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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0724.PDF
730 CIVIL AVIATION . . . FLIGHT until the beginning of next year. Overlapping the tests on N240Vwill be a separate programme of tests devoted to the Viscount 806. As this type is in most respects similar to the Viscount 800,which is already in service, the trials will be less comprehensive than those for the V.810-840. They will be carried out in theautumn of 1957 with G-AOYG, one of B.E.A.'s V.806 aircraft. As mentioned above, another V.806 will be temporarily modifiedto V.810 standards for test purposes but on completion of the V.810-840 programme early in 1958 it will revert to productionform for delivery to B.E.A. WING PODS OR TAIL CLUSTERS? "THE favourite design controversy of a few years ago—buried*• turbojets versus wing pods—seems to have been settled in favour of pods. But a new controversy looks like being introducedby the European designers of jet transports: Where to put the pods? The French set the tail-cluster fashion with the Caravelle;and now Vickers and Bristol appear to have endorsed it with their VC-10 and Model 200 projects.The Americans, aviation's fashion-leaders, have never wavered in their preference for wing pods. Is there any advantage to begained by deviating from the trend of fashion? As in most matters of engineering, there is no question of someone being right andsomeone being wrong. Controversies arise when it is possible that, on balance, someone is more right than someone else. Below is an attempt to set out the relative advantages ofwing pods and tail-clusters. We started with no preset ideas; and although we finished with numerically more pros for tail clusters,we do not feel that equal weight can be given to each point on either side. Wing Pods Much lighter wing and rear fuselagestructure. Possibly superior turbine failuresafety. Lower polar moment of inertia inpitch and yaw. Possibly easier thrust reversal. Tail-Clusters Better flaps, simpler wing structure. Quieter cabin. Superior crash-landing safety. Reduced debris-intake and groundcollision hazards. Better assy metric case. Less variation of intake angle ofattack. We are left with the thought that, for better or for worse, tail-clusters will at any rate be the jet airliner hallmark of a European industry with a mind of its own. B.E.A.'s RECORD APRIL ""THE month of April was a good one for B.E.A.; 200,000 pas-••• sengers were carried, a number not before exceeded in the first month of the financial year. But Lord Douglas, chairman ofB.E.A., sounded the following warning note: "B.E.A.'s financial position remains precarious and we have a long way to go yetbefore we can feel that there is a sufficient margin in our financial position to meet the inevitable ups and downs of a business asvolatile as air transport." Lord Douglas remarks in the current issue of the B.E.A. Maga-zine that although—as pointed out by the Air League—the British share of world traffic is declining, this is no reflection on B.E.A.'sachievements. Although (he writes) British air transport overall has grown only 75 per cent in the past five years (compared withthe world figure of 93 per cent), B.E.A.'s traffic has increased 144 per cent—nearly two and a half times—in the same period. Thisis a rate of growth 51 per cent better than the world average. THE'CENTRAL AFRICAN AGREEMENT ALTHOUGH the signing of the agreement between B.O.A.C.• and Central African Airways ended the matter, the point of principle which was raised by Hunting-Clan will continue to bedisputed. It is, therefore, necessary to put on record points which, raised since last week, seem relevant to this point of principle.B.O.A.C., sensitive to criticisms that payment of £1,750,000 profit to C.A.A. over a period of ten years was "uncommercial,"stated: "Although the figure . . . may sound large in itself, it has to be remembered that it is to be paid in respect of an agreementto operate scheduled services for ten years." It would, the Cor- poration stated, be equivalent to no more than a "reasonable per-centage" of the "considerable" additional revenues earned. B.O.A.C. went on to claim that the Hunting-Clan offer was"financially more attractive than ours." Mr. M. H. Curtis, managing director of Hunting-Clan, spoke of this B.O.A.C. claimas "extraordinary." "We are content to leave other people to judge whether it is commercial to enter into an agreement to guaranteesomeone else's profits if they buy your goods." In Salisbury on May 23 Mr. Clive Hunting, a director ofHunting-Clan Air Holdings, said that it was his understanding that "B.O.A.C. had suffered a net loss of more than £lm over the K.LM.'s Viscount 803 possesses a cabin which must be one of the most attractive Viscount interiors to date. Here is the 15-seat four-abreast first-class compartment, styled in soft greys, blues and reds. The 40-passenger compartment for tourists is similarly appointed, but has five abreast seats at a closer pitch. It is the first mixed-class Viscount to go into scheduled airline service, past six years from its investment in associated and subsidiarycompanies." B.O.A.C. perhaps got closest to the heart of the matter withthis point: "We also relied on other [considerations], one of which was our long and world-wide airline operating experience, includ-ing 25 years of flying in Africa. Another was our desire to co-operate with C.A.A. in their development of a Commonwealthnational airline." AVRO's SUPERSONIC TRANSPORT TN New York last week, Sir Roy Dobson, managing director of•*• A. V. Roe, announced that his company was seriously consider- ing an eight-engined supersonic jet airliner capable of carrying100 passengers at 1,500 m.p.h. (Mach 2.3). He is reported to have said that "plans are already in the drawing-board stage"—fromwhich it can be interred that the project stage (largely covered by Avro's supersonic bomber work) has been passed. He stated alsothat, given an order now, it would take "seven to ten years to get such aircraft into operation." This is the earliest estimate yetmade for the introduction of a supersonic transport. The hard facts of the supersonic airliner are that lift/drag ratios,specific fuel consumptions and basic structure-weight ratios at present achievable fall far short of those required to obtain usefulpayload-range performance. A 100-passenger M = 2.3 transport designed for the middle or late 1960s, even assuming radical aero-dynamic, structural and engineering advances, is likely to be limited to medium-haul stage lengths. Even with this limitation, a stagger-ing amount of development work will be required to bring a super- sonic transport to fruition. Sir Roy Dobson said that £30rr -wjldbe required just to get a prototype flying. We have already endeavoured to show ("Supersonic Air Trans-port," February 8) that the operating cost of a supersonic airliner must reverse the downward trend shown by new equipmenthitherto. But, looking ahead perhaps 20 years, by which time economical supersonics may be achievable, substantial marketsawait supersonic airliners, and these markets are likely to go to the pioneering firms. "REQUEST DECCA DEPARTURE" THE West German Civil Aviation Administration has just issueda Notam covering procedures at Frankfurt. It relates to Decca- equipped aircraft only, and the significance of the order—whichfollows precedents at home-^speaks for itself. "Special procedures for aircraft taking off from runway 25 willbe implemented on an experimental basis, in order (a) to expedite traffic by making use of the potentialities of Decca to allow lowerlongitudinal and lateral separation minima than would apply between aircraft equipped with other navigational aids; and (b) toassist A.T.C. in outbound procedures of aircraft department Frankfurt. "For the purpose of these procedures the operational accuracyis assumed to be plus or minus one nautical mile. However, the proposed separation minima are considerably in excess of thisfigure. This procedure will apply only to aircraft fitted with a serviceable Decca Flight Log. No reduced separation will beapplied unless all aircraft concerned are so equipped. Pilots desiring to use Decca Flight Log for departure should advise AerodromeControl on initial contact (normally when requesting 'taxi clear- ance') using the phraseology 'Request Decca Departure.' "The word 'Decca' will be used in clearances which are basedon the use of the Flight Log. For the lateral separation of aircraft departing Frankfurt special Decca tracks and Decca climbingareas have been established for the initial climb out. . . ."
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