-made by Westway. Don't forget—order Westway, it's the best way. It was the Cargoplane that gave Bull the great idea: "A stunt.Yes, that's what we want. Something to splash the initials B.IJV.C. over the front pages of the world's newspapers. Let "What more digni- fied way to com- memorate great flights . . . than a solid silver model?"
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