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Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0888.PDF
906 FLIGHT, 27 June 1958 CIVIL AVIATION ... This month the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation authorized a five-year, £5m "over-all top priority" plan to provide radar surveillance of all U.K. airways. Shown here are the locations of the four long-range radars, from which information will be relayed to three joint civil/ military A.T.C. centres in London, Central England and Scotland. The Centres are to be rebuilt, and radar information displayed on P.P.I.s is eventually to be replaced by air data computers linked to clutter- free height and aircraft identity displays. V.A.S.P. (Brazil), five Vickers Viscounts (Darts) ordered;VARIG (Brazil), two Sud-Aviation Caravelles (Avons) ordered; three Boeing 707-420s (Conways) ordered; L.A.V. (Venezuela),three Viscounts (Darts) in service; six Fairchild F-27s (Darts) ordered; AVENSA (Venezuela), five Fairchild F-27 (Darts)ordered; P.L.U.N.A. (Uruguay), three Viscounts (Darts) ordered; Aerolineas Argentinas (Argentine), six de Havilland Comet 4s(Avons) ordered. B.E.A.'s INNER CIRCLE HOWEVER advantageous London's two-airport system may bein relieving the pressure of peak-period runway traffic, new problems of inter-airport travel will arise as Gatwick's work loadincreases. B.E.A. have already expressed their intention of operat- ing more international services from Gatwick, and as they do sothe difficulties of making connections will become more acute. Although the two airports are only about 25 miles apart, fewtravellers will have the means available to travel direct from London to Gatwick by road. The only alternative to travellinginto and out of central London is a cross-country journey in an airport bus, and development of Southend as a third airport inthe London system would raise further problems of ground travel. It is in just such a communication situation that New York Air-ways operate services between Idlewild, La Guardia and Newark, and Chicago Helicopter Airways between Midway, O'Hara andMeigs Field heliport in downtown Chicago. B.E.A., with an obvious eye to helicopter or S.T.O.L. services, have recentlyreceived from the A.T.A.C. permission to operate an "inner circle" of services between London and Gatwick and ultimatelyto Southend. Special air traffic control routcings, direct between the airports but clear of normal traffic patterns, are proposed forfixed-wing aircraft. Writing in the B.E.A. magazine, Lord Douglas suggests that "if special routeings prove to be imprac-tical with aeroplanes, there seems to be good prospects that helicopters may ultimately perform a useful job in this sphere." NORTHEAST CANCEL THEIR BRITANNIAS THE cancellation of Northeast's order for five Britannia 305 sis now confirmed by the American airline, who hope to recover $357,000 of their $456,501 advance payments. Bristol Aircraftsaid last week that they had heard nothing from Northeast officially. Though the cancellation was not unexpected (Flight, June 6),it is nonetheless a bitter blow to Bristol and Shorts, who have paid dearly for failure to deliver on time last autumn. Northeastsay that they have cancelled their Britannias because they have been unable to obtain satisfactory financing: in the same breath,however, they refer to their interest in the Viscount and say that KEY LONG RANGE RADAR (Full Coverage) LONG RANGE RADAR (Part Coverage) APPROACH CONTROL RADAR CONTROL AREAS CONTROL ZONES FIR. BOUNDARY PROPOSED AIRWAY RMINGHAMXX// they "must have jets" by the autumn of 1959 or 1960. Thissuggests that Northeast's cancellation has been prompted by competitive considerations as well as by financial difficulties.Northeast must have carefully weighed up their competitive situation six months hence, when Eastern will have Electras onthe rich, 1,100-mile New York - Miami route; perhaps the Vis- count—on the assumption that some could be acquired quickly—isbeing considered to meet this immediate competition. It now remains to be seen how soon the five surplus Britannia305s can be sold. One is at present sales-touring Latin America (in Cubana colours), and all the 305s are, of course, available forvery early delivery. Curiously, nothing more has been heard of B.O.A.C.'s offer—made last September when Northeast's orderwas postponed—to take the 305s over. The obvious course now is for B.O.A.C. to implement this offer, disposing of some DC-7Ccapacity (see page 905: "Pertinent Parliamentary Questions"). ROUBLE TROUBLE /"2.ROWTH of business and tourist traffic between Russia and" the West has made it increasingly clear that, at least as far as visitors are concerned, the rouble is grossly over-valued in rela-tion to Western currencies. An article in the current Bulletin of the Oxford Institute of Statistics demonstrates that the con-sumer's rouble is worth about sixpence, the effective exchange rate being 35 roubles to the pound as against the official rate of 11.2roubles. Thus tourists pay nearly two bob for a tanner's-worth of roubles. To overcome this unbalance, a special tourist rate has now beenintroduced at a level about 150 per cent above the present rate— equivalent to 27.6 roubles to the pound. At this new rate foreignvisitors will find that their money goes almost as far as it does at home: many manufactured goods will be found to be cheaper,while food (with the exception of bread) will be expensive. While reducing the costs of a sojourn in Russia, this semi- With continued growth in Southend Airport's traffic—passengers handled increased by 63.5 per cent last year, 90 per cent the year before—approach and runway lighting has been progressively improved. The photograph shows new G.E.C. bi-directional high- intensity (35fl00 candelas) runway lights remotely controlled by G.E.C. Multiplex transmitter and receiver equipment. This is the first installation of its kind on any British civil airport.
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