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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 1603.PDF
790 FLIGHT, 5 June 1959 AIR COMMERCE . . . y UP-TO-DATE WITH THE VANGUARD A RECENT Flight visit to Weybridge provided news of pro-•**• gress with the Vickers Vanguard, B.E.A.-delivery target-date for which still stands at March 1, 1960, despite the delay of1^ months (caused by Tyne teething-troubles) to the start of the flight-test programme. The first aircraft is about to fly again after its first major check,having done just over 119 hr in 52 nights, and it will continue a general survey of performance and handling, with initialemphasis on controls. The second aircraft, fully instrumented like the first, had done about 40 hours in 30 flights at the latestcount. Vickers' original rough-and-ready yardstick of progress was 1 hr of Vanguard-flying per day from December 1, 1958, toDecember 31, 1959; this rate has been exceeded. A small dorsal fin has appeared on the first aircraft and is beingincorporated on the production line; it is intended to avoid the marginal possibility of a pilot applying more yaw than could behandled. Also, vortex generators have been applied to the top surface of the wing to improve control in the rolling plane; thepossibility of increasing tab power is being examined also. The third Vanguard is due to fly in two or three weeks' time:less comprehensively instrumented than the first two (whose cabins look like electronic laboratories), it will be the aircraftallocated to 150 hr of tropical trials and high-airport tests, due to start in September at Khartoum or Kano and at Johannesburgor Nairobi. Other progress-notes: — (1) Propeller strain-gauging will be carried out on two propellers onthe same side. (2) Type-Lincoln will clear wet-icing properties of the engine; a dry-ice ("Britannia-ice") test has also to be demonstrated to A king, a prince and a queen—and the Crown of England—appear in this recent picture of the Shah of Persia, Prince Bernhard and Queen Juliana about to embark in a T.A.A. Fokker Friendship for a flight from Schiphol to Leeuwarden-Friesland and back. The royal party were the guests of the Fokker company; the Shah flew the aircraft the A.R.B.—though not to the F.A.A. as yet. (3) Airframe de-icing-wing will be cleared from Viscount experience on the basis of estimates and tail from Napier Spraymat tests on a test-Viscount's fin. (4) Actualcertification hours will be 1,290, including 250 hours' route-flying, with "all information necessary for documentation" being expected by theend of December. (5) Cold-weather trials will be carried out in Canada (6) A Vanguard has only once landed unserviceable, and there havebeen no electrical troubles whatsoever. (7) Ten pilots have flown the aircraft without criticism. (8) Quotes from conversation with Vickerstest pilot Capt. R. Rymer: "Delightful and simple to land—you step away from a greaser every time. . . ." "Everything happens so majestic-ally and slowly you have to keep looking at the clock to see that you're really doing 125 kt. . . ." "She will do a balked landing from touch-down with a 25 lb suck-force. . . ." "She flies just like the heavier Viscounts, better in pitch and on trim changes with power and flap "(9) The Tyne 11 should enter service at 600 hr. VISCOUNT FAMILY MEETING A BOUT fifty engineers from many different countries with one**• particular interest in common—the Vickers Viscount—met at Weybridge on May 26 and 27. The occasion was the seventhViscount Operators' Meeting. This family gathering, unique in the industry, has been an annual event since 1954. The agenda,as Flight said when describing the aims and objects of these meet- ings in the issue of June 6, 1958, "is the corporate snag-sheet of[49] operators whose engineers live and work with the aircraft in almost every kind of operational environment." Mr. A. H. Green-wood, deputy general manager of Vickers, said when he opened the recent meeting: "From now on we will talk about only thethings that are wrong with the Viscount." The form of the meeting this year was rather different fromthose held previously. In place of a question-and-answer agenda • which in the past formed the basis of discussion, talks were givenby Vickers, Rolls-Royce and Rotol representatives on selected items which appeared to be of the most interest. There were dis-cussions, of course; and throughout the three-day session the customers were free to discuss any problems with the appropriatespecialist. On the third day representatives were invited to study theengineering of the Vanguard, an opportunity which Flight also took. It is hoped to report on this in a later issue. BREVITIES The last service by a Stratocruiser in B.O.A.C. colours was flown on May 31, between Accra and London. * * *More than 100,000 passengers have now been carried by New York Airways' Vertol 44s after less than a year in service.* * * The Caravelle has been demonstrated in Moscow during thevisit of the French F.A.I, delegation to the Soviet capital. Cara- velles may be used on Air France services to Moscow at the endof October. * * * Northwest's v-p. operations, Mr. Frank Judd, has said that theunit cost—borne by Lockheed—of rectifying the Electra's vibration troubles will be $2.4m [sic]. The work involves tiltingthe nacelles 3 deg and changing propeller-blade angles. * * * B.O.A.C., South African Airways, Central African Airways andEast African Airways agreed at their half-yearly discussion in South Africa to press for the introduction of economy-class fareson U.K. - South African services by April 1, 1960. * * * The M.T.C.A.'s operational trials of low-frequency radiotele-typewriter broadcasts of meteorological information for the North Atlantic region are to continue. They have been in progress sinceApril 1 and are said to be promising. Transmission is on 121.6 kc/s at a radiated power of 1.5 kW. * * * A party of three from the Russian Civil Aviation Workers'Union arrived in London by air on May 30 from Moscow for a two-week tour of British industrial plants and aircraft productionlines. The party, led by Mr. A. N. Leontiev, general secretary of the 220,000-strong union, was met at London Airport by awelcoming committee from the Association of Supervisory Staffs and Technicians, headed by Mr. C. Jenkins, the Association'snational officer. Mr. Jenkins said that the party would visit Vickers at Weybridge to see Viscounts on the assembly lines.A delegation from ASSET was invited to Moscow last year. Aerolineas Argentinas Comet 4 services between Buenos Airesand New York are to start on June 7. * * * The runway at Lisbon is to be extended to 12,400ft, with apossible further extension to 14,100ft. * * * B.O.A.C's airways terminal near Victoria Station, London, isto be extended at a cost of £lm. Electronic reservation and ticket- issuing equipment will be installed.* * * A B.O.A.C. Comet 4 will be used to fly the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to Canada on June 18 at the start of their forthcoming visit. A landing will be made at Torbay, Newfound- land. * * * de Havilland Aircraft are unable to confirm reports that Com-pania Mexicana de Aviacion have placed an order for three Comet 4s, valued with spares at more than £4m. Representativesof the airline announced this at London Airport after a visit to London. * * * Following reports that de Havilland Aircraft were to ceasebuilding Comets because of lack of orders, the company has issued a denial stating that, in fact, prospects have shown distinctsigns of improvement with "the growing realization that a moderate-sized jet is urgently needed to avoid the cream of thetraffic going to those carriers which already possess jets." ' * * *On May 29 Silver City carried its 250,000th car across the Channel, from Ferryfield to Lc Touquet. The car owner was presented by Mr. H. C. Kennard (Silver City joint managing director) with a cheque equivalent to the return fares for himself and his family and car. Since 1948, when Channel flights started. 856,900 passengers and 71,180 motor cycles have also been carried, and there have been 146,000 flights. The airline have announced that services to Deauville reopen on June 1 and will be operated until September 21.
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