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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0572.PDF
582 FLIGHT, 4 May 1961 FROM ALL QUARTERS BREAKTHROUGH SIGNATURE: Lord Douglas of BEA signs a contract for three Argosies in London on April 21 (see news-item below). Others, I to r: Mr W. S. D. Lockwood, AWA; Mr A. H. Milward, BEA; Sir Aubrey Burke, Hawker Siddeley; Mr J. A. R. Kay, Hawker Siddeley. Standing, right, is BEA's secretary, Mr H. Marking. The Argosies will be the first pure freighters operated by a British airline BEA Sign Argosy Order PUTTING his signature to BEA's £l|m order for three AW.650Argosies in London on April 27, Lord Douglas, the chairman, committed his airline to doubling its freight capacity. The corpora-tion's seven DC-3 freighters (Pionair Leopards) are to remain in business, and the Argosies (whose annual 16m ton-miles capacityabout equals BEA's total freight uplift in 1960) will be devoted exclusively to all-freight work. The first will be delivered in Novem-ber, and all three will, to quote Lord Douglas, "be earning their keep by February." Mr A. H. Milward, BEA's chief executive, said that about two-thirds of BEA's freight was carried in passenger aircraft; this was, at the moment, the most economical method of carrying it, butthe Argosy would allow carriage of any type of bulky freight— making possible, in Lord Douglas's words, "a very great expansionindeed." The sales director of Hawker Siddeley, Mr J. A. R. Kay, talkedabout freight rates. A study by the London School of Economics, he said, had suggested that if European rates were cut by 30 percent traffic volume would increase by 60 per cent; and if they were reduced by 40 per cent traffic would double. It was thought thatbulky cargo of the kind unsuitable for existing aircraft formed a potential market available to the Argosy, perhaps as high as 40per cent of existing air freight traffic. Lord Douglas hoped not only to cut freight rates in Europe butalso to simplify them: "There are 4,000 commodity rates in Europe. This is far too many, and we hope to narrow these down to verymany fewer indeed, perhaps eight." Mr Milward endorsed the need to simplify commodity rates but did not expect immediate drasticreductions in rates. "Our problem is to carry the existing cargo offering at present rates," he said. BEA's first job was to make aircargo pay rather than to cut rates—"just because we have bought a new freighter does not mean that we can cut rates straight away." BEA will introduce Argosies first on the Copenhagen - Milan -Manchester routes. Eventually they will take over all BEA's scheduled all-cargo operations, domestic and international.Asked about competition with British Railways, Lord Douglas said: "We don't intentionally go out to take freight from BritishRailways, but obviously there is an element of competition." Mr Kay felt he was speaking for the whole British industry inthanking BEA for the way they had consistently supported the British aircraft industry. He referred to BEA's "world-wide repu-tation for efficiency, enterprise and sound procurement policy," and said that Hawker Siddeley had been "impressed with thethoroughness and enthusiasm" which BEA was devoting to the expansion of the air-freight market. Mr W. S. D. Lockwood,AWA's managing director, hoped that the order would be the forerunner of others. Swedish Gnome Order IN Stockholm last week a contract worth approximately £lm, forthe supply of Gnome engines to the Royal Swedish Navy, was signed by Mr W. F. Shaylor, sales director of the de HavillandEngine Co Ltd. These engines are to power Boeing/Vertol 107 and Agusta Bell 204B helicopters. This is the second £lm contractnegotiated by the DH Engine Co within the last four months, and the first of its kind with an Outer Seven country. The previous£lm contract was with Agusta of Milan. The Swedish order for Boeing/Vertol 107s was also announced last week. "Know-how" Payments Part of Profits IN the Court of Appeal last week it was decided that payments toRolls-Royce Ltd by foreign governments or companies for technical knowledge to enable them to manufacture the company's jetengines did not arise from sale of a capital asset. Such payments were not, therefore, excluded from computation of company profits.This decision followed an appeal by the Crown from an order of Mr Justice Pennycuick in the Chancery Division last year (Flight.June 3, 1960), ruling that Rolls-Royce should not be assessed for taxation purposes on such payments. The company had contended that knowledge and secret informa-tion they acquired was a fixed capital asset; the Crown contended that lump sums were received in the normal course of trade. LordJustice Holroyd Pearce remarked in the course of his judgment that "knowledge sold in the present case was in the main thetransient by-product of advancing engineering science. ... It was the kind of knowledge which could easily merge its character of afixed asset into that of a trading asset." Receipt of the sums in question was part of the annual profit or gain accruing from thecompany's trade; the sums were trading receipts on revenue account. Two More for the Shuttleworth Trust AT a ceremony in Luton last week, Mr Arthur Summers, managingdirector of Hunting Aircraft, formally handed over to Air Cdre A. H. Wheeler, aviation trustee of the Shuttleworth Collection, thePercival Gull 6 G-ADPR which was delivered to Jean Batten in September 1935. In this aircraft, Miss Batten made record flightsto South America in 1935, to Australia and New Zealand in 1936 and from Australia to England in 1937. She was awarded theBritannia Trophy for these flights in 1935 and 1936. Other pilots set up further records in the Gull during those years. The aircraft was requisitioned by the RAF at the outbreak ofWorld War II and flown for about 200hr on communications work. "FLIGHT" NEXT WEEK—a special issue surveying the world's VTOL aircraft. Usual features will also appear. ROLLED OUT:XF 923, the first Bristol 188 all-steel research aeroplane, pic- tured on April 26 after coming out of its assem- bly hangar for the first time. The de Havilland Gyron Junior DGj.lOR powerplants are now be- ing run, and chief test pilot Godfrey Auty may fly the aircraft in July
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