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Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0001.PDF
FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD FOUNDED 1909 ^^ and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER No 2554 Vol73 FRIDAY 3 JANUARY 1958 Editor-in-Chief MAURICE A. SMITH D.F.C. AND BAR Editor H. F. KING M.B.E. Technical Editor W. T. GUNSTON Production Editor ROY CASEY Iliffe and Sons Ltd. Dorset House Stamford Street London, S.E.I Telephone • Waterloo 3333 Telegrams • Flightpres Sedist London BRANCH OFFICES Coventry 8-10 Corporation Street Telephone • Coventry 5210 Birmingham King Edward House, New Street, 2 Telephone • Midland 7191 (7 lines) Manchester 260 Deansgate, 2 Telephone • Blackfriars 4412 3 lines)Deansgate 3595 (2 lines) Glasgow 26B Renfield Street, C.2 Telephone • Central 1265 (2 lines) New York, N.Y. Thomas Skinner and Co. (Publishers), Ltd. 111 Broadway, 6 Telephone • Digby 9-1197 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION Home £4 15s Od. overseas £5 0s Od. Canada and U.S.A. $15.00. Second Class Mail privileges author- ised at New York, N.Y. in this issue 4 Aerobatic Delivery 7 Dream or Nightmare? 11 Supersonic Pitots 12 S.A.C. 13 6,000 Miles in an El AI Britannia 19 Bigger and Better Turbo jets 21 Sydney's Radar Defence System 22 Cayley Centenary Teams and IdeasW E have been contemplating the Christmas card sent by Hawker Aircraft, Ltd. It shows, in one of those impeccable paintings by Roy Cross, an echelon of a Hunter, a Tempest, a Hurricane and a Fury; and it has caused us to reflect that if the card had matched in size some others that have come our way, Mr. Cross might have extended the echelon into the middle distance by including the Hornbill and Woodcock and several others. If he had chosen to put in some additional fine perspective work, he could have shown the parent Sopwiths stretching to infinity. It is a thought for the times that these world-renowned fighters have stemmed largely from the imagination and labours of a team led by Sir Sydney Camm, under whose guidance and tuition some of the most gifted of our technicians have attained seniority and have gone their several ways to form teams of their own— to the greater fame of the British aircraft industry. In these days, when the concept of a "team" is often debased to include expedient or haphazard collections of individuals pursuing some ephemeral objective, we in the aircraft industry can be thankful that the idea has remained as unalloyed currency among us. The team stands as the symbol of a matchless tradition. It is the chrysalis of ideas; and ideas are the lifeblood of leadership. Thus, whatever may come to pass in the redeployment of industrial capacity and resources, the team must endure. In this belief we have the support of Admiral Sir Matthew Slattery, chairman of Shorts and of Bristol Aircraft, who declares: "My appointment to the chairman- ship of Bristol Aircraft, Ltd., has been taken by some as an indication that the fortunes of this company [Short Bros.] are to be subordinated to those of the Bristol Company. It has been suggested that it is our intention to down-grade our technical team to a subordinate position and that the factory is to become a jobbing shop for other companies' aircraft. This is a complete misunderstanding . . ." Sir Matthew's declaration is reassuring; for although Short and Bristol are themselves now working as a production team, big teams are not necessarily productive of big ideas. Global BritanniasS O much has depended, and will depend, upon the Britannia that every long- haul operator has watched it keenly since it first flew in August 1952. The basic economics of the design have never been in doubt. What has pre- vented the Bristol turboprop from flooding the entire long-range market has been the inclination of operators to buy improved piston-engined types (which were relatively known quantities) and, more recently, to jump on the big-jet band- waggon for fear of being left behind. The Britannia has thus tended to be squeezed between two different generations of airliner, just as the Navaho missile was sandwiched between two generations of strategic bombardment systems. But whereas Navaho had only one customer (who eventually said "No") the Britannia has already found nine. B.O.A.C. has had 15 Britannia 102s in service for nearly a year; and in spite of protracted and widely publicized mechanical difficulties they are becoming singu- larly reliable vehicles. Considering their size and complexity, and the arduous routes which they serve, this is an achievement which emphasizes that the British industry can offer truly competitive aircraft. Today B.O.A.C. and two other operators—all of whom serve New York—are flying the larger and more powerful 300 and 310. The ability of the latter (long-range) series has recently been demonstrated by the longest airline run on record, described on pages 13-18 by a member of Flight staff who was on board. In the past, most airlines have bought new equipment only after other operators have proved that it worked. Though the widespread buying of the big jets runs contrary to this trend, it may well be that the Britannia is one of those aircraft which will achieve its logical measure of success over the years.
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