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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0569.PDF
FLIGHT, 3 May 1957 571 CIVIL AVIATION K.L.M.'s VISCOUNT CHRISTENED TPHE first British airliner ever to be built for the great Dutch-'• airline K.L.M. inspired the pleasant and historic ceremony, depicted in the heading picture, which took place at London Air-port on April 26. Though it may be coincidental that the aircraft —K.L.M.'s first Viscount 803—bears in its registration letters thesame initials as those of the airline's president Mr. I. A. Aler, it is no coincidence that it bears the illustrious name Sir SeftonBrancker. "He was a pioneer," said Mr. Aler, "and for that reason his name has been chosen to grace the first K.L.M. Viscount 800,an aircraft which has upheld the best in British ingenuity and technical skill." The naming ceremony was appropriately performed by thelate Sir Sefton's son, Mr. John Brancker, now a member of I.A.T.A.'s executive committee in Montreal (whence he and hiswife had flown especially for the occasion). It was especially appropriate that Lady Brancker also was present. The spirit of the occasion was perhaps best summed up by thechairman of Vickers Armstrongs Aircraft, Maj.-Gen. C. A. L. Dunphie, who remarked that, for the first time, K.L.M. had notcrossed the Atlantic to buy its aircraft. He hoped that the pur- chase of Viscounts in England "would prove a cheaper fare."Delivery of the remaining eight Viscounts for K.L.M. is due to be completed by October: the remaining aircraft will behanded over at the rate of two a month until October. They will have mixed-class accommodation—the first Viscounts to be sofurnished—with 40 tourists five-abreast in the forward cabin, and 15 first-class passengers four-abreast in the aft cabin. B.E.A.'s PROFIT "CVEN when interest on capital and other charges have been-•—' deducted from B.E.A.'s gross profit, which is now confirmed as more than £500,000, a "small net profit" will result. This goodnews was given last week by Lord Douglas, chairman of the Corporation. He remarked that this result had been achieved inthe face of many factors beyond the Corporation's control, and these had kept traffic well below the level for which it had plannedits operations. For the record, the interest on capital and other charges whichhad to be deducted from the gross profit last year was of the order of £600,000. B.E.A.'s total output was 139,079,000 c.t.m., and 89,685,000l.t.m. Some 2,462,000 passengers were carried. These increases over the previous year were substantial, but the rate of growthwas only about half that achieved during the previous year. A full analysis of the year's trading will be possible when the completereport and accounts are published later in the summer. C.P.A.L BUY ANOTHER BRITANNIA SINCE Canadian Pacific Air Lines signed their originalcontract with Bristol for three Britannia 314s in 1955 they have come back on two occasions with single repeat-orders. Theairline has now confirmed a firm requirement for yet a further aircraft, bringing the total fleet to six. The option on fiveBritannias remains, as before. This latest order brings the total of Britannias sold, as listedon page 580, to 66 aircraft. RAIN-REMOVAL—LIKE ENGLISH TYPICAL of the way the Americans get things across is thefollowing extract from a speech made recently by James T. Pyle, C.A.A. Administrator. Although "circular polarization" is tiy no means new to British radar manufacturers, who incorporate it in their equipment, we doubt whether they have explained it as vividly as does Mr. Pyle: — "Today's electronic wizardry always leaves me with a sense ofawe and wonder. As the engineers explain it to me, circular polarization imparts sort of a corkscrew effect to a radar pulse—like 'English' on a billiard ball. This requires a phaser, twister and horn. When the pulse hits a raindroo it bounces back to thehorn, this time with 'reverse English.' Then it is electronically cancelled out. The rest of the pulses continue on, hit the flatsurface of the aircraft, and come back to register on the screen. "This is effective because raindrops are round. Engineers nevertake anything for granted, I've found out, and when this matter first came up they wanted to know, 'Is a raindrop round, is ittear-shaped, or what? We have to know what we're designing for' Fortunately, somebody already had made an intensive studyof raindrops and discovered that they 'tend' to be round, so we could go right ahead. . "Interestingly enough, we found that, while raindrops are round K.L.M.'s first Viscount is seen /rare at L.A.P. last week being christened "Sir Sefton Brancker" by the late pioneer's son, Mr. John Brancker. (See column 1.) The cere- mony was appropriately performed with a bottle of Dutch gin. "Flight" photograph sometimes, they aren't always. Gentle rain has round drops, butin turbulence they get blown out of shape, and the centre of the storm often remains on the scope. In some ways this is anadvantage. Circular polarization also cancels out snow, but only if the flakes are of the perfect crystalline pattern seen on Christmascards. Irregular and lumpy snowflakes refuse to cancel. "Circular polarization somewhat reduces the range of the radar,so we permit the controller to use it or not, as circumstances demand. Generally speaking, however, it has provided a mostuseful improvement and has been enthusiastically received at Idlewild, Newark, Boston, Chicago and Washington, where italready has been installed. Thirteen other sites will have it by April 15, and we're going ahead with a programme to install it notonly on all surveillance radars but on approach radars as well." AIR FRANCE CHOOSE J75s Air France announced their order for Boeing 707s onDecember 28, 1955, no indication was given of the type of engine that would be fitted. At one time the choice was said to bebetween the Pratt and Whitney J75, the Rolls-Royce Conway, and the British Olympus. When the airline recently placed a repeat-order for seven Boeing 707s, bringing the total fleet up to 17, the selection was men said to lie between the J75 and the Conway(Flight, March 15, 1957). It is now reported that Air France have finally decided on the Pratt and Whitney J75. BREVITIES THE Sud-Est Caravelle's tour of North and South America (theaircraft arrived at Rio on April 19) will last for more than two months. During this time 27 cities will be visited in Brazil,Argentine, Uruguay, Venezuela, the U.S.A. and Canada. * * * No definite conclusion was reached by the C.A.B.'s inquiry intothe Grand Canyon accident last June 30. The report said that it was not possible to determine why the pilots involved did notsee each other in time to avoid collision. * * * The Air Transport Association of America has proposed athree-dollar fine to be levied on "no-show" passengers. The pro- posal is subject to the approval of the C.A.B.* * * The eight-day strike by Qantas crews for higher pay ended on April 20, when both sides agreed to arbitration. Normal services have since been resumed. * * * A Hunting Percival President left Luton last Monday on aEuropean tour of Dusseldorf, Hanover, Vienna, Zurich, Milan, Rome and Bilbao. * * * -jf Qantas is to open negotiations in Washington later this monthfor permission to extend its services from Sydney to San Francisco across the U.S. continent to New York and thence to London. * * * It is reported that Croydon—London's former main airport—may be closed next year. It is likely to be required by the local authorities as a housing site.* * * A new transport "with two Rolls-Royce Tynes in pods mounted above the wing" is reported to have been designed by the Italian Aerfer group. * * * Swissair's new service to the Far East, terminating at Tokyo,was inaugurated on April 23.
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