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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 1519.PDF
736 Flight to MOSCOW . . . Discussing the Moscow - Lon- don flight plan as Marshal Zhigarev's Tu-104A is towed out by lorry for take-off are the airport commandant (left), Mr. Danielechev (back to camera), and Col. Baskirov. On the right is the nose of one of C.S.A.'s three Tu-104As "Flight" photograph FLIGHT the final turn on to the QDM of the runway. You then come in onthe inner marker. This procedure seems to form an adequate let-down aid, andit has the merit of being universal. Russian I.L.S., being of the phase-comparison type, cannot be received by the British (or anyWestern) airborne equipment. The glide-path can be picked up but, rather unhelpfully, with reversed indications. The RussianA.I.P. has full information about I.L.S. procedures and, as we learned after our arrival at Moscow, a Pye I.L.S. installation is tobe bought for Moscow Vnukovo for the benefit of Westem-I.L.S.- equipped airliners. (One has already been installed at Prague.) Another example of Russian readiness to co-operate is thatG.C.A. is available at Moscow in English, which was not the case a year ago A talk-down handbook, in both languages, was sup-plied for B.E.A.'s crews, and the voice patter conforms to the standard IJC.A.O. phraseology. * * * So much for the three basic operational differences. A coupleof years ago, of course, language was the biggest barrier. But in conformity with I.C.A.O.'s International Standards and Recom-mended Practices (Annex 10, Part III, 5.3.1.1.2.) the Russian air traffic control services speak to B.E.A. flights in clear preciseEnglish—and so, we were told, do the Tu-104A crews on the London - Moscow run. For the time being, at any rate, all B.E.A.flights will be accompanied, just in case language problems arise (such as G.C.A. talk-down at alternates), by a Russian-speakingsupernumerary crew-member—Mr. Michael Tomkins, 25, who learnt the language while on his national service in the Army.It is only 15 months ago that the first British aircraft—a B.E.A. Viscount—flew into Russia without the then-mandatory Russiancheck-pilots. Considering how recently we looked upon the Russians almostas men from another planet there have been amazing strides forward. There are still many difficulties which only time andpatience can surmount. For example, our own personal negotia- tions with the Russians over travel formalities and a visit toAeroflot were curiously frustrating. However, as someone on our flight remarked, to criticize after so many obvious efforts toco-operate might cause the scaffolding to collapse—though B.E.A. is, we feel, building up something more substantial and usefulthan scaffolding. As a postscript to Part 1 last week, which dealt with thecommercial background to the story, it is a curious fact that B.E.A. do not operate in pool with Aeroflot—so that the Russianairline is virtually the only one of the Corporation's international rivals with whom revenues are not shared. A subsequent articlewill review other commercial and operational aspects as seen from Moscow. In the meantime here are some preliminary personalimpressions of what was seen of Aeroflot, whose fleet now carries —according to one senior official—10 million passengers a year. AEROFLOT, MAY 1959 WHEN our Viscount had crossed the boundary of the RigaF.I.R., and we were under Soviet suzerainty for the first time, a fellow-passenger leaned across me, looked out upon theRussian countryside 8,000 metres below, and remarked: "An- other illusion shattered—looks just the same as any other countryto me." Why should I, too, have felt mildly surprised that the housesand fields and trees and clouds looked quite normal? Do Russians look down upon East Anglia from the windows of the Tu-104Awith thoughts as benighted? If so, the ease with which they and we can now cross the B.E.A.-Aeroflot bridge should help tospread enlightenment. Yet Aeroflot, the U.S.S.R. Civil Air Fleet, is different. Whenyou land at Vnukovo airport, Moscow, you are in a new air transport atmosphere. As we taxied past phalanxes of Tu-104s, Il-18s, Il-14s and Li-2s there was only one American airliner tobe seen—an Air France Super Constellation—and ours was the only Viscount. There were no Shell or Esso or BP fuellers, asthere are at airports in the west. The steps were driven out to meet us under their own power—something I had personallynever seen before. The blue Aeroflot uniforms were of a com- pletely different cut, rather baggy and with gold chevrons on thesleeves according to a rank-system which I never quite mastered. The airport police—or militia as they call them—wore khakitunics, blue trousers and green and yellow badges of rank, and there were very few about (far fewer than one sees at London,the world's most officious airport). The hostesses were ample, homely and smiling. Aircraft were being towed by lorries insteadof by tractors, and as for the aeroplanes themselves . . . Nowhere in the world can you see so many aircraft belongingto one airline. At La Guardia or at Los Angeles you will see as many—perhaps more—but they are of diverse ownership andnationality. Here, at Soviet Russia's busiest airport, you can gauge the might of Aeroflot. After touchdown, as the flat-pitchedRotols press you forward from your seat, you catch your first glimpse of Soviet air-power—fifteen Tu-104 fins sticking upshark-like from behind the brow of a slope, then a cluster of six Il-18s, and four more, then ten more Tu-104s, and everywherecountless dozens of Il-14s. There is no apparent conformity of colour-scheme. The Il-14shad no white tops, and only a small "Aeroflot" on the nose with a dark blue line down the windows. The registrations of thesedowdy Convairesque aircraft were five-figure, the first numeral varying from 0 to 6. The Tu-104s and Tu-104As all had the fussymarkings they bore when we first saw them three years ago— white tops, blue and red cheat-lines. I noticed four figure andfive-figure Tu-104 registrations, and these were worth noting down because they give a clue to quantities. The Tu-104s I sawhad two kinds of registration—the old-fashioned L-series and the new five-figure series. The former varied from L5413 to L5446and the latter from 42347 to 42424. Thus, assuming that Aeroflot number their Tu-104s logically, I saw representatives of batchesof more than 100. I was interested particularly in the 11-18, of which I countedabout ten on dispersal, in the maintenance area, and on the apron. The 11-18, which has been in passenger service for a month(since April 20), appears to be an extremely effective—not to mention good-looking—airliner. The registrations I saw ran from75654 to 75678. There are 40 in service, so I was told on
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