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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0902.PDF
FLIGHT, 6 July 1961 FROM ALL QUARTERS January-May Exports EXPORTS by the British aircraft industry during the first fivemonths of this year amounted to more than £67m—£2m more than for the same period last year. The total was made up as follows:aircraft and parts, £27m; engines and parts, £37.lm; electrical equipment, £1.5m; instruments, £lm; tyres, £428,421. Leadingaircraft buyers during the five months were Canada (£10m) and the Lebanon (£3.8m). Canada was also the leading engine customer(£8.7m), followed by the US (£7.8m). Carrier to Kuwait A FIRST operational landing by the Royal Navy's first CommandoCarrier, HMS Bulwark, was made when she put ashore men of 42 (RM) Commando at Kuwait last Saturday. The carrier was atKarachi, a thousand miles away, when she received orders to proceed on the previous Wednesday evening.The landings have been a combined operation: troops were flown in from Aden and Nairobi by aircraft of NEAF and of TransportCommand; and the RAF has also put in a Hunter wing and a squadron of Canberras from RAF Germany, the latter being sentto Sharjah. SBAC Officers THE Council of the Society of British Aircraft Constructors haselected the Hon H. G. Nelson as President of the Society for 1961- 62, with Sir Roy Dobson, CBE, JP, asVice-President. Sir George Dowty, who was President in 1960-61, becomesDeputy President. Sir Frederick Handley Page, CBE, has been re-electedTreasurer. Mr Nelson is managing director ofthe English Electric Co Ltd, chairman of English Electric Aviation, deputychairman of British Aircraft Corpora- tion Ltd, and of many of the EnglishElectric Co subsidiary companies. Sir Roy Dobson is vice-chairman andmanaging director of Hawker Sid- deley Group, chairman of HawkerSiddeley Aviation and of Hawker Sid- deley Industries. He is either chairmanor a member of the boards of all the group's operating companies and of many other subsidiary and associated companies. Sir GeorgeDowty is founder, chairman and managing director of the Dowty Group. The original company, Aircraft Components, was foundedby him in 1931. Membership of the Council for 1961-62 is as follows:— Ordinary Members: B. Boxall. Scottish Aviation Ltd; Air Chief MarshalSir Harry Broadhurst, GCB, KBE, DSO, DFC, AFC, A. V. Roe & Co Ltd (Weapons Research Division); H. Buckingham, de Havilland EngineCo Ltd; Sir Aubrey Burke, OBE, de Havilland Aircraft Co Ltd; H. Burroughes. Gloster Aircraft Co Ltd; The Viscount Caldecote, DSC,English Electric Aviation Ltd (Aircraft Division); H. E. C. de Chassiron, D. Napier & Son Ltd; A. G. Clark. The Plessey Co Ltd; D. C. Collins,Westland Aircraft Ltd (Fairey Aviation Division); Sir Roy Dobson, CBL, JP, A. V. Roe & Co Ltd; Sir George Dowty, Dowty Group Ltd;S. Z. de Ferranti, Ferranti Ltd; T. Gammon, OBE, Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd; W. T. Gill, Rolls-Royce Ltd; Sir Arnold Hall, FRS,Bristol Siddeley Engines Ltd; Sir Frederick Handley Page, CBE, Handley Page Ltd; J. F. Harper, Bristol Aircraft (Guided Weapons Division);D. L. Hollis Williams, Westland Aircraft Ltd; A. F. Jopling. Blackburn Aircraft Ltd and Blackburn Engines Ltd; J. T. Lidbury, JP, FollandAircraft Ltd and Hawker Aircraft Ltd; W. S. D. Lockwood, Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Ltd; P. G. Masefield, Beagle-AusterAircraft Ltd; F. G. Miles, Beagle-Miles Aircraft Ltd; J. Morley, the Lucas Group; the Hon. H. G. Nelson, English Electric Aviation Ltd The Hon H. G. Nelson (Guided Weapons Division); J. D. North. Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd;W. Oppenheimer, Westland Aircraft Ltd (Bristol Division); J. J. Parkes, Alvis Ltd; J. D. Pearson, JP. Rolls-Royce Ltd; Sir Reginald VerdonSmith, Bristol Siddeley Engines Ltd; C. H. Chichester Smith, DSC, Fairey Engineering Ltd; H. G. Sturgeon, de Havilland Aircraft CoLtd; W. A. Summers, CBE. Hunting Aircraft Ltd; C. F. Uwins, OBE, AFC. Bristol Aircraft Ltd; E. Manley Walker, Handley Page (Reading)Ltd; E. C. Wheeldon, CBE, Westland Aircraft Ltd; C. E. Wrangham, CBE, Short Bros & Harland Ltd; J. Wright, CBE, Dunlop Rubber CoLtd; R. P. H. Yapp, Vickers-Armstrongs (South