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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1882.PDF
970 FLIGHT, 20 December 1957 First turbine transport on the North Atlantic—the Bristol Britannia 312. CIVIL AVIATION ... 'your usual tenacity." He went on to urge the creation of "anexpert aeronautical authority": the Air Transport Advisory Council was held in the highest regard, but it was limited in itsterms of reference. Mr. Freeman paid a tribute to A.Cdre. G. J. Powell, whosedeparture from the independent scene through ill-health was a great loss. He welcomed Mr. T. W. Morton as the new chairman.("We have at long last persuaded him to accept the post.") The retiring chairman concluded with a tribute to Mr. D. F. Mclntyre,who had lost his life in the Twin Pioneer crash in Libya on the previous day: "No words of mine could express what you allknow about his work in our industry." MR. HAROLD WATKINSON remarked on the anomaly of his post:he was a passionate believer in private enterprise, but was also responsible for two nationalized Corporations. ("At least, they aresupposed to be nationalized.") But there were no politics involved in trying to make this country in the air what it had always been onthe sea. He deplored the "old British habit of knocking ourselves about in public." He was referring here to the Britannia's troubles,and he said that the solution of the icing problem ("I think we now know how it can be solved") was a fascinating story of technicalachievement. The Minister followed this up with some remarks on generalBritish aircraft policy. The "shopping list" would soon, he hoped, include the new jet for B.E.A.; he agreed with Lord Douglasabout the big export potential of this aeroplane. It must, Mr. Watkinson said, be a private venture, and the product of "somesort of association" of the industry. He thought the turboprop would last "longer than many peoplethink" in medium-haul operations, and he was sure that we were right to back the long-range turboprop—and one that was house-trained, which the big jets were not as yet. The VC-10, he said, would be able to deal with long-haul routes without the need forlong runways, and Rolls-Royce and Vickers were committing about £70 million to this project. On the subject of independents, the Minister thought that Mr,Freeman had put his case "moderately and excellently." He congratulated the independents on their pioneering of new formsof opportunity. Both Corporations knew that his support for their re-equipment "means that they will be able to withstandmore competition," and he would always listen to advice that showed ways of British advancement that did not put us at adisadvantage in the world market. "Congratulations on making the best use of the crumbs," concluded Mr. Watkinson, "and goodluck in the future." TRANSATLANTIC jTURBOPROP THE Bristol Britannia, which yesterday was due to become thefirst turboprop airliner in the world to operate a regular service between Europe and America, can be expected to rule the blue-riband route of international civil aviation at least until the summer of 1959. The introduction of this new North Atlantic service has a strongcommercial as well as historical significance, for this is the first time that scheduled services on this route have been operated byanything other than American aircraft. There has been no lack of beat-your-neighbour between thefirst two airlines to introduce the Britannia. Early in December, prominent El Al advertising indicated that the first turboproptransatlantic service would be operated by El Al on December 22. A few days later B.O.A.C. quietly announced that their servicewould open on December 19, but they kept their timetable under cover until last week. No sooner was it revealed than El Alannounced a schedule which cut B.O.A.C.'s time by just over an hour in each direction—but admitted that this ambitious pro-gramme could be obtained on only four occasions out of five. December 19 promised to be a day on which the British aviationindustry could look backward with satisfaction—and one on which they could also look forward and speculate on the impact whichthe Britannia will have on North Atlantic travel. An idea of the Britannia's appeal can be gauged from inspectionof the latest published timetables for non-stop London - New York services. Using the Britannia, B.O.A.C. and El Al—and laterC.P.A.—will be able to offer travellers a combination of greatly improved comfort coupled with a reduction of between one andthree hours in journey time. At the outset this new B.O.A.C. service will be once-weekly in each direction, flying westwardswith the sun every Friday and returning overnight on Sundays. El Al's service is limited initially to the same frequency, withovernight nights leaving London on Sunday evening and returning on Thursday morning. Until next spring the B.O.A.C. Britannia will cater only forfirst-class traffic. Then frequency will be stepped up, the number of U.S. destinations will be increased (B.O.A.C. has traffic rightsto New York, Boston, Detroit, Chicago and San Francisco), and tourist services will be introduced. Surprisingly, no mention ismade of operating a third-class Britannia service with higher- density seating. The limited extent of these initial services will mean that, asfar as this winter's traffic is concerned, only an insignificant volume of custom will be enticed away from B.O.A.C.'s and El AFs slowerrivals. But it is not just in these terms that the Britannia's success will be measured. If all goes well, the few hundred thousandAmerican travellers who will be planning their 1958 tour of the Old World early next spring will be very much aware that aremarkable new era of air travel, already experienced with such approval by passengers on Capital Airlines' Viscount services, willnow be available for transatlantic crossings. Substantial evidence of the Britannia's success cannot beexpected until March, when the heavy flow of eastbound traffic to Europe starts to gain momentum. Introduction of third-class fareson April 1, 1958, should ensure that the flow will be considerably heavier than before. Announcement of a higher-density Britannialayout can presumably-be expected before this time. It would be sad if too great an emphasis on first-class traffic—however justifiedthis might have been in the past—resulted in third-class passengers being denied the advantages of Britannia travel. Not only wouldthis mean that the United Kingdom and Israel shares of the North Atlantic traffic will be lower than they need otherwise be, but alittle arithmetic suggests that 90 or more third-class seats will yield more revenue and more profit than the 52 first-class/de luxe seatsoffered on the B.O.A.C. service as it is being operated at present. El Al, by comparison, are offering 90 seats—72 tourist and 18first-class—with four sleepers. I.A.T.A. STUDY THE JET AGEL ARGE-SCALE conferences on technical studies of the turbineJ nineteen-sixties tend to follow a common pattern. A great deal is discussed (much of it having been thrashed out before),problems are aired and ideas reviewed; but the conclusions are almost always indefinite. The most positive results achieved seemto be recommendations for further study by more committees. Yet it would be unrealistic to expect great strides to be madeat any one meeting; introduction of turbine transports on the world's air routes requires improvements in every phase of aircraftoperation—traffic control, communications, navigation, airport faci- lities and weather reporting; and the process of apprising airlines,civil authorities and manufacturers of the jig-saw development pattern of the next few years cannot be accomplished overnight.Thus, when the tenth I.A.T.A. technical conference, to which 500 delegates were invited, completed its two-week sessionat Miami last month, much of the representatives' time had been occupied in bringing themselves up to date by exchanging data,debating procedures and allocating priorities for further study. In fact, the conference chairman, Capt. J. W. G. James of B.E.A.,described its purpose as an "international coming-together—solely to co-operate and to co-ordinate our efforts." Airline Westbound; London .. dep. New York arr. Eastbound: New York dep. London . arr. El Al 2340 0530 1900 0830 B.O.A.C. P.A.A. Flight Schedule (local time) 1030 1730 1800 0850 2300 0735 1900 1045 T.W.A. 2100 0610 1800 1005 El Al B.O.A.C. P.A.A. Elapsed Time (hours and minutes) J10 50 | 8 30 12 00 9 50 13 35 10 45 T.W.A. 14 10 11 05 El Al B.O.A.C. P.A.A. T.W.A. Estimated block speed(m.p.h.) 318 405 287 350 253 320 244 311 Fastest London-fre* York schedules, v-in- ter 7957-58. El A' and B.O.A.C. ope ^ Britannias on tlsse services, and P.A-A- and T.W.A. use DC-7Cs and L-.t49s respectively.
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