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Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0705.PDF
FLIGHT, 23 May 1958 CIVIL AVIATION . . . airline, Seaboard and Western, concentrates on freight services.A seventeenth carrier, Aerlinte (Irish Air Lines), started operat- ing only in the spring of this year.The share of North Atlantic passenger-traffic borne by North American carriers last year fell for the first time below one-half.Prior to 1953 their share had fallen steadily to 50 per cent, but PanAm's success in the tourist field (with the DC-7) sawthe North American airlines' share rise to 54 per cent in 1955; it has subsequently fallen again, dropping to 49 per cent lastyear. Volumes of transatlantic freight and mail continued to growlast year, annual increases being recorded of 18 and 10 per cent respectively. The volume of eastbound freight grew particularlyrapidly (28 per cent) as Seaboard and Western moved into full operation. The flow of freight is predominantly westbound (thishas been the case since 1949, when devaluation of most European currencies in terms of dollars opened up the American market toquality European merchandise) but a few airlines such as Air France and B.O.A.C. manage to pick up more freight in NorthAmerica than in Europe. At 10,000 tons, the amount of airmail crossing the Atlantic isjust half that of air freight. Although total mail traffic is fairly evenly balanced in either direction, for each individual airlinethe volume of outbound mail is always several times greater than the inbound movement. T.W.A. is unique insofar as it carriesconsiderably more mail than freight. This carrier also enjoys the highest average mail load per flight (two-thirds of a ton),B.O.A.C., Lufthansa, PanAm and T.C.A. each average a half-ton mail load. JAPAN'S NEW AIRLINER PROJECT CARLIER this year it was reported that a consortium of•*—' Japanese manufacturers was considering the design of a medium-sized turboprop for Japan Air Lines' domestic routes.Details of the project have since been awaited with interest, particularly as this is post-war Japan's first venture into the civiltransport market and a first full-scale experiment into the possi- bilities of joint design and manufacture by the major firms of onenation's aircraft industry. Six manufacturers are taking part— among them Mitsubishi, Kawasaki, Fuji and Showa—and thedesign committee includes representatives of J.A.L. A photograph of a model of the proposed design was published in Flight ofMarch 7. The general arrangement drawing and table reproduced on thispage show the aircraft—it is as yet unnamed, although "A" and "B" versions are contemplated—to be a twin-engined turbopropof conventional appearance. The drawing and data represent the conclusions of the committee as given in the Japanese magazineAireview by Mr. S. Kikuhara, one of the designers. The com- mittee set out to design an aircraft with 50-60 seats and a range ofabout 1,000 miles that would be able to operate from Japan's limited—and largely inextensible—runways, but a slightly largeraircraft was also considered as a means of fulfilling J.A.L.'s longer- term needs for a transport for use in South-East Asia. As no suitable 1,500 h.p. engine was available for a four-enginedlayout, two Darts (two Tynes for the heavier aircraft) were chosen on grounds of reliability and long life. Similar considerationsaffected the choice of wing position, and a low wing was adopted because of the facility it offers for easier maintenance, particularlyof the engine and flap controls. In order to provide the necessary short field performance, double-slotted flaps extending across80 per cent of the span have been adopted, and the rather short ailerons are supplemented by long differential-action spoilersimmediately ahead of the flaps. Blown flaps are envisaged as a later development. The wing is unusually thin; the t/c ratio onthe "A" version is 14 per cent at the root and 12 per cent at the tip, and the "B" wing promises to be even thinner. According to Mr. Kikuhara, a prototype should be flying withintwo years. JAPANESE TURBOPROP AIRLINER PROJECT Span Length Wing area Aspect ratioPowerplant Power assumed Gross weight Seating capacity Wing loading Power loading Cruising speed (at 20,000ft) . I.C.A.O. field length ...