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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0819.PDF
22 June 1956 821 CIVIL AVIATION Civil service: This Northrop YC-125A Raider bought by Triplay y Madera (Mexico) has been lightened by 3,000 Ib and fitted with 7,350 h.p. Wright R-1320-56 engines to fly lum- ber and machinery out of and into a 4,500ft Mexican airstrip. MOSCOW-LONDON MOVES? "fc/f ARSHAL ZHAVORONKOV, chief of Aeroflot, has re--L"-1 affirmed Russian eagerness to reach agreement with Britain on a direct Moscow-London service operated with Tu-104s.The Marshal said during an Independence Day reception at the Egyptian Embassy in Moscow that he had received an in-vitation through Sir William Hayter, the British Ambassador, to visit Britain for discussions. He did not disclose whether hewould accept. This invitation follows a similar one to General Zakharov, Aerofiot's deputy director (see last week's Flight), andthe Soviet ban on "specially arranged flights" (Flight, June 8). BEIRUT-LONDON INAUGURATION A/ISCOUNT OD-ACG of Middle East Airlines landed at* London Airport last Monday evening (June 18) with a small cedar of Lebanon tucked away inside it. The tree was broughtfrom Beirut for planting at the airport to mark the inauguration of the first Lebanese scheduled air service to Britain. In futureM.E.A. Viscounts, with distinctive red lettering (both English and Arabic) and green cedar crests on nose and fin, shouldbecome familiar sights there, for the Beirut-London service is to be twice-weekly via Rome and (eventually) Paris. M.E.A. isan associate of B.O.A.C., with headquarters at Beirut. FLIGHT 52 OUT OF MIDWAY I WAS recently able (writes Flight artist Arthur Bowbeer, subjectof a note on page 795) to spend a two-hour period at Chicago (Midway) Airport. This must surely be the, or one of the, busiestairports in the world. Aircraft to be seen in quantity were T.W.A. Martins and Connies; Eastern Airlines Super Connies and Martins;United Air Lines DC-7s and modified Convair 340s with radar nose; and Delta Air Lines DC-7s (in smart blue livery), togetherwith Convair 240s still bearing the name Delta-C & S. American Airlines were, of course, represented by numerous DC-7s andNorthwest by Stratocruisers, DC-4s and 6Bs. To these may be added a colourful selection of DC-3s operated by North CentralAirlines and Ozark Airlines, sundry special DC-3s with enlarged windows and wheel doors and—last but not least—CapitalViscounts. These last were whistling merrily to and fro at very frequent intervals. Outside the passenger terminal are very large and expensive-looking advertisements by the major airline companies. Most impressive of these is for Capital's Viscount, as was shown in aphotograph last week. This occupies the most commanding position, immediately opposite the outlet road from the terminal.Talking with a Capital first-officer I learned that the aircrew are delighted with their Viscounts and that there have been veryfew cases of malfunction. He said, "The odd instrument goes out." Performance, climb, speed, flexibility, are a source of amazementto those who convert from piston-engined aircraft (in Capital's case Connies or DC-3s). This officer also said: "We seem to begetting a Viscount about every ten days," and "Before their intro- duction Capital carried five per cent of the traffic between Chicagoand Washington—now we are the number one carrier" (percentage unavailable).I was particularly interested to hear random remarks from passengers in the Viscount (bearing in mind that the generoussupply of literature does not mention the origin of the aircraft). These included, "Say, this is a proper goldfish bowl," and "Ah,this is better, now we can see." Towards the end of the trip to Detroit and during the rapid descent from 15,000ft a ladypassenger was heard to say: "This is a really nice aeroplane," and on arrival at Willow Run this same passenger remarked: "Forty-nine minutes! Are we here already?" The two pretty stewardesses, who seemed to have little to doduring this particular trip (the aircraft being only half full) assured me that the Viscount is far and away the most pleasant aeroplanein which they have flown. "It makes our job much easier," said one, "the lack of vibration seems to make our day far less tiring";and she continued, "The passengers always seem happy and con- tented. We guess that's through lack of vibration, too." My own observations on the operation of this particular flight(Flight 52 out of Midway at 0930 hr) were that Capital really used the maximum rate of climb of which the aeroplane is capable, andappeared, having adopted climbing power, to hold this in level flight. This may not be so, but my ears failed to detect any pitchchange on levelling off. Duration of flight at the 15,000ft level already mentioned was, of course, short, but probably would havebeen quite impossible with Capital's other equipment. Random observations: The Capital interiors seemed to be wear-ing well but the very lightweight seats have, in our eyes, a rather spindly, "unfinished" look. Capital crews (this one at any rate)have the pleasant habit of flying with the communicating door open, and my only adverse impression on looking through to theflight deck was that little provision had been made for standing a cup of coffee. While the weather on this occasion was quite calmthis lack of cup-standing space had resulted in spilled coffee, which had to be cleared up by the stewardess; not quite the thing,one feels, that should happen in an expensive aeroplane. Representatives of the Association of British Travel Agents left London Airport on June 7 for the U.S.S.R. The first stage — to Copen- hagen — was made by B.E.A. Viscount. Seen I. to r. are: Mr. George Fortune (A.B.T.A. vice-chair- man), Mr. Richard Col- mer (secretory), Dr. Stantcn (council mem- ber), Mr. J. G, Bridges (director-general of the British Travel and Holi- days Association), and Lord Qiitord (A.B.T.A. council member). (Right) Mr. Robert F. Six, president of Con- tinental Airlines, at the controls of a Bristol Britannia (see "Flight," June 15).
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