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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0955.PDF
FLIGHT, 13 July 1961 55 complained occupied some 42A lines. If your latest effort is meantto be regarded as a proper method of putting the true facts before your readers I can only say it is not a view which 1 share. 1 repeatthat 1 consider your treatment of this matter disgraceful. I had hoped that it would not be necessary to draw your attentionto yet further attacks by your journal upon Falcon Airways Ltd but I have noticed an article on page 841 in which you say, inrelation to the proceedings of the Air Transport Licensing Board, that "the Board did not seem too pleased that Falcon had on theirown admission been accepting deposits against bookings, and were now pleading disappointment to holidaymakers if their applicationwas denied." I refrain from making the obvious comment about the grammarof this sentence but I would invite you to check with the greatest care the information which gave rise to the sentence. It was perfectlyclear from the evidence before the Board that Falcon Airways had never accepted deposits against bookings by holidaymakers andindeed had no right so to do. It is true that Flightways Ltd, the Travel Agents concerned, admitted accepting deposits from theircustomers but this has nothing whatsoever to do with Falcon Airways. That sentence constitutes a quite inaccurate version of what tookplace before the Air Transport Licensing Board and 1 can only assume that either your information is not properly checked beforepublication or that you do not care whether or not you publish articles which do a great deal of unjustified harm to a Companywhich is striving to preserve a reputation which it justly values. 1 can only suggest that the best way for you to put right both ofthe matters about which I have complained would be to publish this letter in its entirety and without alteration and indeed 1 bothgive you permission and an invitation so to do. Bournemouth (Hum) Airport, Hants F. E. BEEZLEY Joint Managing Director, Falcon Airways Ltd [Mr Beezley complains that the report in Flight for June 8, concerningquestions asked about him in the House of Commons on June 5. did not record also the Attorney-GeneraPs answer that was given to thosequestions. As was evident from our wording, the issue concerned went to press before the answer was given. This answer was duly recorded in the subsequent issue, in the follow-ing terms: "In the House of Commons last week the Attorney-General described as 'completely without foundation" an MP's allegations aboutMr Frederick Beezley of Falcon Airways (Flight last week)." We have, as invited by Mr Beezley, checked with the greatest care theinformation which gave rise to the report in our issue of June 15 about which he complains. We quote from the transcript of the actualhearing:— "The Board: But nevertheless you did not shut down on the accep-tances of bookings and deposits; you have, on your own evidence, gone on accepting bookings for another two months and those people, .ifthey are disappointed with their holiday plans, can surely blame nobody but your company, because your company, as it seems to me—and correct me if I am wrong—has accepted their deposits in the know- ledge that they could not be carried unless this Board granted a licence,largely on the ground that people from whom deposits had been accepted in good faith would be disappointed in their holiday. Is that right ? "Mr Beezley: That is perfectly correct."(Mr Beezley went on to explain the economics of charter operations.) Mr Beezley now says that the acceptance of deposits had "nothingwhatsoever to do with Falcon Airways." This cannot be reconciled with his evidence, which we reported accurately, to the Air TransportLicensing Board.—Ed.] [Invited to comment on the above footnote as this page closed forpress. Mr Beezley remarked: ". . . the only comment I have to make is that, having carefully checked the transcript of the proceedings. I amfortified in my recollections and assisted by the recollections of other persons present that the answers attributed to me were not, in fact,made by me. The particular passages attributed to me in the transcript are the questions and answers between myself, the Board and MrSinclair of Flightways when he was being questioned by the Board. If you look at the transcript you will see from the heading of the pageconcerned that the witness was Mr Peter Sinclair and you will see that the paragraphs were headed Q and A respectively. It is true that myname appears in that part of the transcript, but merely because I was answering one particular question made by the chairman of the Board,and I know you will find if you check the matter carefully that the questions and answers were between Mr Sinclair and the Board and notbetween the Board and myself. I, however, accept that you may well have been misled by the form in which the transcript is typed."