* Range with 50 passengers . * Range with 60 passengers . * Range with 70 passengers . Version A 92ft 9jin85ft 3|in 861 sq ft 10 Dart RDa.10 2,660 e.h.p. X 1 43,000 Ib 50-60 50 Ib/sq ft 8.1 (Ib/e.h.p.) 320-340 m.p.h. 3,940ft1,000 St. miles 500 st. miles — Version B 92ft 9±in 86ft 11 in 861 sq ft 10 Rolls-Royce Tyne 4,695 e.h.p. X 2 55.500 Ib 60-70 62 Ib/sq ft 5.9 (Ib/e.h.p.) 415-430 m.p.h. 3,940ft — 1,000 st. miles600 st. miles 721 THREE AIRLINE ACCIDENTS TTHREE airlines, Sabena, P.I.A. and B.E.A., suffered accidentsA last weekend. Most tragic, in terms of numbers of casualties, was the loss of a Sabena DC-7C, OO-SFA, at Casablanca onMay 19. The aircraft overshot the runway and caught fire; of the 69 people on board, only four passengers—all in the rear fuselage—survived. On May 15 a Pakistan International Convair crashed whiletaking off from New Delhi. Twenty of the 32 occupants lost their lives, among them Capt. J. R. Steer, B.O.A.C.'s sales manager,N.E. Asia, who was based at Hong Kong. On the following day, a Pionair Leopard of B.E.A., registration G-AGHP, crashed ina storm at Nemours, near Paris. None of the crew of three survived. This accident increases the disturbing total of B.E.A.write-offs in the past eight months to six: a Heron (28.9.57), three Viscount 802s (23.10.57, 17.11.57, 28.4.58), an Elizabethan (6.2.58)and a DC-3 (16.5.58). FLOUTING I.A.T.A.'s FARE-STRUCTURE IT is generally accepted that all scheduled international airlines,-*- whether they are members of the International Air Transport Association or not, charge I.A.T.A. fares on international routes.If an international non-I.A.T.A. airline operating services into another country cuts its fares below those prescribed by I.A.T.A.,then the country concerned—if the interests of one of its own carriers is affected—can withdraw the traffic rights of the offend-ing foreign carrier. Thus it is that I.A.T.A.'s fares are enforced by the traffic-rightssanction which governments can always exert. This has never happened. Indeed, the very few occasions on which governmentshave withdrawn the traffic rights of a foreign carrier have been as a consequence of political animosities.There is, of course, one well-known exception to the I.A.T.A. fare structure: Loftleidir's slow and relatively "uncomfortable"DC-4 service between Europe and America. This is accepted by the sixteen other North Atlantic carriers, not just because it is ona small scale (three per cent of total traffic) and not particularly competitive, but because it is accepted by the American C.A.B.But there is another exception, and on a much wider scale. Those who have ever wondered at the effect of open-rate airtransport warfare need only look at some of the services between the U.S.A. and Latin America. PanAm, Pan American-Graceand Braniff, all I.A.T.A. carriers (the first two having pioneered U.S.-Latin American air services and dominated them for nearly30 years), are being deeply undercut by half-a-dozen or more non-I.A.T.A. carriers of Latin American nationality. Thoughtraffic figures are not available, it is certain that all three U.S. carriers are losing business—though probably not on anythinglike the scale suggested in the American Press—to their cut-rate competitors. It has been reported in American Aviation that the "extra-ordinary situation in which cut-price non-I.A.T.A. carriers are winning traffic from the established I.A.T.A. carriers may havedire consequences [i.e. airline subsidies] for the U.S. taxpayer." And Time magazine also suggests that PanAm, Braniff andPanagra may have to appeal for subsidies. This may be describ- ing the situation too strongly: but there is no doubt that stiffcompetition is being felt. The situation is confused, but from the ABC World AirwaysGuide it is possible to compare the fares offered to and from Miami by such airlines as Compania Ecuatoriana de Aviacion, usingC-46s; Aerolineas Peruanas, C-46; TAN (Honduras), C-46; and Aviateca (Guatemala), DC-4. The American I.A.T.A. carriersaffected are Panagra and PanAm, using DC-6Bs, and Braniff, using DC-6s and DC-7Cs. Details are in the table overleaf. General arrangement of Japan's R-R-powered airliner (see col. 1). ' With 230 st. miles diversion, 45 min stand off and 5 per cent reserve.
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