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Aviation History
1958
1958-1- - 0750.PDF
754 FLIGHT, 7 November 1958 CORRESPONDENCE... example of helpfulness. I have never found anything but 100 percent co-operation from this field on any occasion on which I have had the pleasure of using it. The staff there are delightful, andif all flying controls were as good as this then onwards transmission would be simple. I do not wish to be invidious but on two occasions when Ihave wished to use distant airfields to complete a journey of some 250 miles, on both of which I was entitled to use PPO, on seekingthis permission I was met with b-mindedness. In the first case the operator was just not prepared to "carry the can," and on theother I was told that I couldn't because I had no radio. This was just arrant nonsense, in view of the fact that a flying club isoperating from the particular field seven days a week without any radio facilities in their aircraft. On both occasions the weatherwas gin-clear or, in the vernacular, VMC. On the latter occasion I was obliged to use an alternate 50 miles from my destination,and to complete the journey by coach, with three hours' delay. Private and club pilots are not unreasonable people and in somecases are experienced flyers; but unless they are taken into con- sideration as an integral part of our air-traffic problem then theyand that part of the British aircraft industry which provides their aircraft are faced with no alternative but slow suicide.Wadhurst, Sussex. M. H. REID. Constellation Postscript ' * ' I SHOULD like to thank a number of Flight readers who werekind enough to write to me following my article "Veteran Constellations" (August 8 issue). Inevitably, perhaps, there wasat least one Connie registration wrong: it was B.O.A.C.'s 749 G-ANVD (ex PH-TDB and N90622) which was wrongly listedas G-ANUD, the latter being a D.H. Tiger Moth on the current U.K. register! Regarding the 749s es-B.O.A.C. which have been sold, theseinclude G-ANTF, G-ANVB and G-ANUZ, all of which are now operated by Transocean Airlines, Inc., whilst G-ANUX was soldto P.N.A. of Seattle. Lastly, G-ANNT was sold to Capitol Air- ways of Nashville, with whom it is currently flying as N4901C. Mr. Harry Sievers, of T.W.A. flight ops. at Idlewild, hasgenerously furnished me with much additional up-to-date infor- mation on the T.W.A. Constellation/Super-Connie fleets, and thefollowing are brief extracts. All 32 L.49s now operate as 80-seaters on domestic coach-class schedules, whilst the fleet of 39 L.749sare 57-seaters on domestic first-class services. An extensive modernization/overhaul programme is currently in force for theL.49 fleet, and already each aeroplane has been equipped with new cabin refrigeration units providing greatly improved coolingin the two passenger cabins. Also, all L.49s have now been fitted with reversible props and by January 1959 all these oldest unitsof the T.W.A. Connie fleet will have been re-engined with Wright Series R-3350-BA-4 powerplants giving considerably improvedtake-off and cruising speed as compared with the original Wright Cyclone R-3350s which normally power the majority of L.49s.Already six of the fleet have been re-engined. So here we have at least one major U.S. carrier who is not at present contemplatingselling its oldest piston-engined transports! During the past year or so the former lucrative market for usedlong-range piston-engined transports—such as the L.49 and L.749 series, together with the DC-6/6B, series—has shrunk to a merefraction as compared with (for example) the years 1955-56. Quite naturally, for the many reasons already clearly explained in Flightthe used-airliner market is already glutted with more and more aircraft, and this state of affairs will undoubtedly reach a rock-bottom stage in 1959-60—so far as disposing of types like the Connie and/or DC-6 are concerned, anyway. Meanwhile, readers may be interested to learn that, for severalmonths now, a number of Connies have been in storage in the hangars of L.A.S., Int., at Idiswild, New York. These includefour Delta Airlines' L.49s and L.149s, plus an L.A.V. (Venezuelan) L.749. Also, at Washington National Airport, six of Capital'sfleet of a dozen L.49s are in storage (for sale or lease); these include N67952 and.N67953, the third and fourth L.49s built in1944. Braniff Airways' two L.49s—N2520B and N2521B—pur- chased from L.A.V. only two years ago (the Venezuelan ownerhaving operated them for nine years before selling) are likewise in storage at Washington. Air-India's last three 749As, VT-DAR, -AS and VT-DEO,were traded back to Lockheed's earlier this year (in part exchange for A.I.I.'s last two L.1049Gs). The 749As were sold to Aeronavesde Mexico, but one of them, XA-MEV, crashed on June 2 with the heavy death roll of all 46 aboard. Two other 749 Connieson die Mexican register are XA-LIO and -LIP, which have been operated since 1956 by Guest-Aerovias, who acquired them fromQantas. Nairobi, East Africa. DENNIS M. POWELL. Contrail