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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1148.PDF
236 FLIGHT Between its first flight and the resumption of the flight test programme this week, the Accountant has undergone ground reson ance testing. Considerable overseas interest in the air- craft has been reported by Aviation Traders. CIVIL AVIATION . . . BREAK-THROUGH FOR THE ELAND THE first airline order for Napier Eland turboprop engines hasbeen officially confirmed by the manufacturers. As already foreshadowed, R.E.A.L. of Sao Paulo, Brazil, have signed a con-tract for the conversion of three of their Convair 340s to take Eland NE1.6s in place of the existing Pratt and Whitney R.2800piston engines. This order is the first fruit of Napier's determined efforts toprocure Convair re-engining business, and it may well be a foretaste of considerable further business between Napier andConvair operators who are seeking to extend the lives of their Convair 340 and 440 fleets. R.E.A.L. say that, depending on theoutcome of initial operating experience, they intend to convert the remainder of their Convair 340/440 fleet of some 20 aircraft.The conversion work will be undertaken by the PacAero Engi- neering Corp. of Los Angeles, California; complete power unitswill be delivered by Napier from England to PacAero, who will be responsible for their installation and associated airframemodifications (see Flight, February 3, 1956). PacAero are acting as Napier's agents, and, as already reported, are at present con-verting for Napier a Convair 440 to accelerate the certification programme. This aircraft should be flying with Elands earlynext year; in the meantime, Napier's existing Eland-Convair 340 is due to be despatched to California (it should leave in a fewweeks' time) to begin its C.A.A. airworthiness certification pro- gramme. Overhaul and spares facilities for converted Convairswill be handled by the newly-formed U.S. company Napier Engines Inc. Napiers say that they will be able in due course to make avail-able to operators the two prototype Eland Convairs to help them through their conversion programmes. It has already beenagreed that one aircraft shall be put at R.E.A.L.'s disposal for this purpose. The Lockheed Electro's undercarriage is seen here "landing" at 170 m.p.h. while loaded to an aircraft equivalent land- ing weight of 125,000 Ib (40,0001b above normal). In this particular test, the simulated rate of descent was 12ft/sec. ALITALIA AND L.A.I. MERGE THE long-drawn-out negotiations about a possible mergerbetween Italy's two leading airlines, Alitalia and Linee Aeree Italiane, have at last been concluded. Henceforth there will be asingle airline known as Alitalia-Linee Aeree Italiane. Hitherto Alitalia, in which B.E.A. and B.O.A.C. have a large shareholding,have operated domestic and foreign services (some of the latter in pool with B.E.A.). L.A.I., in which T.W.A. hold a 40 per centshare, have also operated domestic and foreign (including transatlantic) services. No details of the financial structure of the new company havebeen made public, but it is likely that T.W.A.'s share in L.A.I, will be taken over by the Italian Government. The British Cor-porations' share in Alitalia will apparently continue in the new company. It seems that the majority of shares in the new A.L.A.I. will beheld by the Italian Government through its Institute of Recon- struction. This Institute, which has been described as "vastlywealthy," is expected to put nearly £29 million into A.L.A.I. over the next four years to increase the total fleet to 50 aircraft. Thenew airline's most modern aircraft are L.A.I.'s ten Viscounts and four L.1649As, and Alitalia's four DC-7Cs. Sizeable orders fornew long-range and medium-range turbine aircraft may be expected from the new Italian airline. COMBINED PURCHASE OF A.N.A.? TpOLLOWING separate proposals by Ansett Airways and-*- Holyman to buy Australian National Airlines (the Australian Government is no longer a prospective purchaser of the privateairline), a joint purchase proposal is now expected. If a decision is reached, the protracted negotiations about the future of A.N.A.may soon be at an end. MALAYAN AIRWAYS' FUTURE T> ROPOSED changes to the structure of Malayan Airways wereA announced in Singapore on August 11. The company's main shareholders are Blue Funnel Line, Straits Steamship Co., andB.O.A.C. (with a minority interest). Under the new proposals the B.O.A.C. shareholding becomes "substantial," as does that ofQantas. In addition, five governments will hold shares in the future Malayan Airways: Singapore, Malaya, Sarawak, Brunei,and British North Borneo. MILLBOURN REPORT (continued from p. 235). be used on 0.14 per cent of occasions; but the point is surely thatthey could be used by modern aeroplanes—which are quite happy in crosswinds of up to 18 kt—on a very high percentageof occasions. It is in fact being proposed that perfectly usable runway capacity (given the A.T.C. capacity) is not needed at all. A final point concerns the estimate of £17 million—which isadditional to the estimated £16 millions needed for what must be considered as the vital rail link to and from the centre of Londonto L.A.P. The sum of £17 million is much more than half the total cost of the complete airport to date, and it would have beenilluminating to have seen in the report a rough estimate of how the sum is broken down. Summing up, then, we must make sure that London Airportis developed so as to utilize fully (1) its runway or A.T.C. capacity and (2) its terminal capacity. The Millbourn proposal to put allthe terminal eggs in the central basket may be setting a limit on further expansion there; and though this might not be serious ifwe could be sure that L.A.P. will run out of runway capacity first anyway, it can be argued that the wisdom of planning for peak-period movements is questionable, and that the airlines must eventually be required to accept either economic differentials ordelays during peak periods. Certainly any proposal to eliminate existing runway capacity should not be lightly accepted. Thus thepossibility of redeveloping L.A.P. North for the long-haulers could be given further examination.
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