FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1701.PDF
30 November 1956 863 NOTHING TO DECLARE '"TUESDAY November 20 was lightheartedly described by the_*- Financial Secretary to the Treasury, the Rt. Hon. Henry Brooke, M.P., as "one of those rare days when the Customs and theTreasury receive a pat on the back." He was speaking as a guest of the Air League, who were celebrating the successful conclusionof their three-year campaign to liberate London Airport from Customs restrictions on the trans-shipment of freight. The "new deal" means that a load of cargo consigned from(say) New York to several European capitals can be flown into London and trans-shipped by other aircraft without having toundergo the full Customs procedure. The formalities which until now have consumed so much time (and incidentally kept businessaway) have been reduced to a point where they are—to quote Sir George Pirie, chairman of the Air League—"non-existent."The implications of this may be far-reaching: London, the hub from which radiate fast and frequent services to the big businesscities of the continent, could be the natural cargo distribution centre of Europe. Yet it has lost business to less well situatedEuropean airports with more enlightened Customs procedures (e.g., Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Zurich). Now that London's formali-ties are better than those of these airports, there should be nothing to prevent its becoming, in Sir George Pirie's phrase, the"air cargo gateway of Europe." The Air League, as well as the Customs and Treasury, deservesa pat on the back for its latest successful exertions on behalf of British civil aviation. DIG THOSE CRAZY HOT-RODS TPHE Aircraft Owners and Pilots' Association of America has••• complained bitterly that U.S. Air Force aircraft have been indulging in "military hot-rod flying"—the "buzzing" of civilianaircraft. For instance, said a member of A.O.P.A., a military jet recently changed its altitude by several thousand feet and its head-ing by about 90 deg so that it could make a head-on pass at a civil aircraft. There is, say the Association, "a most disturbing record"of military jets being involved in collisions and near-collisions with civil aircraft. An Air Force officer is quoted as saying that he was at a lossto know how to control "this rampaging and fantastic air safety problem." MR. CRTTES' CRISIS "Pi AY by day, the insurance newspaper Lloyd's List and ShippingJ--' Gazette publishes a list of civil aircraft casualties. The reports are succinct and factual. They cannot be said to be prone tohyperbole or dramatization. Here we reproduce—as gratis advice to all pilots who find themselves in a similar predicament—a reportin the List for November 22:— "Manistique, Mich., November 17: Chesley J. Crites startedthe engine of his four-seater 'plane at Blaney Park Airport, Mich., today without realizing the throttle was wide open. The pilotless'plane sped down the runway and took off. While the 'plane flew Sir Anthony and Lady Eden flew to Jamaica last Friday in B.O.A.C.'s first DC-7C, G-AOIA, seen in this new air-to-air picture. around Mr. Crites grabbed a deer rifle and fired eight shots all into the engine. The 'plane crashed, burned and became a total loss." THE TASK FORCE AT WORK "THE implementation panel of the International Civil Aviationx Organization—the "jet-age task force"—recently held its first session in Montreal. The result of its preliminary findings wasthat, in some cases, nations were finding unusual difficulties in providing the facilities for services called for in I.C.A.O.'s regionalplans, and the task force expects to have to consult with various governments about the solution of technical, economic and financialproblems. Part of the first session was devoted to a series of reports on airnavigation systems as they existed in various parts of the world. The force was then able to decide that North Atlantic problems—the large volume of air traffic, difficulties of radio communication in arctic regions, and the insufficient accuracy of navigation systemsnow available—should be given priority. The next step, they agreed, was to meet again in Paris in January to consider the airnavigation situation in the European-Mediterranean region. Here also there is a high density of traffic, and the air space is becomingincreasingly congested. Although some European countries are engaged in fundamental re-examination of these problems in theirnational areas, the panel appreciate the necessity for an overall reappraisal. An I.C.A.O. regional air navigation meeting will beheld for the European-Mediterranean area next May. MORE FREIGHT FOR SABENA SABENA'S growing volume of air freight—an increase in tonnageof just over ten per cent and a revenue rise of over 13 per cent was realized in 1955—led to the inauguration of a new Europeancargo network on November 1. This specialized service will, the airline say, be operated on a par with their passenger services, andwill be devoted exclusively to air freight. Radiating from Brussels, the route network covers cities in the U.K., Germany, Austria,Italy, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Denmark, and pro- vides cargo connections at the Belgian airport of Melsbroeck withSabena aircraft leaving for New York and Johannesburg. In anticipation of a greater demand for the carriage of air freightthese intercontinental services have each been increased in fre- quency by one flight per week. EAST GERMAN JET—AND A Tu-114 WE published on July 27 an artist's impression of a new EastGerman four-engined jet airliner project. More details of this design have appeared in the West German aviation magazineFlugtoelt. It appears that the project is the work of Professor Bruno Baade (a former Junkers designer), and that it is a civiladaptation of his EF-150, a high performance medium bomber which actually flew in 1952. This bomber was not adopted by theRussians "for prestige reasons," but various features were copied by Soviet designers—particularly the hydraulics, which were"transplanted complete" into certain Russian designs. The BB-152 will be fitted with four 2,500kg-thrust engines(compared with two 5,000kg-thrust engines of the bomber). A prototype is being constructed at the Dresden Aircraft Centre; nodate has been given for production deliveries, but Flugwelt indi- cates that a big effort to export the BB-152 is to be made. Adver-tisements for technical staff are appearing in the Press. The same article contains a reference to Mr. Tupolev's 180-seatjet airliner darkly hinted at by the Russians last spring. A civil version of the Bison bomber is being "feverishly" developed. Itwill seat 170 to 180 passengers, and will be designated Tu-114. East German State Aircraft Industry BB-152: Engines: 4x5,500 lbthrust. Dimensions: Span, 92ft; length, 103ft; wing area, 1,754 sq ft; wing loading, 75 Ib/sq ft. Weights: gross, 110,000 1b; crew, 1,100 1b;payload, 17,600 lb; fuel and oil, 30,000 lb; equipped, 68,000 lb. Performance: Max. Mach No., 0.88 at 36,000ft; take-off run, 3,310ft;cruising speed at 6,000ft, 530 m.p.h.; landing speed at 78,000 lb, 98 m.p.h.; sea level rate of climb, 47.5ft/sec; time to 29,000ft, 21 min;service ceiling (3.3ft/sec), 36,600ft; "theoretical" range, 2,000 miles.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
