FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1144.PDF
138 Correspondence The Editor of "Flight" is not necessarily in agreement with the views expressed by correspondents in these columns. Names and addresses* of writers, not for publication in detail, must in all cases accompany letters. BOAC Profit-and-Loss TJEING a trifle dim on financial matters, I usually believe any-** thing I read on the subject. Consequently I believed your columnist Roger Bacon when in May he criticized BOAC forusing PRmanship to exaggerate their profit. He said that their profit was not £4 million as published, but only £100,000, "becausecapital-interest payments are no less an operating cost than fuel, maintenance, insurance, etc." Perhaps Roger Bacon is correct, but if so surely he is the onlyman in step? Look, for instance, at the recent profit accounts of two other famous aviation concerns,. Vickers and Rolls-Royce.You will see that each of them declares a profit before any capital interest or dividend payments are made. Vickers' profit of over£9 million includes dividends of more than £2^ million. Rolls-Royce's profit of nearly £5 million includes dividends ofnearly £li million. Surely capital-interest payments and dividends are in this respect the same? Maidenhead, Berks NEIL COLLEN [Roger Bacon comments: "BOAC, unlike Vickers and Rolls-Royce, is aState corporation. The interest that it pays on its capital includes a sum which can be described as a 'dividend.' But the larger portion of BOAC'shuge interest payments—which have been rising disconcertingly at the rate of £1 million a year—cannot be described as dividend. For example,interest paid on public loans to buy new aircraft is to my mind an operating cost."As for the presentation of results, all I will say (since the subject, which also involves BOAC's associates, could run to a whole page) isthis : BOAC is making a strong recovery, which I sincerely applaud; but the headlines that I reproduced from four top national newspapers willhave given most of the shareholders the impression that the corporation made a healthy profit last year. Actually it made a loss of £1 million,and a loss is not a profit. As I said, I hope and believe that next year it really will be a profit."—Ed.] Light-aircraft Delivery to NZT HE flight of a Piper Apache from London to Christchurch,New Zealand, was recently claimed to be the first delivery of a used light aircraft by air to Ne<v Zealand. This, I suggest, is not the case, since a British aircraft, aProctor V, registration G-AHWW, was flown from this country to New Zealand in 1948 by Capt A. J. Bradshaw, chief pilot ofSkyways. Leaving England on February 20, Capt Bradshaw in fact flew non-stop from Sydney to Invercargill, South Island, NewZealand, which I believe was the first time that this part of the journey had been done non-stop in a light aircraft. Luton, Beds D. M. BAY, Hunting Aircraft Ltd Baginton Back-drop T WONDER how many readers of Flight noticed the birth andJL collapse of a small tornado-tube which occurred during the freak cloud formation over Baginton Airfield on July 9—nature'sown air display. Without this magnificent dark back-drop the fluorescent colours of some of the visiting aircraft could not havebeen properly appreciated from the public enclosure, which had been moved to the other side of the airfield. Flight's Gemini flittedabout like some gorgeous tropical butterfly. Since I have no intentions of encroaching on your staff writersI will go no further; but if any reader is interested in weather phenomena I thoroughly recommend the following books: Songof the Sky, by Guy Murchie, and Frank Lane's book The Elements Rage. These, in my humble opinion, are the finest books on thisparticular subject that have ever been written. Birmingham 14 MAURICE AUSTIN [The effect of the aircraft colours against the dark sky was noted in ourreport of the King's Cup Race.—Ed.] FAA-less FaroboroughA FTER reading the editorial in your issue of July 1, under theheading of "The Unseen FAA," I must say I completely agree with you. In my opinion the Naval display at the SBAC Showgives an exciting operational picture of the Fleet Arm Arm flying. The prestige of the FAA must be greatly boosted when it is con-sidered that 250,000 people see the show live at Farnborough and perhaps a further 5,000,000 must look in as TV viewers.Surely, if the FAA are still staging shows at their own airfields, the need for an appearance at Farnborough is much more obvious. Salisbury, Wilts D. P. REES FLIGHT, 22 July 19&0 Australian Industry and the RAAF I NOTE with interest that in his article "Is Australia's AircraftIndustry Doomed?" (June 10) Stanley Brogden states: "The Allied committee which allocated