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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0059.PDF
FLIGHT, 13 January 1956 59 Second of its type to arrive at London Airport for delivery to B.O.A.C, Britannia 100 G-ANBC is seen on final approach. "Baker Dog" had preceded it by about five minutes. B.O.A.C. plan to introduce Britannia 100s this year on their routes to Johannesburg, Colombo and Sydney. CIVIL AVIATION Ralph S. Damon. RALPH S. DAMON WE regret to record the death through illness of Mr. Ralph S.Damon, president of Trans World Airlines. He died in New York on January 4th, at 58 years of age.Ralph Shepard Damon was widely esteemed throughout the world as a leader in internationalair travel affairs and as the head of one of the greatest airlines. Hisachievements were not, however, confined to the airline industry,as shown by the striking tribute paid to him three years ago in aspeech by Mr. Robert E. Gross, president of the Lockheed Air-craft Corporation. Mr. Gross said: "To a greater degree thananyone I know in this business he brings to it a completelyrounded and versatile experience in all its phases. As a manufac-turer he can build a plane. As a pilot he can fly one. And, mostimportant of all, as an operator he can put the plane to workcarrying passengers and freight : and make it earn its keep." After graduating with honours from Harvard University, Mr.Damon joined the U.S. Army Air Corps as a flying cadet. Then, in 1922, he went to the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Co., andwithin nine years he had become vice-president and general man- ager of the company's St. Louis factory, where he superintendedproduction of the Curtiss Robin; he was appointed president in 1932. He joined American Airlines as a vice-president in 1936,remaining with the airline until, at the request of the Under- secretary of War, he took over the Republic Aircraft Corporation.As Republic's president from 1941-43, he was responsible for production of the P-47 Thunderbolt. Returning to American Airlines in 1943, Mr. Damon becamepresident in 1945 and remained in this appointment until 1949, when he joined T.W.A. as president. He leaves a widow andfour children. B.O.A.C. DOVE ACCIDENT REPORT TN its report on the accident to B.O.A.C. Dove G-ALTM at-*- London Airport on June 22nd, 1955, the Accidents Investiga- tions Branch of the M.T.C.A. gives its opinion that the "cause wasan error on the part of the pilot, who shut down the port engine instead of the starboard engine, in which trouble was developing."Carrying a pilot and two passengers, none of whom was injured, the aircraft was being used in the making of a colour film of theapproach lighting at London Airport. It was flown by Capt. H. With the delivery of their first L.1049G at Schiphol recently, K.L.M. joined the ranks of transatlantic airlines using this tip-tanked version of the familiar Super Constellation; others are Air France, Lufthansa and T.W.A. Three more "Gs" are on order by K.L.M. Almond, D.S.O., D.F.C., who joined B.O.A.C. in January 1946as an instrument flying instructor; he had flown 4,306 hours at the time of the accident, this total including 336 hours in Doves.The report noted that Capt. Almond s commercial pilot's licence expired on October 19th, 1954, and that it had not been renewed,though he had passed his medical examination in April 1955. The Dove had completed three runs over the airport and waspositioning for a fourth when the pilot noticed a decrease in air speed. During a check to ascertain the cause, a low oil-pressurereading was observed and because of this, combined with rough running, the pilot decided to shut down the port engine. Hebegan a single-engined approach to runway 10R but shortly after- wards the starboard engine ceased to develop power and theaircraft was crash-landed just short of the first bar of the approach lights. Noting that the fke and rescue vehicles took about 15 minto reach the scene of the accident, the report says that "this was due to a 2^-mile detour over winding class two roads in order tocross a river which forms the airport boundary." Examination of the port engine showed that it was in normalworking order, whereas the crankshaft of the starboard engine had fractured at the forward web of No. 3 crankpin; No. 4crankpin had cracked. Both the fracture and the crack had showed evidence of slow fatigue. The report observes that there had been a major mechanicalfailure of the starboard engine before the crash landing and that complete failure was brought about by running it at almost maxi-mum power instead of shutting it down. It continues: "The pilot correctly identified the faulty engine in his radio-telephonyreport but thereafter shut down the sound engine, which was capable of giving full power with normal oil pressure and tem-perature. ... It is noted that the pi'ot was flying from the left hand seat, although he was more accustomed to fly fromthe right hand seat; that the engine instruments in this aircraft were grouped on the right hand panel, away from the enginecontrols; and that a low oil pressure in the starboard engine would be indicated by the left hand pointer of the starboard oil-pressure/temperature gauge. It is possible that within this combination of circumstances lay a seed from which confusion grew." AIRPORTS, LTD., A.G.M. /COMPLETION of the purchase of land and buildings at^ Gatwick owned by Airports, Ltd., was effected on December 30th, 1955. Earlier in the year the company had announced that,following negotiations with the Air Ministry (acting on behalf of the M.T.C.A.), an amount of £350,000 had been agreed as com-pensation for acquisition of its property at Gatwick. At the company's annual meeting held on December 29th share-holders learned that an offer had been received for the whole of the issued share capital of Airports, Ltd. The negotiations wereproceeding and it was the directors' hope that they would lead to an offer under which shareholders would be given an optionof accepting 10s per share or of retaining an interest in the com- pany's continued existence. With the disposal of Gatwick, the company's major remainingasset is Gravesend Airport, now leased to Essex Aero, Ltd. SABENA'S BOEINGS •CURTHER details have been published by Sabena of their plans'for operating the "Intercontinental" version of the Boeing Stratoliner, which will have the type designation 707-320. Thecompany's order for three of these aircraft, due for delivery between December 1959 and February 1960, was announced inFlight last week. Sabena propose to operate the aircraft in mixed-class form, carrying 98 tourist and 28 first-class passengers and manned by
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