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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0889.PDF
No 2677 VOLUME 78 FRIDAY 1 JULY 1960 Editor-in-Chief MAURICE A. SMITH DFC Editor H. F. KING MBE Technical Editor W . T. OUNSTON Production Editor ROY CASEY IN THIS ISSUE From All Quarters 2 Missiles and Space-flight 4 Twin Pioneer Series 3 in the Air 7 Aero 145 in the Air 9 Big-League Gliding 10 Inside the 11-18 13 Straight and Level 18 Studies in Design 19 Flight System Survey 21 U-2 Echoes and Budgets 22 Air Commerce 23 Service Aviation 28 Sport and Business 29 Correspondence 30 • Iliffe & Sons Ltd, Dorset House, Stam-furd Street. London SE1; telephone Waterloo 3333. Telegrams FlightpresSedist 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, New.street, 2; telephone Midland 7191. Man- chester: 2R0 IJeansgate, 3: telephoneJilackfriars 4412 or Deansgate 3595. Glasgow: 62 Buchanan Street, C.I: tele-phone Central 1265-6. New York, NY: Thomas Skinner & Co(Publishers) Ltd, 111 Broadway, 6; telephone Digby 9-1197. © Iliffe <fc 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 Atro Club First Aeronautical Weekly in the World Founded 1»0» New Top PeopleS ELECTION of a State corporation's board is the prerogative of a Minister, and it is an unenviable task. The appointments of Sir Gerard d'Erlanger and Sir George Cribbett as BOAC's chairman and deputy chairman in 1956 showed how difficult it is to satisfy a corporation's executive management on the one hand and the trade unions (who can make or break BOAC) on the other. No one, it seems, is offended by the new appointments to BOAC's board. There are those who ask: Why put a man with no airline experience in charge of the nation's biggest airline? Had the Minister put an air-transport strong man in the chair there would, in view of the firm control that Mr Basil Smallpeice now exerts, have been two chief executives—and that simply would not have worked. Instead, we have at BOAC's summit Sir Matthew Slattery, a man steeped in British aviation, who knows what is expected of a public servant, who has a reputation for good humour, good sense (with one possible lapse when he insisted that BEA should have an aeroplane it did not want), and intense loyalty to his staff. The appointment of Sir Wilfred Neden, the industrial relations expert, as deputy chairman emphasizes that BOAC's labour problems are still of daunting com- plexity. There are no fewer than 17 unions represented on the National Joint Council, the management-labour consultative machinery upon whose smooth working largely depends—as the BOAC strike of 1958 illustrated—the success of the corporation's fight to cut engineering costs, and to fly back into the black. Sir Wilfred is known as the great peacemaker; let us hope that the less responsible elements will not be encouraged to think that he is the great appeaser. But above all let us hope that BOAC's new board structure (this is the Mk 3 version since 1949) will be the right one. Sir Miles Thomas was full-time chair- man and chief executive; Sir Gerrard d'Erlanger was part-time chairman with Mr Smallpeice as chief executive; and Sir Matthew is whole-time chairman, with Mr Smallpeice again as chief executive, a function that he has ably performed for the past four years, and which Sir Matthew will be wise not to circumscribe. The Unseen FAA T the last three SB AC Flying Displays pilots of the Royal Navy, in Sea Hawks \ and Scimitars and helicopters, put on some notable performances. Sad, then, that the Admiralty's decision not to participate at Farnborough this year means that the public at large will have no opportunity of seeing FAA aircraft in 1960; for Naval Air Days are at stations remote from population centres. The Admiralty have stated (Flight, last week) that they cannot participate at Farnborough because of the intensive programme of introducing new aircraft into carrier service. This presumably refers chiefly to the D.H. Sea Vixens, which many people confidently expected would be flown in the SBAC display with the elan exhibited by Naval pilots last year in their Scimitars. No one doubts that the Admiralty's decision is sincere: the villain of the piece is presumably the operational and economic planning which lays down to the last minute the amount of flying which can be done, leaving no flexibility for display appearances and the practice involved. These shows are as important in peacetime as operations and excellent for both professional and public morale: moreover, Farnborough attracts an international clientele. The Fleet Air Arm's contribution is understandably smaller than that of the RAF, but should be made. Ten minutes' flying is worth a hundred explanations—and a thousand recruiting posters.
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