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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0095.PDF
No. 2654 VOLUME 77 FRIDAY 22 JANUARY 1960 Editor-in-Chief MAURICE A. SMITH DFC Editor H. F. KING MBE Technical Editor W. T. GUNSTON "' Production Editor ROY CASEY IN THIS ISSUE From All Quarters 96 Missiles and • Space-night 98 . Viscount Safari 100 D.H.121 102 Interior Industry 1O5 Sport and Business 114 Straight and Level 117 ' Britain's Airline Safety Record 118 Commando Carrier 119 Flight System Survey 120 Enforcing Airline Agreements 121 Correspondence 123 The Industry 124 Air Commerce 125 Green Alley Heliport 130 Service Aviation 132 Iliffe & Sons Ltd, Dorset House, Stam-ford Street, London SE1; telephone Waterloo 3333. Telegrams FlightpresSedlst London. Annual subscriptions: Home £4 15s. Overseas £5. Canadaand USA $15.00. Second Class Mail privileges authorized at New York, NY. Branch Offices Coventry: 8-10 Corpora-tion Street; telephone Coventry 25210. Birmingham : King Edward House, NewStreet, 2; telephone Midland 7191. Man- chester: 260 Deanssate, 3; telephoneBlaekfriars 4412 or Deansaate 3595. Glasgow: 26B Eenfleld Street, C2;telephone Central 1265. New York, NY: Thomas Skinner & Co(Publishers) Ltd, 111 Broadway 6; telephone Digby 9-1197. © Iliffe k Sons Ltd, 1960. Permissionto reproduce illustrations and letterpress can be granted only under written agree-ment. Brief extracts or comments may be made with due acknowledgement. AIRCRAFT, SPACECRAFT, MISSILES Official Organ of the Royal Aero Club First Aeronautical Weekly in the World Founded 1909 Two Years After ALMOST exactly two years ago there appeared on this page one of thei most depressing editorials we have ever had to write. The SR.177 can- cellation hung darkly over the Isle of Wight. The BEA short-range jet wrangle was at its most acrimonious. The Air League was fervidly demanding a fighter to supersede the Lightning; and there were heart-searchings about the cancelled Avro supersonic bomber. There is no denying that the industry was bitter, mixed up, and out of trim. Now, after two years, it is still in a way mixed up; but the bitterness has largely disappeared, and a stringent regimen, partly prescribed, partly self-imposed, is bringing new strength and greater stamina as well as a fining down to true fight- ing weight. The process is as disagreeable as it is necessary; but it is one that will bring a' real advantage over all competitors. Already there is a new buoyancy that can come only from well-founded confidence. It was no transitory emotion which caused the President of the Royal Aeronautical Society (himself a leader of the industry) to declare that he believed that 1960 would prove to be as great a year as that "golden year of British aviation," 1910. The same confident view was expressed last week by another of our great industrial leaders—Sir Thomas Sopwith—who declared that there was a great deal of common sense in the policy of rationalization and concentration of the companies into large groups. "The challenge of the aircraft industry has always been the challenge of new horizons," he said; adding that he believed that the steps we were now taking would put us in a better position to meet that challenge than at any time in our history. And if anyone has a better right than Sir Thomas to pronounce on the history and the future of British aviation his name does not come readily to mind. Grounds for Confidence K ^ : It was high time that such new-found confidence was publicly expressed by men of such calibre, for many millions of people have in recent months been forming a woefully jaundiced view of the affairs of Britain's aircraft industry. Now that those affairs are being put in order it is timely to survey a few of the products by which it will stand or fall. Because we review it in this issue we may begin with the Airco D.H.121. This airliner will be unique—for extremely important reasons detailed in l&ter pages (notably built-in automatic blind-landing capability). The VC10 is likely to be unique for similar reasons; and the Rotodyne, of course, is unchallenged. Much the same might be said of the Argosy and Vanguard, and of advanced derivatives of the big Westland helicopters. The Comet, Viscount, Herald and Avro 748 round out a range of turbine transports which, as the SBAC quite justly claims, can meet practically any airline requirement. The TSR.2 and the P.1127 will offer unique—with no apologies for the word—military capabilities; and these are just the sort of aircraft that will be bought by other air forces than the RAF. The Naval NA.38 (first flight nearly two years ago) is still unrivalled, even in America. In the way of research aircraft we already have the revolutionary jet-lift SCI, and before too long it will be joined by the highly supersonic, stainless-steel T.188. Also, in due time we shall have a Handley Page deep-chord delta (a favoured layout for a supersonic airliner) and a second H.P. with laminar flow. Another potentially revolutionary development is an aircraft employing the jet flap. Perhaps we should add that if we do not extend our review to include engines and equipment our rivals will misconstrue this as timidity only at their peril.
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