Marston) Ltd. Nominated Members of Council (Materials Group Committee) areDr L. B. Pfeil, OBE, and W. Jackett Jr, and of the Equipment Group Committee, V. A. Higgs and T. Simpson. Public Meeting 21 Goes On ON pages 16, 17, 26 and 27 of this issue we continue our summaryof the Air Transport Licensing Board's public meeting No 21. the main theme of which is the bid by British United Airways andCunard Eagle, objected to by BEA, for new European routes. Proceedings at the adjourned hearing on June 29 and 30 will bereported next week; meanwhile a brief note on them is called for. Mr Henry Marking of BEA continued his cross-examination ofMr D. A. Whybrow on BUA's traffic statistics. There were some questions from the Board and a brief re-examination of Mr Why-brow by BUA's counsel, Mr Gerald Gardiner, QC. Mr F. A. Laker, executive director of BUA, was examined by Mr Gardiner and sub-sequently cross-examined by Mr Marking. Mr Norman Ashton Hill, advocate for Cunard Eagle, was cross-examined by MrMarking on the Cunard Eagle case. Mr Oswald of British Railways also cross-examined Mr Ashton Hill, who raised the valid pointthat the Board's duty is to further the development of British civil aviation. Mr Marking outlined BEA's general objections, and thiscompleted Thursday's hearing. On Friday Mr Anthony Milward, chief executive of BEA, gaveevidence for BEA's general objections, and was cross-examined by Mr Gardiner for BUA, by Mr Ashton Hill for Cunard Eagle and byMr Porter for Tradair. Mr Milward also answered some questions from the Board and was briefly re-examined by BEA's own advocate,Mr Marking. The next witness for BEA was Sir George Cribbett, formerly incharge of traffic rights at the Ministry (and, until his retirement last year, deputy chairman of BOAC). Sir George warned of the likelyserious effect of the independents' applications on Britain's bilateral agreements. Evidence and brief cross-examination by Mr Gardineroccupied the rest of Friday. India's Jet Fighter Flies ON Saturday, June 24, India became the sixth nation to have asupersonic aeroplane. On that day Wg Cdr Suranjan Das, famous for his evaluations of many British and other jet fighters, took theHindustan HF-24 into the air from the airfield adjoining the main plant of the Hindustan Aircraft Factory. This culminated five yearsof design and development, under the leadership of the company's director of engineering Prof Dr Kurt Tank, renowned chief designerof Focke-Wulf during World War II. It was in 1955 that the Indian Air Force decided to finance anindigenous jet fighter specially tailored to their own requirements, while Folland Gnat Mk Is were purchased and put into productionby Hindustan as an interim machine. The Gnat's Bristol Siddeley Orpheus 701 engine was also put into production at Hindustan'sspecially built jet-engine factory. Even with help from Folland and Bristol Siddeley, in the form of drawings and parts, and by pur-chasing a wide range of British proprietary equipment, the Gnat programme was a difficult task for a nation previously completelyunskilled in the manufacture of high-speed aircraft. While the Gnat programme took shape so did the HF-24. Itwas from the outset a single-seat, twin-Orpheus 701 machine, with a swept, dog-tooth wing of some 5 per cent t/c ratio, high-lift flaps,an area-ruled fuselage and a low-mounted slab tail. Four guns (30mm Adens?) form internal armament, and it is likely that aradar fire-control such as Ferranti Airpass 2 will eventually be integrated. The HF-24 has always been intended to serve strikeand reconnaissance roles, in addition to its prime fighter function. Slow-speed features were explored at the Indian Institute ofScience at Bangalore; and it may well be that time has been rented in at least one high-speed tunnel outside India. The first prototype,about half of which is entirely Indian in origin, was rolled out earlier this year, but suffered damage during taxying trials. FinallyWg Cdr Das was given a fully serviceable aircraft, and on June 24 he disported over Bangalore for 20min, watched by Defence FIRST INDIAN ]ET FIGHTER, the Hindustan HF-24, at bangalore after its maiden flight on June 24 (see news-item above)
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