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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0914.PDF
3 April 1959 451 Mr. S. G. Joy HSS-2 is the U.S. Navy's designation for this twin-turbine amphibious helicopter by Sikorsky. Mission: anti-submarine; engines: General Electric T-58-6s of about 1,050 h.p. Maker's designation is S-61 New Avro Directors >. • •-'•' •••"••-•• "••<^y-" rv- - FULL details of the executive changes at A. V. Roe & Co. Ltd.,to which brief reference was made in a late-news paragraph last week, are as follows. Mr. J. A. R. Kay has been appointed managing director and Mr. S. G. Joy,company secretary, becomes director and general manager. There havebeen five new appointments to the Board: Mr. J. T. Lidbury and Mr.S. D. Davies become directors, and Mr. A. Sewart, Mr. J. R. Ewans andMr. R. H. Francis executive directors. Mr. Kay and Mr. Lidbury, who isgeneral manager of Hawker Aircraft Ltd. at Kingston, were recentlyappointed joint managing directors of Hawker Siddeley Aviation Ltd.(Flight, January 30). Mr. Joy has been secretary of A. V. Roe for the pasttwenty years; his new post means that he will assume a much wider controlof the day-to-day activities of the Manchester factories. Mr. Davies is best known as designer ofthe Vulcan; he was succeeded as chief designer by Mr. Ewans, who has been responsible for the Avro 748. Mr. Sewart is assistantgeneral manager (missiles) and Mr. Francis is chief engineer of the Avro Weapons Research Division. "Gus" Walker's New Post IT was announced last week that A.V-M. G. A. ("Gus") Walkeris to become Chief Information Officer at Air Ministry in June. He has been A.O.C. No. 1 Group, Bomber Command, sinceOctober 1956; he had a distinguished wartime career and before the war was an English rugby international. The present C.I.O., Mr. L. M. MacBride, is to become ChiefPublicity Officer. This is a new post concerned with the publicity aspects of recruiting. Saro Resignations 'THE resignation of Mr. P. H. Leyton as chief rocket develop-•*• ment engineer, Saunders-Roe Ltd., was announced on March 16. Mr. Leyton, who has been in charge at the BlackKnight test site at High Down, Isle of Wight, has taken up the position of director of engineering with Black & Decker Ltd. Ina letter to The Times on March 21, he attributed his resignation to the lack of an official British policy on space research.This was followed on March 23 by the resignation from Saunders-Roe of Mr. M. J. Brennan, the chief designer.Mr. Brennan later denied that his resignation had any con- nection with that of Mr. Leyton, or that it was a protest againstGovernment rocket policy. He said: "I have resigned to make myself available for an appointment with one of the larger aircraftcompanies." Mr, R. Stanton-Jones has been appointed acting chief designer at Saunders-Roe in succession to Mr. Brennan. Counting the Cost /"^. OVERNMENT expenditure on airfields and aircraft has been" in the news recently. In the Air Services Appropriation Account 1957-58 (H.M.S.O., 3s) some details were given of therising cost of the new R.A.F. airfield at Gan in the Maldive Islands; and in Parliament last week there were questions aboutMinistry of Supply losses on aeronautical research and development. Sir Edmund Compton, the Comptroller and Auditor-General, in his report on the Accounts says that the cost of building anairfield and radio installations in the Maldives was now expected to be £3,800,000 against an estimate of £2,700,000 in June 1957.The figure had risen from £3,150,000 since January last year. Major reasons for the increase had been given as (1) the highercost of providing aggregate for the runway because the Ministry had not been allowed to develop causeways between Gan andadjoining islands, where it could have been won at lower cost; and (2) the decision to extend the paved length of the runwayby 1,200ft. Accounts for the air services as a whole show a surplus to be surrendered to the Exchequer of £11,212,646.When it was asserted in the House of Commons on March 23 that the Ministry of Supply underestimated the cost of its develop-ment projects, the Parliamentary Secretary (Mr. W. J. Taylor) replied that the Ministry tried to analyse precisely what a particu-lar project entailed and to bring "more informed critical judg- ments" to bear on estimating its cost at each stage. This was inanswer to questions by Mr. Roy Mason (Lab., Barnsley); and in answering further ones by Mr. Frank Beswick (Lab., Uxbridge),about penalty clauses in contracts and the efficient checking of estimates, Mr. Taylor said that development contracts for aero-engines did not include a penalty clause "because the work to be done by its very nature renders initial estimates and calcula-tions liable to a margin of error." The M.o.S. "Fleet" ASKED in Parliament last week about the number of aircraftheld by the Ministry of Supply, to what extent they were being utilized and what rundown was visualized this year, theParliamentary Secretary said in answer that the number was 411; they were fully utilized (though there were occasional gapsbetween tasks); and he did not foresee any significant run-down. During the last two years there had been a reduction in theholding of more than 150 aircraft. The machines were used for research and development; there was no real discernible waste. IN BRIEF It was announced in Bonn on March 24 that the Federal GermanDefence Ministry had signed a contract with Sud Aviation for 130 Alouettes for the West German armed forces. Other Alouette ordersinclude six for the Royal Netherlands Air Force (two already delivered) and three for an Israeli civil operator. * * * Since "Forthcoming Events" (p. 472) went to press, news has come ofthe postponement of the Brancker Memorial Lecture until September 14. * * * Mr. and Mrs. Herbert May of Washington and Pittsburgh, U.S.A.,have become the first private owners of a Vickers Viscount anywhere in the world. They purchased their aircraft (a V.700 series) fromLanica, the Nicaraguan airline; it is being converted from 44 to 14 seats and a full executive interior will be installed * * * .."..• \ On March 20 Convair were awarded a further contract from the U.S.Air Force for the development of a nuclear-powered bomber. Convair have had a study contract for several years in association with GeneralElectric, as have Lockheed Aircraft and their propulsion partners, Pratt & Whitney. The two latter companies have now been virtuallyeliminated, and even Convair are held up pending completion of the basic design parameters of the propulsion system. * * • Bristol-Aerojet Ltd., the company which was recently formed by theBristol Aeroplane Company and Aerojet-General Corporation, is to establish a plant near Kidwelly, Camarthenshire. An industrial develop-ment certificate has been granted to the company for a site on the disused airfield at Pembrey. When the company was founded lastOctober, it was stated that Bristol-Aerojet intended to open a British plant for the production of the rocket propellant polyurethane. SATISFIED CUSTOMER: At Croydon Airport on March 23 A. Cdre. G. J. C. Paul, secretary-general of the Air League, took delivery of his personal Rollason Turbulent. From the left, Mr. Norman Jones of Rollasons, A. Cdre. Paul and Capt. R. S. Barnaby
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