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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0372.PDF
370 FLIGHT, 30 March 1956 Flying time of the Boeing 707 prototype has now passed the 400 hour mark, the aircraft haying made 321 flights since the first take off on July 15th, 1954. Seen here before a recent test flight are, from left to right, R. L. Dix Loesch, Boeing senior experimental test pilot; Joe Frisch, flight test foreman; and Jim Gannett, 707 test pilot. CIVIL AVIATION ... B.E.A./JERSEY AIRLINES AGREEMENT THE agreement between B.E.A. and Jersey Airlines, nowapproved by the government, means that the routes between the Channel Islands and between Southampton and Alderney,which have never been profitable to B.E.A., will now be taken over by Jersey Airlines. This operating agreement between thetwo companies involves also the acquisition by B.E.A. of a 25 per cent shareholding in Jersey Airlines. B.E.A. will continue itsmain services from London and the provinces to Jersey and Guernsey, as well as those from Southampton to Jersey. Mr. M. L. Thomas, managing director of Jersey Airlines, saidthat his company's fleet of three Herons will be increased to seven, the company's three Dragon Rapides being retained for theoperation of the shorter inter-island routes. "The company has already established a sound operation reputation and a firmfinancial background, and it can be confidently expected that the size of the company can be doubled within the next five years."Mr. R. L. Weir, B.E.A.'s financial controller will be appointed to the board of both Jersey Airlines and its parent company, theJersey Airlines Development Corporation. SWISSAIR RECALLS 25 YEARS N March 26th Swissair celebrated their 25th year of opera-tion. On that day in 1931 two Swiss operators, Balair and Ad Astra, whose origins went back to 1919, joined forces underthe name Swissair. The fleet comprised six three-engined Fokker F.VIIBs, two Dornier Merkurs, one single-engined FokkerF.VIIA, one Messerschmitt 18B and one Comte AC-4, operated by a flying staff of nine pilots, four radio operators and eightflight engineers. The two directors of the firm were Walter Mittelholzer, the famous pioneer pilot, and Balthasar Zimmer-mann. The following year the new airline introduced the four- passenger Lockheed Orion, whose cruising speed of 160 m.p.h.—60 m.p.h. faster than any of its competitors—caused a mild sensation in Europe. Two years later the company were amongthe first to introduce the historic DC-2. Since the last war, during which Swissair ceased operations, the company has risento the rank of one of the world's foremost airlines, certainly in efficiency and service if not in sheer size; the present fleet includessix DC-6Bs, eight Convair 440 Metropolitans (due for delivery this year to replace the seven 240s which have been sold), threeDC-4s, and nine DC-3s. Four DC-7Cs are on order for delivery this year, and two DC-8s to enable the introduction of trans-atlantic jet services in the spring and summer of 1960. The present Swissair route-network extends to North and SouthAmerica and the Middle East, and includes every Western European capital city as well as Prague and Belgrade in the east.Under the energetic direction of Dr. Rudolf Heberlein and Dr. Walter Berchtold, Swissair enters the second quarter centuryof its existence—as reported in Flight the week before last— Recalling Swissair's 25th anniversary (see col. 1), this picture shows one of the company's four-passenger Lockheed Orions, HB-LAJ, introduced in 1932 on an express service between Zurich, Munich and Vienna—the fastest of its day. with a trebling of its share capital—a move which leaves no doubtabout the future in store for the carrier of the famous white cross on a red background. SILVER CITY'S NEW VENTURE THE name Silver Arrow has been given by Silver City Airwaysto its new combined road, air and rail service to Paris. Stated to be "quicker and normally cheaper" than existing coach-air orrail-sea-rail services between London and Paris, the operation, which starts in May, will employ three forms of travel: 15 minutesbefore departure, passengers report at Victoria Coach Station, in central London, to make the three-hour coach journey to Ferry-field, the Silver City airport at Lydd. There they board a Bristol Wayfarer (Freighter Mk 21 converted for passenger-carrying), arriving at Le Touquet 20 minutes later. From there a "Dietrich" Autorail of French National Railways takes over,arriving at the Gare du Nord in the centre of Paris two hours 20 minutes later (an average speed, incidentally, of 65 m.p.h.).The total elapsed time from embarkation in the coach at London to arrival of the train in Paris is 6 hr 50 min, at a return fareof £8 10s. The Silver Arrow services starts with a daily return operations on May 11th, increased to twice daily after May 18th.Brussels also is included, for the first time, in Silver City's summer programme; a coach-air-coach service will be inauguratedon May 1 lth, the first of its kind to Belgium. It will be recalled that another British independent, Skyways, inaugurated a coach-air-service between London and Paris last September. THE COMET 2's C .OF A. it was first announced in February 1955 that a numberof Comet 2s had been ordered for R.A.F. Transport Com- mand, the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation stated thatthe aircraft, before going into service, "will be required to obtain a full passenger Certificate of Airworthiness." This requirementmeant that the R.A.F.'s Comet 2s were not only the concern of the manufacturer, the Ministry of Supply, and the Service: theMinistry of Transport and Civil Aviation, as the issuing authority for civil C.s of A. on the A.R.B.'s recommendation, were involvedalso. Therefore the de Havilland company's task, which has involved the fulfilment of civil as well as Service requirementsand the undertaking of full-scale pressure-tank fatigue tests—not to mention fundamental structural modification work carried outon the production line—has certainly not been an easy one. It was the company's hope, nevertheless, as recently as last October,that an all-out programme might enable a full C. of A. to be granted "before the end of 1955," with deliveries to the R.A.F.beginning "early in 1956." Neither of these hopes has been fufilled; but although the grant-ing of a C. of A. appears still to be some way off, the newspaper report last week that "the Comet 2 has failed to gain a Certificateof Airworthiness" was misleading. The de Havilland company (although stating that "a C. of A. has not yet been applied for")do not deny that certification tests are taking longer than was expected, pointing out that "there are always small troubles inobtaining a C. of A. and it is untrue to say that there is no chance of one being granted. The matter is still under consideration."The essence of the business seems to be the question of whether the R.A.F.j who urgently require initial deliveries for handlingtrials, training, familiarization, and so forth, can—in accordance with previous civilian practice—receive a new aircraft with aspecial category C. of A. pending the award of a full certificate. Two of the ten Comet 2s for Transport Command (XK669 andXK770) are flying at Hatfield; three others, unmodified struc- turally and with a limited cabin life of 2,000 hours, are welladvanced in being equipped for "special duties" with the R.A.F.
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