PhenomenaI WOULD like to comment on the letter by Mr. M. P. Harris(October 24) in which he repons seeing high-flying jet aircraft, with contrails, being preceded by dark blue lines. I too have observed these phenomena on many occasions andconsider the explanation to be fairly obvious. They are generally in evidence when slight haze or a layer of very thin, high cloud ispresent, and are simply shadows of the contrails cast by the sun on to this layer of cloud or haze. The position of the shadow inrelation to the aircraft depends, of course, on the angle and position of the sun and also on the distance above the layer at which it isflying. I have also seen a similar effect occur in cases of fairly low-flyingaircraft in conditions of very thick haze, when a complete shadow of the plane itself was cast on the mist as it passed between the sunand myself. I clearly remember one occasion on which the aircraft was too obscured by haze to be visible from the ground, althoughI was able positively to identify it by the slightly distorted shadow thrown onto a lower bank of mist. Upton, Cheshire. P. A. MORATH. VOUR correspondent Mr. M. P. Harris describes a phenomenon••- which has interested me for some time. It is probably due to the shadow of the aircraft on a very thin layer of cloud at a loweraltitude. With the aircraft and sun in suitable positions the shadow may thus easily precede the machine at a distance determined bythe aircraft/cloud-height separation. The darker-blue line he mentions is similarly due to the shadowof an attenuated vapour trail not visible to the unaided ground observer, but seen on most occasions by using a telescope.The appearance is, of course, more usually seen when one's attention is drawn to it by a visible contrail. Strood, Kent. PETER T. WHITEHEAD. reference to Mr. M. P. Harris's letter regarding the darkline preceding the B-47, I have several times seen something similar when the aircraft was contrailing. In each case the contrailhas been at about right angles to a line between myself and the sun, and I have always assumed that the dark line was the shadowof the contrail on a lower layer of haze, as I have never seen it appear until the aircraft had passed me. When the aircraft turnsfrom its straight course the shadow persists as long as the contrail is visible. Incidentally, what might be called "inverse contrails" are fairlycommon, i.e., long channels of clear air left in the base of unbroken cloud layers. These are quite clearly seen and are frequently left byoverflying Super Constellations and DC-7s en route from Shannon to Europe. As regards the Cargomaster, recently featured in Flight, I havereceived two separate reports of sightings of these vast creatures over this country in the last few weeks. Tolworth, Surrey. T. N. SIMPSON. FORTHCOMING EVENTS Nov. Nov. 7. Association of British Aero Clubs and Centres: Annual Dinner. 7. R.Ae.S. ond Helicopter Association: "Development of the Fairey Rotodyne," by Dr. G. S. Hislop. Nov. 8. D.H. Technical School Old Boys' Annual Dinner. Nov. II. R.Ae.S.: "Boundary Layer Control," by Dr. J. Williams. Nov. 11. R.Ae.S. Graduates' and Students' Section: "The Air Transport Auxiliary," by Sir Gerard D'Erlanger. Nov. 12. Kronfeld Club: "The Early Days," by F. N. Slingsby. Nov. 12-13. Royal Society: Discussion on Space Research, opened by Prof. H. S. W. Massey. Nov. 18. The Photogrammetric Society: "Looking Back," by G/C. F. C. V. Laws. Nov. 18. Institute of Transport, Metropolitan Graduate and Student Society: a.g.m. and lecture: "Movement of Passengers and Baggage before and after Flight," by J. W. Swann. Nov. 19. Kronfeld Club: "Accidents," by A. Cdre. C. J. C. Paul. Nov. 20. R.Ae.S.: Second Lonchester Memorial Lecture; Institution of Mechanicol Engineers. Nov. 24. R.Ae.S.: "Inertiol Guidance," by J. E. Pateman. H9». Z5 Build of Air PilfiK onri Air Noyisfltsfi. "The JetffMgm," by E. Chambers. Nov. 26. Kronfeld Club: Lecture by T. W. Brooke-Smith. Nov. 28. Elstree Flying Club: Annual Dinner. Nov. 28. R.Ae.S. Graduates' and Students' Section: Annual Dance. Dec. 3. Kronfeld Club: Lecture by Alan Yates. Dec. 4. R.Ae.S. (Main Lecture, at Birmingham): "Freighters—a General Survey," by E. D. Keen. Dec. 6. British Interplanetary Society: "Rocket Nozzles and Jets," by E. T. B. Smith. R.Ae.S. Branch Fixtures (to Nov. 13): Nov. 10, Glasgow, "Operation of Naval Aircraft and Aircraft Carriers," by Rear-Admiral J. P. W. Furse. Nov. 11, Boscombe Down, "Application of an A.C. Electrical System to Aircraft," by S. S. Hall. Nov. 12, Bristol (joint meeting with I.P.E.), "American and British Approaches to Aircraft and Engine Procurement and Production," by A. Cdre. F. R. Banks; Chester, "Aircraft in Agriculture," by R. E. Bird; HaUield, "Aviation Medicine and Aircrew Equipment." by F/L. J. King; Manchester, "Digital Differential Analysers" by'K. V. Dtprose; Reading, film show; Southern!, film evening. Nov. 13, Swindon, "Fairey Rotodyne," by D. M. Davies.
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