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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0775.PDF
378 AIR COMMERCE . . . FLIGHT, 20 March 1959 The first of a fleet of 15 Boeing 707120s recently delivered to T.W.A. is seen here at New York International. The airline will begin non-stop New York - San Francisco jet services today, March 20. Note the new markings, a red arrow-head down the side of the fuselage, and company initials only above it. North Atlantic T.W.A. jet operations will probably await delivery of the first of eighteen 707-320s later in the year BOEING 720s FOR AERLINTE AERLINTE'S order for three Boeing 720s (briefly referred to• last week) has now been confirmed, following the Irish Government's approval that Aerlinte should operate jets. Serviceson the North Atlantic wiil begin in early summer, 1961. It was left to the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Mr.Sean Lemass (in consultation with Aerlinte) to decide what type of aircraft and associated equipment will be bought with the £5imor £6m which (it is said) will be invested in the fleet. There appear to be three factors governing Aerlinte's choice ofthe 720. At £1.2m each the price is appreciably less than that of a Boeing 707-120, while the speed of the lightest version of theBoeing 707 family is only just below that of the Convair 880. The aircraft is also claimed to be economical over stage-lengths as lowas 175 n.m., although this would seem to be of academic interest for an aircraft used, say, on a route pattern Chicago - New York -Boston - Shannon - Rome - Ruhr - Zurich. (Aerlinte are also anxious to attract North Atlantic traffic originating in Middle Eastand Asian areas.) Boeing quote the maximum range of the 720 with a full payload of 33,000 lb and 13,000 lb reserve fuel as2,300 n.m., so that payload on the 2,668 n.m. Shannon - New York stage would be limited by fuel weight. With a total tankage (including maximum optional fuel) of 11,221 Imp. gal. and thesame reserve fuel, the payload would be about 26,000 lb. It is not intended to use Aerlinte's jets between Shannon andDublin, and these local services would be operated (as they are now) by Friendships and Viscounts and thence into the AerLingus' European network. Aerlinte has now been operating for just under 12 months.During the peak months of July, August and September 1958 the airline is reported to have carried 4,471 westbound passengers ata load factor of 54 per cent and 2,437 eastbound passengers at 29 per cent. It carried more passengers than El Al, Iberia orQantas over the three months of July, August and September. The overall load factor for the seven months of 1958 was38 per cent. No financial statements have been issued, but the loss on the first year of operations seems likely to be between £|mand £lm. This estimated deficit must be compared against an annual national income of less than £150m. BREVITIES The Handley Page Pan Herald is due to leave on its demon-stration tour of Europe, Asia and Africa in early April. Among the places to be visited, it is understood, are Athens,Ankara, Teheran, Karachi, Delhi, Lahore, Bangalore, Bombay, Aden, Addis Ababa, Central Africa and West Africa.* * * A Sao Paulo financial group is reported to be discussing pos-sible manufacture of the Hurel-Dubois H.D.32 in Brazil. * * * The I.A.T.A. Clearing House in London settled more than£292m in 1958, 28 per cent more than in the 1957 record year. Cost to I.A.T.A. members was about 3£d. per £100.* * * The eighth and last Douglas DC-8 for K.L.M. will be named Sir Frank Whittle. The first one will be Albert Plesman, and the second Anthony H. G. Fokker. * * * The Vickers Vanguard completed 50 flying hours in the 50 daysfollowing its first flight on January 20. The aircraft has been flown pressurized to 26,000ft, at up to 250 kt and at 131,000 lb take-offweight. The memorial to Alcock and Brown being erected at Clifden, Co. Galway, by Aer Lingus, will be unveiled on June 15 this year, the fortieth anniversary of the day the airmen put down their Vickers Vimy in a bog near Clifden after their transatlantic flight. * * •Statistics issued by the Helicopter Council of the U.S. Aircraft Industries Association list 535 helicopters in commercial servicein the U.S.A. and Canada. Of these, 400 are Bell 47s and 78 are Sikorskys; there are 26 Hillers, 21 Vertols, five Alouettes, threeKamans and two Westlands. A further 100 Bell helicopters have been delivered to private operators. B.O.A.C. has appointed Mr. Clyde M. Culpepper as residentsales representative, Houston, Texas. Mr. Culpepper, an Ameri- can, was formerly Eastern Air Lines' traffic manager at Houston. * * * Trans-Canada Air Lines are now using the name "Air Canada"for promotional and advertising purposes on the Continent of Europe. * * * U.K. air traffic in January 1959 was 15 per cent greater thanin January 1958—22.6 million l.t.ms. Load factor remained unchanged at 54 per cent. * * * Total number of civil aircraft registered in the U.S.A. last yearwas 98,414. This was broken down as follows: scheduled air- lines 1,834; private aircraft 95,577; miscellaneous 1,003. * * * The M.T.C.A. announced on March 11 that Mr. J. E. Hampsonhas been appointed to succeed Mr. L. J. Dunnett as a Deputy Secretary, the appointment to take effect from April 1.* * * Following the purchase by the Ceylon Government of 76 percent of the capital of Air Ceylon, the Chinese will probably grant the Ceylonese traffic rights. When negotiations on this questionbegan, China asked for "clarification" of the fact that 49 per cent of Air Ceylon's capital was held by K.L.M. * * * - The Viscount 810 accepted by Ansett-A.N.A. (and deliveredon March 13—see picture on p. 376) will be a "full fuel, full pay- load" aeroplane. It was certificated at 72,500 lb, an increase of3,500 lb above the previous 810 weight. All new 810s will gross 72,500 lb; and retrospective changes to existing aircraft can bemade to bring them up to this weight (via an interim 71,000 lb, pending delivery of new brakes). This is one of two prototypes of the BB.152 (four Pirna 014 turbo- jets of 6,950 Ib thrust each), Eastern Germany's 57 to 72-seat Caravelle-competitor. One of the two aircraft crashed on March 4; no details of the accident are available. Strongly promoted at the Leipzig Fair, the 152 will be in airline service with the East German airline (now named Interflug) next year
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