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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1853.PDF
10T "* o Sept- 'i960 i ,< i • mm mi i Looking-in on the Industry TEXT BY HUMPHREY WYNN DRAWINGS BY GORDON HORNER IMPRESSIONS OF AIRCRAFT AND ENGINE PRODUCTION IN 1960 THROUGH the office windows I could see huge docksidecranes, ships in building, the proud prow of the recentlylaunched Canberra, and beyond the shipyard the green slope of Cave Hill, which rises to the west of the wide waters of BelfastLough. A strangely sea-gin scene, perhaps, with which to intro- duce an impressionistic view of some centres of the British, aircraftindustry in the late summer of 1960. But chance had brought me first to the Belfast headquarters of Short Brothers & Harland Ltd;and this historic firm, with its fine tradition of flying-boat con- struction, fits naturally into a seaside environment and makes anapt neighbour for Harland & Wolff on Queen's Island. But flying- boats no longer go down the slipway into the lough: ShortBrothers have moved with the times and are building missiles, target and reconnaissance Canberras, and Britannias for RAF THIS is not a technical dissertation; neither is it a comprehensivedescription of the British aircraft industry. It is simply a series of impressions which, it is hoped, will appeal equally within and outsidethe industry, based on visits to certain firms. In half-a-dozen cases the visits are recorded by drawings; in the rest verbally. Photographs havealso been used to supplement the descriptions. The aim has been to give a picture of what is going on at some of the industry's main centresin mid-1960, on a kind of magic-carpet tour, achieved mainly through the agile agency of "Flight's" Miles Gemini. Emphasis has been laidon the location and physical appearance of company premises visited, normally a closed book both to the general public (who, after all, payfor much of what is going on) and also to members of other companies. "Flight" wishes to record its gratitude for the facilities and hospitalityafforded to its representatives on their travels. Transport Command. Soon they will start building Britannicsand their own Skyvan light transport; and they have successfully entered the VTOL field with the SCI.What pattern does this show for the British aircraft industry after its first 50 years? It is worth keeping in mind the generalposition before looking at Queen's Island in more detail, at the start of a sort of dual Gulliver's Travels, recorded by the writer'spen and Gordon Homer's pencil. The industry at which we have been looking is in one senseless complex than it was a year ago: mergers which came about this springtime have reduced the number of operational units andclearly denned the centres of control. The two giants in the air- frame and missile manufacturing world are the Hawker SiddeleyGroup and the British Aircraft Corporation; the largest engine Above, Handley Page Heralds at Woodley: the demonstrator (left) being checked after a sales tour, with a production aircraft alongside. At left, what the artist didn't see at Brough: NA.39 production
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