FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0879.PDF
-.-.r':X~:z: v._ • 438 FLIGHT Straight and Level MANY people, including theSupply Minister, seem to berather vexed with B.E.A. for not having placed a firm order for theRotodyne. It has been implied that an American airline (New York Airways),by placing the initial order for a British aircraft, has put B.E.A. to shame. I feel a little unhappy about this.Surely B.E.A. should be free to buy equipment—British-made of course—which best suits their commercial needs? They should not be expected to buy theRotodyne for any other reason, even if they have made optimistic noises about it. For N.Y.A., who have flown helicop-ters on commercial operations every 45 minutes for nearly three years—asa 70 per cent-subsidized operation—the Rotodyne is a logical step forward awayfrom subsidy. B.E.A., on the other hand, are notscheduled helicopter operators—because the Government has not provided thenecessary finance and encouragement. So in apparently scolding B.E.A. fornot buying die Rotodyne, the Supply Minister is really criticizing his ownGovernment's helicopter policy. • Three weeks ago I suggested thatR .A.E. apprentices might smarten them- selves up a bit before stepping on-stageto receive their awards at the annual prizegiving ceremony. Last week weprinted a letter from a keen R.A.E. lad who said in effect that Life was muchtoo real, too earnest for that son of thing —he and his fellow-apprentices were alltoo busy working on aircraft and in the workshops (it says here). I have since received a letter fromMr. Lungley Powe, a director of the Hector Powe organization, expressingkeen approval for my suggestion of a Hector Powe Award for the Appren-tice Best Suited to the Occasion. So now the ball is in the R.A.E. Tech-nical College court. Will the Bacon- Powe attempt at elegance in apprentice-ship succeed, or will Farnborough remain a sartorial limbo? Now, Mr.Peggs, what are your views as college principal? • To those airlines having labourtroubles I recommend the following from Management Must Manage,*by Sir Charles Boost, dynamic boss of Plummet Air Lines: — "I was profoundly shocked when I heardthat my airline had 13,000 too many stores assistants, 121,000 too many engineers, and29 too many house magazine editors. "How did things get to this state? Whyhad no one told me? My South of France villa has a telephone, and when I am aboardmy yacht I am within easy hailing distance of the shore."I decided something must be done— and no messing about. I'd show 'em howI got my wartime nickname of 'Basher.' I'd show 'em. . . ."So I decided. . . ." But I must not spoil the climax of afascinating book which, as a treatise on the treatment of labour trouble, is aclassic. • I must also recommend a new pam-phlet They Owe Us A Living^ by Ted Chip ("Big Chip," as he is knownto his employers). The author is shop steward of the Plummet joint councilfor rivet-hole drillers and allied opera- tives in the workers' sectional brother-hood panel of amalgamated engineering trades and electrical fitters. In his bookMr. Chip sets out the following "Airport Workers'Creed": — (1) We believe that Plummet should benationalized, like B.O.A.C., because the taxpayer has a duty to airport workers.(2) We believe that the rank and file shou'd beware of betrayal by union leaders,who are mere management-boodickers. *Briiish Air Power Publications Ltd., Imperial Aviation House, London, W.I, 25 s. ^Solidarity Press, E.C.I, 6d. One morning recently several hundred offi- cers and men at a U.S. A.F. base lined up shoulder to shoulder to "sweep" their air- field. Here is a selec- tion of the 2,0001b. of debris they collected — a clean-up which, according to the Flight Safety Foun- dation, resulted in a 60 per cent reduction in jet engine changes. Moral: Buy airliners with high-mounted jet-engine intakes (3) We believe that the fight is not somuch for a 35 shillings an hour rise, back- dated to September 1, 1953, but that it isa fight for the upholding of working-class principles and the dignity of the tradeunion movement. • It struck me as a singular coinci-dence that, just having read Cyril Uwins' lecture on Frank Barnwell's aeroplanes(page 402) I should immediately pick up the current issue of Aero Modeller andopen it at a double-spread drawing of the Bulldog—one of Barnwell's morefamous and successful designs. But I felt some almost supernatural influenceat work when I put that journal down, picked up the American Modeler andopened it at a three-view of Barnwell's Bristol Brownie. Can you now believe that the latestModel Aircraft features Barnwell's Bristol M.I series? Equally amazing to my mind is therealization that in this year 1959 an American journal should see fit tointerest its readers in an obscure British light aeroplane of 1924—whenthe same issue carries an advertisement for a "Space Taxi . . . four colors plas-tic. Ready now. $1.29." • "There was no tongue-in-cheekapproach by British aviation industry trade journals when they announced theAmerican Airlines' Electra accident at New York. The expressions of regretwere sincere."—from the American pub- lication Aviation Daily, March 5. Aviation protocol decrees that thereshall be no gloating about other people's misfortunes, however much one mayhave suffered oneself. There are strict unwritten rules about this: it just isn'tthe form to make capital out of anything which concerns aviation safety—andthat is that. • This was why I felt decidedly un-happy that a British Airways Corpora- tion, in recently opposing the applica-tion of a British independent airline to operate a new service, suggested thatsuch a service would not be "in safe hands." The independent concerned actually has a better accident record than the Corporation. • Warranted genuine conversation, innocently overheard the other day: — Interested party (inspecting newtransport aircraft): "What, actually, are you going to sell the aeroplane as " Sales manager (without turning ahair): "Actually, we're going to sell it as married quarters to the UruguayanMarine Corps." ROGER BACON
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
