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Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0626.PDF
642 FLIGHT, 9 May 1958 Straight and Level THE Conservative Member forYeovil, Mr. J. W. W. Peyton,asked the Minister of Supply in the House of Commons last week: "Doesnot my right hon. friend agree that this practice [American aircraft manufac-turers buying back old aircraft from customers who order new ones] is anexample of thoroughly short-sighted, cut-throat competition of theworstkind?" I was so staggered when Iread this in Hansard that I just blinked and blinked andblinked. Since when was the trading-in of old goods for newunfair competition? When Mr. Peyton buys a new car doeshe shun part-exchange as the "commerce of Bedlam," as hewent on to call it? Does he accuse B.O.A.C., who have justhad a good offer from Boeing for most of their old Strats. (adeal which I imagine is not entirely unrelated to the Cor- x poration's purchase of 707s), ofbeing a party to "cut-throat competition of the worst kind"? As for the suggestion thatH.M. Government should "make representations to theU.S. Government"—can you imagine anything morepathetic? "I say, do you mind, you're hurting." You do not meet achallenge like this by pleading with your opponent not to punch too hard. The Minister, to my dismay, appearsto agree with Mr. Peyton. At least, I can put no other interpretation on his reply,which was: "It would be the hope of the Government that all other governmentswould ensure fulfilment of all inter- national obligations of fair trading." It would be the hope of British air-craft salesmen that these sentiments, which suggest that the world owes ouraircraft a living, are not taken to reflect their own. • What is a cartel? Some people wouldsay "I.A.T.A." And in saying it they would incur the displeasure of SirWilliam Hildred, I.A.T.A.'s director- general, and the mildest of men. Why does the word cartel make himso cross? Because a cartel, the econo- mists would say, is by definition a groupof suppliers who restrict price and out- put. I.A.T.A., for all its price-fixing,does not restrict output. The airlines can put as many ton-miles into the skyas they think they can sell. All right then, I concede that I.A.T.A.is not a cartel. But I can tell you some- thing that is—airline pooling agree-ments. By these agreements price and capacity are restricted, revenues areshared out, competition is eliminated, and a good old monopoly is created. Theairlines do this, they say, to give the public better service. I think they do itto make things easier for themselves. • Here is the fourth in my SomeoneHad To Do It series: Herr Hubertus Weiss, of Ulm-Soeflingen, Germany, isseen with the model of the Graf Zeppelin which he has constructed from two mil-lion matches. It took him 11,000 hours. I salute him, as I saluted (1) theFrenchman who spent 30 years applying the principles of beetle-flight to aero-nautics; (2) the American who plans to fly non-stop round the world in a home-made motorized glider; and (3) the civilian (another American) who builthimself a Shooting Star out of spare parts. I do not mean' you to laugh at thesemen; but if you do, remember that they are the kind who thrive on mockery,which they regard as a sign of the mediocrity they shun. • Lots of people are working in thefield of superconductors. These are usually metal alloys which, when de-pressed to something colder that 20 deg K (i.e., below minus 253 deg C), losetheir electrical resistance entirely. Superconductors may become valuablewhere electrical signals of exceedingly small strength have to be employed, andsuch signals can be met in the airborne systems of long-range ballistic missiles.It is a happy chance that the liquid- oxygen tank of an ICBM is an excellentstarting-off point for lagging a super- conductor, since this reduces theambient temperature to —183 deg C to start with. However, this very low temperaturecauses numerous problems in the design and operation of ballistic mis-siles, and one of the most insoluble—in both senses of the word—is the problemof preventing the performance of the weapon from being impaired by thelayer of frost which forms after the liquid-oxygen tanks have been filled.An Atlas-firing in heavy rain does not, at present, seem feasible. • I am taken to task by a reader—Mr. H. Ginsberg of Wembley—for un- British activities. He writes to say thatStraight and Level for April 25 "had a whole 18 lines in which no reference wasmade to American aviation." He asks whether things of interestnever happen in the rest of the world— "even in this country."Yes, they do. If Mr. Ginsberg cares to measure the American con-tent of these pages to-date he will find that it amounts to justabout 40 per cent. (I have just made a quick count to reassuremyself.) As for the April 25 edition, if he counts the num-ber of lines again he will find that 96, not 18, contained noreference to our dreaded rivals. They came out with 90 lines.But I acknowledge the spirit of his accusation, which cannotfully be answered with editorial statistics. It so happens that 40per cent of the things which interest me (I'm talking aboutaviation) are American. I do not know what this proves:all I know is that it is against the Americans thatwe measure 90 per cent of our successes and failures. • Keep your airliners clean, and keep them dry. This is the moral of one European airline's estimate that its air- liners pick up weight due to dirt and moisture at a steady annual rate of one quarter per cent of basic weight. After five years at this rate, a Viscount (say) could lose payload equivalent to three passengers, a thought which becomes all the more salutary when you realize that, in addition, modifications add weight which can account for a ten per cent decrease in payload over ten years. Design departments to make a note, please. • It's a well-known fact that you canprove that a bumble bee cannot fly (largely owing to its excessive wing load-ing); but, so the story goes, the bee isn't aware of this so he goes on flying. JohnYoxall (formerly Flight's chief photo- grapher, and now manager of the Iliffephotographic department), who has been breeding these fascinating crea-tures for years, is at present engaged in developing high-aspect-ratio bees. Hethinks, like M. Hurel, that they will carry more honey. • I hear that the Blackburn Beverley has been investigated for the "Dun- kirk" role. Out came the seats, in trooped 428* soldiers. The Royal Air Force would uplift 300, conditions being des- cribed as "no worse than the average cocktail party." ROGER BACON
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