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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0118.PDF
118 FLIGHT, 27 January 1961 Furnishing and Finishing... speedily to the latest trouble-spot. Each seat-back has a plug-intable and a magazine pouch. Ashtrays are built into the arm-rests. BEA's fleet of Vanguards, now just beginning operations, areequipped with first-class and economy seats by Flight Equipment and Engineering Ltd, of 142 Cromwell Road, London SW7. Thiscompany has connections with the US corporation of the same name and markets a comprehensive range of aircraft seats forseveral fare classes. A notable design in this range is the folding Payloader seat designed for mixed-duty aircraft. In Lancashire, Westhill Furnishings Ltd, of Westhill Mills,Mossley, undertake the design and manufacture of accessories such as head-rest covers and dust sheets. Moving south, to ever-expanding Southend Airport, J. J. Benson (Aircraft Interior Furnishing) Ltd operate a furnishing service and are able toundertake the re-upholstering of complete interiors. The company is an approved stockist of aircraft furnishing materials. Flying Service and Engineering Ltd, of Chesham, Bucks,manufacture seating to customers' specifications, with emphasis on light and inexpensive types. They have recently obtained anorder for Avro 748 seating. Baynes Aircraft Interiors Ltd, Hurn Airport, Bournemouth,Hants, supply fixed-back seats, of 18 and 20in width, of the type supplied to Aer Lingus for that company's fleet of Viscount 800s.For these seats there are complementary folding tables. The "stuffing" of a seat is as important as the design in itsultimate comfort. Hairlok rubberized hair, Texfoam and Block- foam, all manufactured by the Hairlok Co Ltd, Magna Works,Bedford, are favoured materials from which many aircraft cushions are made. Blockfoam has been on the market for nearlytwo years and is unusual in having none of the cavitations normally associated with foam rubber and which are found in Texfoam.Instead it has regularly spaced and very small holes. Cushions can be carved from the solid and do not require facing as do thosecut from cavitated foam rubber. Thus production costs are sub- stantially reduced. Hairlok rubberized hair is very easily shapedand moulded, in varying densities. It is frequently used in combination with Texfoam or Blockfoam in hand-built upholsterycomponents. Up-front in BOAC's Comets and Britannias the pilots' seatshave harness made by the G.Q. Parachute Co Ltd, Stadium Works, Woking, Surrey. CULINARY QUARTERS Life in a small London flat gives a fairly good indication of thetroubles confronting cabin staff in serving meals during flight. But from a galley much smaller than the usual London kitchenette,many, many more meals are expected to appear. Every cubic centimetre of space must be intelligently used, for 60, 80 or 100meals to be served in a reasonable time. The General Electric Co Ltd, Magnet House, Kingsway,London WC2, as the world's largest suppliers of airborne galley equipment, have developed galley design to a fine art. Theirsuccess can be measured by the fact that among GEC customers are 107 airlines, including the Soviet Aeroflot and a dozen or soUS operators. Most airborne meals are pre-cooked and deep frozen—theirpreparation in flight merely consists of heating and serving. For this purpose, GEC manufacture a very wide range of air circulationovens of aluminium, with stainless-steel linings. The largest, developed originally for KLM, is a double compartment oven,with each compartment hearing independently of the other, and operating over a temperature range of 200°-350°F. It will heat atotal of 60 meals in 35 minutes and weighs 881b. A 30-meal oven built to BOAC specification weighs 581b and heats its contentsin ten or eleven minutes. At the other end of the catering scale is a multi-purpose hotcup unit for preparing individual drinks,by boiling or percolating, or for frying individual meals. Other GEC galley equipment includes percolators, water boilers, hot-plates and grills, hotcupboards and electrically heated frying pans. Versions of all these to operate on the 208V, 400-cycle electricalsystems favoured in modern aircraft can be supplied. Galley equipment sold recently by the company has gone intoBOAC Boeing 707s, BEA Vanguards and Comets, SAS Douglas DC-8s, and Caravelles operated by Air France, Alitalia, Finnair,SAS, Varig, Swissair and United Airlines. The Avro 748s to be supplied to BKS will also be GEC-equipped. But the art of airborne cooking does not depend solely on theapplication of heat to food and drink; an airline will find its catering standards judged just as much by its ability to keepsupplies cold. It is fitting that Lee Refrigeration Ltd, Bognor Regis, Sussex, should be a leader in the aircraft refrigeration Thawing oven for frozen foods, made under licence by Aerogalley Ltd from the German Juno company field, for this company has long been an enthusiastic operatorof its own executive aircraft. Comet 4s of BOAC, MEA, EAA, Aerolineas Argentinas and Misrair are all fitted with an 8 cu fttwin compartment refrigerator by Lee, as are the Britannias of BOAC and El Al. The cabinet is 33in high by 18in deep and35in wide. Together with its power unit, it weighs 1831b. The left compartment is used for deep-freeze storage and the otherprovides normal food-storage temperatures. For the new high-voltage electrical systems, Lee have developeda hermetically sealed refrigerator system and yet another method, using a transvertor coupled with a sealed refrigerator system. Thelatter, specifically developed for installation in boats, has met with great success in the United States and is reported to be applicablefor airborne use. Galley and bar units, manufactured in stainless steel, light alloysand plastics by C. F. Taylor (Metal Workers) Ltd, Molly Millar's Lane, Wokingham, Berks, have been supplied for use in Viscount800s operated by Cubana, Pakistan Airlines and TAA. A more compact unit for medium-range aircraft has been installed in theHandley Page Herald. This has a net weight of only 651b. Field Aircraft Services Ltd, 73 Wigmore Street, Wl, manufac-ture basic galley units which, installed singly or in multiples, and These seats, by Short Bros & Harland's General Engineering Division, were designed in collaboration with the Institute of Aviation Medicine and ars stressed for 9g, facing forward or aft. They are seen in a Belfast-built Britannia 253 for Transport Command
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