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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0959.PDF
IRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD FOUNDED 1909 and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER No 2478 Vol 70 FRIDAY 20 JULY 1956 1AURICE A. SMITH D.F.C. and BAR issociate Editor _ 1. F. KING M.B.E. Technical Editor /. T. GUNSTON Production Editor IOY CASEY Iliffe and Sons Ltd Dorset House Stamford Street London, S.E.1 Telephone • Waterloo 3333 (60 lines) BRANCH OFFICES Coventry 8-10 Corporation Street Telephone • Coventry 5210 Birmingham 2 King Edward House, New Street Telephone • Midland 7191 (7 lines) Manchester 3 260 Deansgate Telephone • Blackfriars 4412 (3 lines) Deansgate 3595 (2 lines) Glasgow C.2 26B Renfield Street Telephone • Central 1265 (2 lines) Toronto 2, Ontario . . 74 College Street Telephone • Walnut 4-5631 New York 6, N.Y. Ill Broadway Telephone • Digby 9-1197 '•:..-...' SUBSCRIPTION RATES ; Home and Overseas • Twelve Months, £4 10s. U.S.A. and Canada, $14.00 In this issue 109 The Guild Honoured111 Lufttransport Union 113 Prentices for Touring 114 Profit and Pleasure 116 Beau Geste117 "Bird of Skiu and Bone" 120 World Gliding 124 Deauville—1956 125 Air Racing in the U.S.A.— Part 1133 Mr. Wheatcroft's Plan for Europe Diagnosis and RemedyH AMLET'S wicked uncle Claudius, darkly plotting the disposal of his nephew, observed: "Diseases desperate grown by desperate appliance are relieved, or not at all." Shipping him off to England was, even the most rabid anglophobe will agree, a fairly moderate appliance in the circum- stances. That it did not succeed does not alter the fact that too-drastic measures often fail to achieve the desired remedy. This is especially true of aviation problems. Any remedy for the present economic illness of European air transport must, to succeed, be firm but moderate, and prescribed only on the basis of skilful and thorough diagnosis. The strength of Mr. Stephen Wheatcroft's admirable book (of which we conclude our review on page 133) is that its recommendations—like sound aeroplanes—incorporate proven principles and are founded on painstaking research. Significantly, the very few Wheatcroft conclusions with which it is difficult to agree—such as his suggestions for joint airports and airline investment planning—are ones that do not appear to be based on careful analysis. But there is no disputing the thoroughness of the author's other analyses, nor the conclusions which may be drawn from them. These are simply that, although short-haul routes do have fundamental economic disadvantages, these are not as great as is commonly thought; they can be offset by the achievement of higher-intensity traffic-flows, and by the use at higher frequencies of really big-capacity aircraft specially designed for short-haul work. Furthermore, there seems to be scope for the airlines to make, over a period of time, substantial cuts in operating, traffic handling and administrative costs. The replanning of the European route-network to achieve the higher intensity of operation would, it is proposed, be made by an air transport commission based on the European Civil Aviation Conference. This proposal is sound for two reasons. First, it would be based on an existing organization that works. Second, its success need not depend upon a still-elusive multilateral agreement, or upon the surrender of sovereignty, cabotage rights, and all the other chauvinisms of a "nationalism as complex as seventeenth-century mercantilism." It would depend for its success on the goodwill of the nations and on their governments' sympathetic understanding of the desired economic objectives. Let their appointed authorities read Mr. Wheatcroft's book. Pilots of LondonA NCIENT and full of tradition though it is, the City of London has never been slow to recognize and encourage what is new and promising. Last week k. another historic step was taken when livery was granted to the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators, and aviators were thus added to the list of London's professional companies, which became an important element in the constitution of the City as long ago as 1475. The Queen, a past Grand Master of the Guild, is today its Patron and the Duke of Edinburgh its Grand Master. In the last 150 years only twelve new guilds have been granted livery, making a total of eighty in all. Such a privilege and responsibility is thus not bestowed quickly or lightly. Nor are the guilds antiquarian survivals; except for the deep roots of their traditions and principles they are to be regarded as active bodies, meeting and matching the changed times and conditions as in the past. The City of London, with its trade founded on merchant shipping, has lately been well aware of the significance and potentialities of air commerce. There is no doubt at all that aviation will become an increasingly important part of the City's business and the life of its people. For itself, aviation needs all the help in meeting its problems of development and expansion that the City can give. Such attention will, without doubt, pay generous dividends in the years to come. Neg- lect of commercial aviation would be nothing short of disastrous for the nation.
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