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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0309.PDF
FLIGHT, 16 March 1956 305 4s related in the first news item below, Britannias have completed 400 hours of crew-training since the first aircraft was delivered at the end of December. Services to South Africa are due to begin in July. CIVIL AVIATION B.O.A.C. BRITANNIAS' WORK-UP CJINCE the first two B.O.A.C. Britannias were delivered on^ December 30th the aircraft have completed nearly 400 hours' flying in the course of crew-training. Despite interruptionsby fog during January and an 11-day pause in February while control-stiffening in low temperatures was investigated, the pro-gramme has been carried out with some intensity—as may be judged by the fact that each aircraft has to date completedmore than 350 landings. A peak was reached during the week- end March 2-5th when the two aircraft flew a total of 65 hours,including more than 11 hours on one day. A third Britannia has now been delivered, and a fourth was due to follow on March 14th.Bristol hope to deliver all 15 Mk 100s by the end of this year; as reported on page 307, services to South Africa will begin in July.Details of changes in the composition of the Corporation's long- range Britannia fleet appear on page 306. A "WRITE-OFF" REPAIRED \X/"HEN a U.S.A.F. C-54 Skymaster caught fire last summer at" Northolt, Middlesex, it was so extensively damaged that no tenders were made for its repair. The aircraft was declared to bea write-off and was sold as scrap to World Airways, Inc., of New Jersey, who were likewise unable to find anyone to undertake itsrestoration. Last November, Eagle Aircraft Services, of Black- bushe, Surrey, offered to repair the aircraft and now, after some70,000 man-hours work, it is almost ready to fly again. The repair must certainly be one of the most extensive everundertaken in this country; it entailed the rebuilding of two-thirds of the fuselage (using large portions of a surplus DC-4 fuselageshipped from Texas), the complete rewiring of the electrical system, and the installation of four new engines. Spare partswere sought and found all over Europe. Mr. Joe Weddup, Eagle's repair manager, was in charge of the restoration work. AIRWORK STOP FREIGHTING IT seemed almost inevitable when Airwork suspended their trans-atlantic air freight service last December that the company's tributary freight-feeder services between the United Kingdomand the Continent would eventually have to be withdrawn. The decision to do so has, regrettably, now been taken, and all Airworkscheduled freight services ceased on March 8th. "Experience since December last," say the company, "has shown conclusivelythat the Continental services [which have been serving London, Manchester, Birmingham, Frankfurt and Dusseldorf] cannot beeconomically operated separately from the larger North Atlantic cargo service." It will be recalled that the decision to stop trans-atlantic operations, which led to the sale of three DC-6As that Airwork had on order, was taken because the company felt thatpresent Government policy—which did not permit Airwork to carry passengers between the United Kingdom and the U.S.A.—would make profitable freight services impossible. It is stated that Mr. Ronald Seton-Winton, who was in charge of the company'sAtlantic sales division, is to resume executive duties with Furness, Withy and Co., Ltd., who hold interests in Airwork and withwhom he was formerly associated. INDEPENDENT GET-TOGETHER SLOW progress "in the face of restrictive policies adopted bymost governments" set the tone of the first 1956 meeting of the International Federation of Independent Air Transport(F.I.T.A.P.) in Paris on February 23rd. The meeting was attended by representatives from Belgium, Finland, France, Ger-many, Iceland, Norway, Spain, United Kingdom and the U.S.A. The "energetic expansion" of independent air transport all overthe world is, it was agreed the aim of F.I.T.A.P. One of the agreements made concerned a policy of closer consultation withtravel agents and brokers. ?, , AIR CEYLON THE weekly Air Ceylon Constellation service between Colomboand London, operated since February 21st, has run into diffi- culties concerning traffic rights. A correspondent in Colomboreports that the Indian Government will not grant Air Ceylon traffic rights through Bombay, and also that traffic rights at Bahrainhave not yet been granted by the United Kingdom. Services so far have not embarked or disembarked passengers at theseterminals. The reason for India's hesitation to grant rights is said to bedue to the fact that the Indian Government is offended that Air Ceylon did not con-sider the possibility of a tie-up with Indian Airways instead of with K.L.M.Jprevious rights, granted when Air Ceylon were associated with A.N.A., are regardedas having lapsed. A spokesman of Ceylon's Ministry of Transport described the Indianattitude as "unco-operative and mislead- ing," saying that no country had the rightto refuse another traffic rights merely because it had not been consulted before-hand about a merger with another airline. Under the terms of the Air Ceylon Incor-poration Act, the spokesman pointed out, Air Ceylon were free to proceed with theK.L.M. transaction, and it was under the same Act that previous traffic agreementswith India had been concluded. A second DC-7C, seen here in Pan Am markings, is now flying. It will be delivered to the airline within a few weeks, preparatory to introduction into transatlantic service in time for the busy summer season.
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