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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0684.PDF
684 FLIGHT, 20 May I960 Straight and ve I BEA has made a profit for the sixthyear running. It is a record one—about £2m net. How do they do it when they run one of the shortest- stage networks of any other carrier of comparable size? I thought short-haul stages were economically the most diffi- cult to make pay. But if this is true why can't BOAC make profits with their essentially long-haul operations? I think the answer lies not so much in the economics of stage length. Flipping through the last BEA annual report for a bit of information the other day I came across the following: — "It is customary in annual reports forthe board to express its appreciation of the loyalty and hard work of its staff. We wishthat there were some way in which we - could make it quite clear that our words onthis subject are much more than conven- tional expressions. For it is with deepsincerity that we say that the skill, dedica- tion and general spirit of our staff are ourgreatest assets. All who know BEA will agree that it is welded together by strongbonds of comradeship and inspired by good humour. One infallible indication ofthe strength of an enterprise is that its employees are proud to work for it. By thistest BEA has nothing to fear." Nearly all of BEA's top executives have been with the corporation for 16 years. This may account for it. • In an issue which has quite a few pages devoted to light-aircraft affairs, let's spare an incidental thought for the efforts of two of the organizations which claim to represent large sections of the light-aviation movement. The Royal Aero Club, we know, has organized the Business and Touring Aircraft Com- petition at Shoreham, and a jolly good thing it is, too. The Association of British Aero Clubs has organized a Summer Convention at Thorney Island, and a jolly good thing that is, too. But now let's look at the dates. Shoreham, May 20 and 21; Thorney Island, May 21. I should like to ask Mr Stephenson of the Club and Mr Miles of the Association two questions: why this unnecessary duplication on a not- particularly-crowded calendar, and when are the two organizations going to stop this stupid squabbling and start to co-operate? • In spite of the magnificent furore over the cancellation of Blue Streak, I am delighted to learn that our deterrent is so secure. According to Mr Watkin- son, who as Defence Minister ought to know, we need not worry at all. First we have the V-bombers, with Blue Steel (pity Blue Steel Mk 2 has been cancelled just when it was getting going; but can't be helped). Then we have Sky Bolt (pity it isn't ours and isn't here yet; but the Americans are good chaps). Then, if Sky Bolt fails, we have Polaris (well, we intend to do a study to see how difficult and costly it would be to have it by 1970). Then, by the knowledge gained in the Blue Streak programme, we could do our own solid-fuel ICBM (pity the USAF is doing Minuteman, which we could only duplicate). Pity. Whether or not you would like to float around at 6,500ft in one of these laundry baskets, as a Flight colleague did a fortnight ago, you must admit the street-sign is appropriate. The city is Rotterdam, and the occasion the recent international balloon race • I have never ceased to be intrigued by the manner in which our elected representatives at Westminster conduct debates into aeronautical matters. Mem- bers seize upon something and proceed to beat it to death from all points of the compass, without noticing that the point at issue is either trivial or buried in the limbo of history. I have long wished an air-minded schoolboy could be given a parliamentary post as advisor on avia- tion affairs. Even in the debate on the Britannic, in which security played no part at all, it is strange that much of the time seems to have been taken up by a point-by- point comparison between that aero- plane and the various types of Lockheed C-130. The only mention of the Douglas C-133 consisted of the words "there is the C-133 Douglas Cargomaster . . ." The implications of the Franco-German Transall C.160 seemed to have escaped everyone's notice, and the CL-44— already accepted as the optimum long- range, high-capacity freighter for the airlines—was also not mentioned. Incredibly, the Swift was—but at least we were spared the Princess and Brabazon. • Readers who live near London Air- port will not have missed the signifi- cance of a paragraph ("Press on Sans Regard," page 667 last week) about Swissair's new Caravelle timetable. Quite clearly, this is the break-through; from May 24 jets other than the Comet will be taking off and landing at London Airport during "sleeping hours." O; June 2 Swissair's jets will be joined bv those of SAS. The Ministry of Aviation spokesman said subsequently that the Caravelle would have to undergo nois<: tests before permission was granted to operate between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. Would they be similar to the test?, undergone by the Comet? Yes, prob- ably they would. What were the tests that the Comet was subjected to before it was cleared for night operations? "I am sorry, but I really can't go into that." Three weeks ago I said that the noise- measurement tests to which the Comet had been subjected were a Ministry secret. I make no apologies for raising the subject again; they are still secret and, even more disturbing, it seems that the tests to be applied to other jets are to be kept secret also. And if the test con- ditions are secret then the results— whatever decibel figures may be given— remain secret too. Aurally, this might be just tolerable in the case of the Comet 4B, but my own noise-measuring devices tell me that for London Airport residents it won't be so good with the Caravelle, and that with the Tu-104, Boeing 707 and DC-8 this secret will be a very unsatisfactory one indeed. • Every now and then a misprint appears in a handout and brings plea- sure to an otherwise routine working day. Such a one occurred in Hunting Aircraft's description of the Provost when they announced the delivery of the 461st and last of this line of trainers to the Irish Air Corps. They stated that official RAF armament trials had shown the aircraft to be "an exceptionally stable fun platform." This note of whimsy provides a most charming valediction. One can imagine the last Provost, in its Irish markings, sailing along with leprechauns gaily dangling from its wing-tips, while its two-seater cockpit is crammed with joyous little people off for an aerial out- ing, to see whether the mountains of Mourne really swape down to the sea. • A museum-piece bequeathed by Flight's editorial ancestors is a handy little volume of 2,620 pages, Webster's New International Dictionary, 1911. Though we do possess rather more up- to-date reference works, somebody wondered if it would help him to define "sonic," as used of the Victor in a current hand-out. "Sonic," it said "—see Petrography." Now petrography is the science of classi- fying rocks, and under this heading he found: "Sonic, of the nature of, or con- taining, sodalite or noselite; —con- trasted with nelic." I have long sym- pathized With technical translators; I can see it now—"The Victor, which contains a noselite . . ." ROGER BACON
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