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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0528.PDF
530 FLIGHT CIVIL AVIATION . . . CIVIL POWER IT is announced that the P. and W. J57 and J75 transport jet•*• engines have been certified by the C.A.B. for commercial use, thus becoming the first American turbines to receive the Board'sapproval. The J57 has been in operational use in U.S.A.F. and Navy aircraft—the North American F-100, McDonnell F-101,Convair F-102, Chance-Vought F8U, Douglas A3D and F4D, Boeing B-52 and KC-135—for several years, and it has been infull scale production since 1953. More than 8,000 have been delivered. Pratt and Whitney estimate that by the time the firstDC-8s and 707s go into operation J57s (JT3s in civil terminology) will have accumulated 4j million operational hours. The J75 (JT4) has been certified at a considerably less developedstage than the J57. Full-scale production at Pratt and Whitney's East Hartford plant, Connecticut, is not expected to start until thesummer, although the engine has been extensively tested on the ground, in a B-45 test-bed and in F-106s and Republic F-105s.Development has also benefited from earlier experience with the J57, which was of similar axial-flow twin-spool design. Prattand Whitney estimate that the J75 will have accumulated 350,000 operational hours by the end of 1959. DUTCH "INTIMIDATION" OF THE U.S. THE outcome of the long-drawn-out negotiations between theDutch and the Americans for new K.L.M. traffic rights in the U.S. is that K.L.M. may now fly from New York to Curacao in theDutch West Indies, with landing rights at Miami. More important to K.L.M. is the further agreement that Houston, the rich oil cityof Texas, can now be included in the airline's Montreal-to-Mexico service. But K.L.M. did not obtain rights to serve Los Angeles—a great disappointment to the Dutch, who have always wanted to fly from Amsterdam to the U.S. West Coast. The major American carriers are not at all happy about thenew agreement, which (says the Air Transport Association) "contains the seeds of very great damage to the interests of theAmerican people . . . the product of a campaign of intimidation conducted with great dexterity and determination by the Dutchairline against the Government of the United States, [whose] interests have been subordinated to the interests of a reputedlyvery wealthy foreign flag airline, which in the course of its cam- paign was supported by hints that its sponsoring governmentsimply might not bother to keep other commitments unless the airline got exactly what it wanted." THE NEW AUSTRIAN AIRLINE A S briefly recorded last week, the year-long struggle between**• the opposing Austrian political parties, each of which set up its own airline, has at last been resolved by the formation of asingle operating company to be known as Oesterreichische Luft- verkehrs. S.A.S. will own 15 per cent of the shares, and anotherScandinavian operator—Fred Olsen—will own another 15 per cent. A further 28 per cent will be held by the shareholders of theprevious Austrian Airways (backed by S.A.S. and the Socialist Party) and the remaining 42 per cent by the shareholders of theprevious Air Austria (sponsored by K.L.M. and the People's Party). It is understood that the new company will begin operationswith Viscounts provided by Fred Olsen, who have four on order. It is significant that K.L.M. do not appear to be included in thenew arrangements. DECTRA ON THE AIR A IRLINE interest in Dectra—the long-range North Atlantic**• navaid which promises to solve the problem of North Atlantic traffic congestion—is mounting encouragingly. In addition toB.O.A.C, five operators—Swissair, K.L.M., PanAm, T.C.A. and S.A.S.—have now expressed a desire to participate. The stationsin Newfoundland are already transmitting, and the stations in Britain should be transmitting very soon. Plans are now welladvanced for a Valiant and an aircraft of the Canadian Department of Transport to evaluate the chain as soon as it is in operation. President Chamoun of Lebanon is seen here at Beirut before embark- ing on a Middle East Airlines Viscount. He was bound for Ryadh, capital of Saudi Arabia, for an official visit to King Saud. Success may mean that I.C.A.O. will recommend Dectra as thestandard aid for the North Atlantic, and perhaps for other routes. Aircraft using Dectra, instead of being required to maintain separa-tions of 120 miles (lateral) and 30 minutes (longitudinal), will be able safely to reduce these separations to 30 miles and 10 minutesrespectively. The system was described in last week's Flight special issue, devoted to flying aids. BREVITIES "CORMERLY manager of the B.O.A.C. Britannia fleet, Captain-•- W. B. Houston has been appointed the Corporation's training manager following the death of Mr. R. J. Cooper. Capt. Houstonwill continue as manager of the Britannia Fleet for the time being, and Capt. A. S. M. Rendall has been promoted to be his deputyin this capacity. * * * Captain L. J. Brugman, senior pilot of K.L.M., has been appointed commodore of the airline's fleet. * * * On May 9 Skyways will operate a new coach-air service betweenLondon and Nice for a return fare of less than £20. * * * On April 14 a B.E.A. Viscount 802 opened a new servicebetween London and Dublin, thus marking the end of Ireland's ten-year monopoly of routes to and from the United Kingdom. * * * The Prime Minister announced in Parliament on April 2that new regulations had been proposed for joint investigations into accidents to Service aircraft using civil aviation facilities,or vice versa. * * * A new edition of the ABC booklet Civil Aircraft Markings,with new photographs and with all the data revised, has been published (Ian Allan, Ltd., Craven House, Hampton Court,Surrey), price 2s 6d. * * * The Boeing 707 is due to fly in a few weeks' time with a com-plete set of noise suppressors. So far only two suppressors at a time have been flight-tested. The weight of each suppressor issaid to be 85 lb—about half the figure which has been estimated by Douglas for the DC-8. Weight may increase when the sup-pressors are incorporated with thrust-reversers. A "Flight" photograph taken recently at Cointrin Airport, Genera, of Swiss- air's Twin Pioneer. The aircraft is on charter from Scottish Aviation, and during the busy ski-ing season has been operating frequent feeder services to such resorts at St. Moritz.
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