—Ed.] Exotic Birds DORNIER Delphin III, Dornier Komet, Heinkel He 64, BreguetXIX, Wibault 122-C2, Northrop 2E [picture herewith.—Ed.] Avions Fairey Feroce, Fokker F.VII, Dewoitine D.500. . . .Exotic designations that few people would associate with RAF roundels. Yet a specimen of each of these—and others equallyunfamiliar in Britain—were, over the years, acquired by the Air Ministry for the study of some particular feature or features. More-over Rolls-Royce acquired an He 70 for the flight-development of The Northrop 2£ mentioned in Mr Planter's letter "Flight" photograph advanced liquid-cooled engines and Bristol employed a NorthropA-17 as a test-bed for the Hercules. In post-war years, however, Cranfield's Morane Paris is, 1 think, the sole addition to the list. One wonders if further judicious acquisition of advanced foreignaircraft might not prove as rewarding today as in former years. How about an 11-18 off the shelf—if only to find out the engineoverhaul life? London WC2 A. PLANTER P.I 66 on the GrassI N the caption you published to the picture of Lord Derby'saircraft after its belly-landing at Luton (Flight, June 22) the brevity of the text is such that the true facts in the incident have notbeen clearly enunciated; moreover, the ambiguity in the description as to how the starboard wheel became defective could quite easilygive a reader an impression disparaging to my name. The actual cause necessitating the belly-landing was the failureof the outer race—that is to say the main tapered bearings—of the starboard wheel during the later stages of the take-off run atLiverpool, on a flight that was originally planned to Oxford. The first indication that something was amiss came when theundercarriage indicator did not register a positive "lock-up" for the starboard wheel. Two further retractions were attempted toensure that the indicator was reading correctly, and as the results were consistent 1 asked Lord Derby if he could see whether thestarboard wheel was fully retracted. He replied: "it appears to be sticking out."1 considered that a return to Liverpool would serve no useful purpose and decided on a diversion to Luton where full technicalfacilities exist for this type of aircraft. On reaching Luton I lowered the undercarriage and flew around the aerodrome for severalminutes. During this time a Rapide formated on me and from what its pilot could see of the starboard wheel as well as whatcould be seen by Capt Young and others in the tower, I decided that a belly-landing on the grass would be the safest course. Mydecision was made as a result of information received over the R/T, and I must stress that no advice was given me, although Iwas told by Capt Young that a belly-landing had already been successfully executed by a pilot in the USA. I have been flying continually since July 1936 and have a com-pletely clean record. During this time I have, in non-combat conditions, experienced three emergency landings, all of whichwere for technical reasons. 1 shall be most grateful if you will use this information—as youthink fit—to correct any unfavourable impression that might have been given by your previous publication concerning this matter. Oxford M. T. WAINWRIGHT JulyJuly July July July July July JulyJuly July July July July July July July Aug Aug 10-1612-19 13-15 14-15 14-16 14-23 15 15 15-16 19 22 22-23 25-26 26 27-29 30- Aug 7 1-13 27 FORTHCOMING EVENTS Aslib Aeronautical Group: Annual Conference. University of Southampton/AGARD. Seminaron Astronautics. RAeC; Lockheed International Aerobatic Competition and King's Cup Air Race, Baginton. Marseilles-Provence Aero Club: Rally, Mejane. Aerial Tour of the Pyrenees. Angers Gliding Week. RN Air Station Culdrose; At Home. RN Air Station Brawdy: At Home. Pescara Rally. Kronfeld Club: Film, "H.story of the USAF." RN Air Station Lossiemouth: At Home. Basse-Normandie Aero Club: 13th International Rally, Flers. Portuguese-Spanish Rally. Kronfeld Club: "Gliding in Ghana," by G. A. Burgess. International Business and Touring Aircraft Competition, Kidlington. Derbyshire and Lancashire Gliding Club: Northern Gliding Contest. kalian Gliding Championships. Forli Rally.
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