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Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0281.PDF
FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD FOUNDED 1909 1^^ and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER No 2563 Vol 73 FRIDAY 7 MARCH 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. Ill 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 298 Vancouver-Return by C.P.A.L.Britannia 302 The Operational Olympus 305 "Badger" 306 Vickers891 307 Speed: Its Influence on Trans-port 308 A4DSkyhawk 316 Rotax Looks Ahead To Chief Marshal of Aviation P. F. Zhigarev DEAR MARSHAL ZHIGAREV, You will not, I believe, consider itimpertinent that I address this letter to you personally; for you, as chiefof the vast Soviet Aeroflot, and Flight, as a journal concerned with world aviation, share a common interest. That interest, you will agree, can best be served by the same frankness and cordiality that marked your recent talks with British European Airways. The thought occurred to me a few evenings ago, during a reception at the Soviet Embassy here in London. (You will recall a party there just before Christmas, when, with members of your staff, you were able to chat informally with B.E.A. colleagues.) The recent occasion was in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces; but I was glad to see that civil aviation was prominently repre- sented. In particular, I noticed our friend "Bill" Simpson, who is chief of B.E.A.'s public relations branch. His presence reminded me that, whatever Aeroflot and B.E.A. have to learn from each other, our British airline is the more widely experienced in disseminating information on its equipment and activities to the Press and public. There are people in this country who find this a little difficult to understand, always having regarded the Russians as a nation of propagandists. But as we have previously remarked in Flight, it would seem that the Russians themselves prefer their aeroplanes to do their own talking—through the medium of the publication Records Officiels Homologues, issued by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale. It will not be necessary to remind you, sir, that aircraft on order for Aeroflot make an impressive showing in that august publication. There are others in Great Britain who, from personal or political motives, refuse to admit that any technical information of any value whatever finds its way out of Russia. This, of course, is a gross misrepresentation—as the sectional drawing of your magnificent Tu-114 bore witness in these pages last week. The pity is that data on new Soviet transport aircraft are being received from such diverse sources and through such divergent channels that reliability is often in question and completeness is seldom satisfying. Seeking to remedy these deficiencies we of Flight have on several occasions solicited full and authentic data by addressing verbal and written requests to Soviet officials in London and Moscow (among them a letter—in what we faithfully believed to be the Russian language!—to you, sir, yourself). That these requests were fruitless signified, we are certain, neither discourtesy nor reticence; and it is in the hope that our purpose may yet be achieved that we reiterate our desire for complete and up-to-date descriptive material on the latest Aeroflot aircraft. Whether this should emanate from a department of Aeroflot itself, from the designers of the aircraft concerned, or be collected at first hand by Flight writers and artists, must be for you or your staff to decide. We seek no military or commercial secrets; nor do we hope to cajole you into premature disclosures while the aircraft are still under development. But we do seek to acquaint our readers in all countries of the world with the characteristics of what we know to be very fine aeroplanes—aeroplanes which, we hope, will be increasingly seen beyond Soviet frontiers in the years ahead. Your favourable attention to this matter would, I am confident, be a real con- tribution toward international understanding. With every assurance of esteem, and with all good wishes for the prosperity of your great airline, I am, Sir, Yours faithfully, THE EDITOR.
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