aircraft to various theatres ofwar so starved the RAAF that it is an historical fact that but for local production of Beauforts, Beaufighters, Boomerangs, TigsrMoths, Wackett Trainers and Wirraways the RAAF would hive been grounded in 1940-44. The Empire Air Training Schemewould have been seriously hampered without Australian participation." I hope Mr Brogden will forgive me for reminding him of afew facts. In Europe and the Middle East the following aircraft were used by RAAF squadrons (squadron numbers being noted):— Gladiator, Tomahawk, Kittyhawk, 3, 450; Sunderland, 10, 461;Hurricane, 451; Spitfire, 452, 453, 457; Baltimore, 454; Hampden, 455- Mosquito, 456; Bcaufighter (UK-built), 455, 456; Wellington, 458, 466;Lancaster, 460, 463, 467; Ventura, 464; Halifax, 466; Hudson, 459. In the NW and SW Pacific areas the following aircraft were usedby the RAAF: Beaufort, 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 14, 15, 32 and 100 Sqns; Mitchell 2; Hudson, 2, 32; Mosquito, No 1 Sqn and 87 Fit (PR); Catalina11, 20, 42, 43 Sqns, 112 and 113 (ASR) Fits; Wirraways, 4, 5, 23, 24, 25, 83; Boomerang, 4, 5, 83, 84, 85; Seagull, 9 and No 1 (Rescue andComm.) Sqn; Walrus, 9; Vengeance, 12, 21, 23, 24; Liberator, 12, 21 23, 24, 25, 99.Ventura, 13; Boston, 22; Beaufighter, 22, 30, 31, 93; Dakota, 33, 34, 36, 38; Lodestar, 37; Sunderland, 40; Mariner, 41; Anson, 71; Kitty-hawk, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 82, 84, 85; Lightning, 75 and No 1 (PRU) Sqn; Mustang, 76, 77, 82; Kingfisher, 107; Spitfire, 79 and Nos 452,457 (transferred from UK); Auster, Nos 16 and 17 (AOP) Fits. Of all these squadrons only 19 out of a total of 68 (plus fiveflights) were at any time equipped by the Australian aircraft industry, so only about 26 per cent of the RAAF squadrons wouldhave been grounded for lack of aircraft in the period 1940-44. In the EATS only some 8,400 aircrew per year were to be whollytrained in Australia, out of a Dominion total of 52,000. Mr Brogden could have read the writing of his compatriotsMessrs Herington and Odgers to obtain this information. I feel he is clouding a great contribution by Australians during the warby inaccurate statements about his own RAAF. London N12 D. C. CLAYTON Invitation from Ireland TPHERE must be many of your readers who will be holidaying-*• in the Dublin Area this summer, the majority of whom are unaware that there is a very thriving Royal Air Force Club here.May I beg a little of your space to extend a cordial invitation to all air-minded folk who may be this way, particularly duringBattle of Britain Week, to look us up? They will be sure of a warm welcome [at Garland House, 23 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin].Dublin R. P. RENNIE, Branch Hon. Secretary, the Royal Air Forces Association. CORRESPONDENCE IN BRIEF No 33 Sqn, RAF Middleton St George, Darlington, Co Durham, areattempting to assemble a squadron museum. Fit Lt O. D. Dipper writes to say that any photographs, accounts of personal experiences orsouvenirs relevant to No 33's history would be very welcome and "would be returned after copying if this is required." Fit Lt M. R. Nash writes from the Officers' Mess, Royal Air Force,Changi, Singapore 17, to say that he is engaged in writing a history of RAF Changi and appealing to readers for information—"howeverunimportant it may seem"—that would help in this task, particularly relating to the 1939-47 period. July July July July July 16-23. 23 23 23-24 23- Aug. 1 July 23- Aug. 1 July 24- Aug. 1 July July July 27 30-31. 31- Aug. 7 Aug. Aug. Aug.Aug. Aug. Aug. Aug. Aug. 3 10 1417 20-21 21 2828- Sept. 4 Sept. 3-5 Sept. FORTHCOMING EVENTS RAF Inter-Command Gliding Championships, Odiham. RN Air Station Lossiemouth At Home. Army Air Corps; Open Day, Middle Wallop, Stockbridge, Hants. Trento Aero Club: 10th Aerial Circuit of the Dolomites. Inter-Services Gliding Championships, Odiham. RAF Inter-Command Gliding Championships, Odiham. Gliding Weeks: Yorkshire GO, Sutton Bank; London GC, Dunstable; Coventry GC, Edge Hill (opens July 23). Kronfeld Club: "132 Miles in a Cadet," by John Jeffries. Rally, Netherthorpe, near Worksop. Bulgarian Aero Club: World Parachuting Championships, Mousatchevg, near Sofia. Kronfeld Club: Polish film of 19S8 World Gliding Championships. Kronfeld Club: MTCA Air-miss film. Elstree Flying Club: Tea Patrol. Kronfeld Club: Talk on National Gliding Week. Pescara Aero Club Rally. Colman Aero Club: Alsace Wine Rally. Oxford Aeroplane Club At Home, Kidlington. Czech Aero Club: World Aerobatic Championships. French and Savoy Aero Clubs: International Centenary Rally, Aix-les-Bains. Wolverhampton Aero Club Af Home.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
