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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 2444.PDF
686 FLIGHT, 28 Octaber 1960 SitiVUf An impression of BOAC's new DC-7F. A note on the corporation's North Atlantic all-cargo plans is concluded below AiR COMMERCE £4m, so that to avoid a heavy capital loss these will have to be sold for $1.4m each—an unlikely prospect (see footnote). Less than two years ago BOAC were saying that, by using thecargo hold capacity of passenger aircraft, they would adequately meet the needs of the North Atlantic freight market "in the nextfew years." Since May the cargo holds of the Boeing 707 have already nearly doubled BOAC's transatlantic freight capacity. Thecorporation operated lO^m freight ton-miles across the Atlantic in the year ended June 1959—one quarter as much again as in thecorresponding period in the previous year. And it is estimated that, taking the IATA airlines as a whole, 1960 will see a 40 percent jump in transatlantic cargo traffic. But it is salutary to see from recent MoA traffic statistics that BOAC's load factor onwestern routes dropped three percentage points, from 55.4 to 52.5, during the first six months of 1960 compared with the corres-ponding period last year. This is entirely due to the bigger cargo c.t.m.s produced by the 707. On the face of it, BOAC would appear to be taking a bigfinancial risk in preparing now to offer an all-cargo service. But there are two points to bear in mind here. First, all-freight DC-7F services when offered with passenger-cum-freight 707 services willenable BOAC to launch an all-out cargo sales campaign in the knowledge that any backlog of freight from the 707 services car;be carried on the supporting all-freight services. And, of course, the corporation will be able to accept loads which are too bulkyfor the 707. Second, on January 23 next there is to be a special IATA conference to discuss drastic reductions in cargo rates,particularly across the North Atlantic. How drastic will these cuts be? In order to get air freight rates down to sea freightlevels, the cuts will have to be of the order of 80 or 90 per cent below existing rates. This must be the sort of reduction that BOAChave in mind, because anything less drastic is not likely to attract the really big cargo breakthrough which their DC-7F decisionappears to anticipate. j. M. R. Footnotes: No details were available as Flight went to press of CunardEagle's plans also to operate a North Atlantic cargo service, presumably with DC-6As. According to BOAC, the two services will not be in pool.Also, Douglas are to convert to DC-7F standard the seven ex-SAS DC-7Cs bought by Riddle from General Dynamics Corporation (Flight,October 14, page 621). Cost of the conversion is said to be $300,000 per aircraft. Purchase price was $75OsOOO each. SOVIET SUPERSONICS IN 1965 ? TO the US Aviation Daily we are indebted for the followingquotations attributed to Mr E. R. Quesada, administrator of the American FAA, who was in the USSR from September 15-October 4 with a team of colleagues on an exchange visit: — "Head of a ten-member US technical exchange group whichflew to Moscow September 15, Quesada returned to Washington late Tuesday with no new hopeful signs on the rocky road toUS-Soviet relations. Although Aeroflot 'wants to come over very badly' and the Soviets are 'working like beavers' to catch up toUS operation and maintenance standards, Quesada holds resump- tion of bilateral talks to be still solidly blocked by the RB-47incident. The FAA administrator also learned that: — "The Soviets' 11-18 turboprop, 'by far the best they've got,' has beenplagued by engine trouble—fuel injection problems—and apparently has been grounded for a retrofit program. But it is, nonetheless, 'avery good airplane.' "The Tu-104 jet, in contrast, is a prohibitively (by US standards)uneconomical transport 'with stick control forces equivalent to the B-17.' The Soviets 'have them coming out of their ears,' and areusing them 'the width and breadth' of their country—'to very good effect' over the vast expanses of Siberia."The Soviets are obviously both interested in and reluctant to talk about a supersonic transport. Quesada's impression: 'They'll have aless-than-Mach 2 transport, and I wouldn't be surprised if they do it in five years.'"Although Aeroflot has its own roughly comparable ILS and GCA at its international field at Moscow, British European Airways mustline up two simple radio beacons there and home on them. There is a US-type, British-built ILS on the way. Smaller airports have sub-paror crude navaid and passenger facilities. Traffic control is antiquated, airline maintenance often 'meagre.' Only the Russians' 'very good'approach lighting system, where available, stacks up with the West's. "Fourteen daily Moscow - Leningrad roundtrips represent the USSR'sheaviest single route today. Its load factor goal is 80 per cent." BREVITIES wuor It is reported that the Brazilian airline VASP may purchase up tofive Caravelles. The annual banquet of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigatorswill be held at Guildhall on Tuesday, April 11, 1961. Deutsche Taxiflug has received the first two of its four Dornier Do 28s. The aircraft are fully equipped for IFR operation and will be operated on charter and feeder services in West Germany. Described by an official Soviet source as a "half-sized Tu-104 with44 passenger seats," the Tu-124 turbofan feederliner is to be built "in considerable numbers." Cruising speed is quoted as 500-530 m.p.h. A lecture entitled The Operation Of The Air Ferry will be read tothe metropolitan section of the Institute of Transport, 80 Portland Place, London Wl, by Mr W. G. Franklin, director, Silver CityAirways, on October 31. The possibility of a weekly service between London and Budapest byboth Malev and BEA arises from the talks that took place in London last week between the MoA and the Hungarian civil aviation authorities.The 11-18/Viscount service may start on April 1 (see Flight, July 15). The first four of the six Caravelles on order for Sabena are due to bedelivered from January next, the last two being scheduled for delivery in June. Sabena are planning to start European Caravelle services inthe spring. It is reported that the DHC-4 Caribou (two Pratt & Whitney R-2000twin Wasps of 1,450 b.h.p. each) may be re-engined in a version for the US Army with two T64-GE-4 turboprops of 2,700 e.s.h.p. Weight is1,0791b and cruise s.f.c. is 0.54. The Swiss operator Globe Air of Basle has bought an Ambassadorfrom BEA at an undisclosed price and is to start operations in the middle of November. According to Interavia, Globe Air was registeredin 1957 with a capital of SFrs 50,000, which was increased to 410,000 in May and will be increased to one million this month. The Flight Safety Foundation's 13th Annual International Air SafetySeminar will take place in Phoenix, Arizona, from November 14-18, 1960. The seminar is being held in co-operation with the Flight SafetyFoundation's aviation crash injury research division. More information is available from the FSF office at 468 Park Avenue South, New York 16,NY, telephone Lexington 2-2466. BOAC announce that the following have been appointed directors ofBOAC Associated Companies: Mr B. W. Bampfylde (general manager, eastern routes); Mr K. W. Bevan (financial comptroller); Mr D. H.Glover (general manager, southern routes); Mr J. Linstead (general manager, BOAC Associated Companies); and Mr J. R. Stainton (generalmanager, western routes). Present members of the board are : Mr Keith Granville, chairman; Mr Basil Smallpeice; Sir George Cribbett; SirDuncan Cumming; Mr J. C. Dykes; and Mr G. G. Money. A new apron-service vehicle, Samlesbury Engineering's "Cargoveyor," has a hydraulically elevated and operated baggage loader which moves at 7.5/t/sec. The vehicle has a capacity of 580 cu ft
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