FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1167.PDF
FLIGHT, 24 August 1961 269 OVERSEAS AVIATION (CI) IN TROUBLED EBTS which, according to Mr Ronald Myhill, chairman ofOverseas Aviation, exceed £500,000 are owed by Overseas Aviation (CI) Ltd to its creditors. As reported last week, twocreditors, British Petroleum and Rolls-Royce, have presented a petition for the winding-up of the company, BP having cut off theairline's fuel supplies on August 13. As this issue went to press Overseas Aviation (CI) was said to be going into voluntary liquida-tion. Among other creditors are BOAC, BEA and the independent's insurers (C. T. Bowring & Co), as well as the Inland Revenue.Arrears in PA YE income tax were said by Mr Myhill to amount to £18,000-£20,000; he added that the company was about £7,000in arrears with its pension scheme. The debts to BOAC are mainly in respect of the hire-purchasepayments for nine Argonauts acquired in 1959. Price of the first aircraft was £145,000, of the second and third about £80,000, of thefourth and fifth about £65,000, and of the remainder between £25,000 and £65,000. These prices include spares. The debts toRolls-Royce are mainly for Merlin overhauls. Sums owed to BEA relate to hire-purchase payments for four (Elizabethans, finalpurchase price of which, with spares, was of the order of £250,000. Existence of the debts of Overseas Aviation (CI) was first madepublic on August 1 at an Air Transport Licensing Board hearing, but was not taken up by the newspapers until BP foreclosed onpetrol supplies on August 13. It is Overseas Aviation (CI) and not Overseas Aviation Ltd which is in liquidation. The precise inter-relationship of the various companies is somewhat obscure, but it is known that it is Overseas Aviation Ltd which is the registeredowner of the aircraft, ownership having been transferred from Overseas Aviation (CI) during the past few months, according tothe British Register. The fleet consists of some 40 aircraft. Fifteen North Stars were purchased from TCA a few months ago for atotal price, including spares, of less than £300,000. Eight of these aircraft have been delivered. Of the nine ex-BOAC Argonauts, four are owned by the Danish company (no longer an Overseasassociate) Flying Enterprise. In addition there are eight Vikings, one of which is owned by the Swiss company Universal Air Charter.Two of the original four Elizabethans are on the books, two having been disposed of to the Swiss operator Globe Air. Another Overseas associate is Europaflug, a German companyregistered in Hamburg, of which Mr Ronald Myhill and Mr Bernard Dromgoole are directors, with Mr Peter Heberer, a Germannational, managing director. This company has contracts for flying by Overseas aircraft (mostly Vikings, but some Argonauts)and crews on behalf of the Berlin Senate and Technical University, and also for the Berliner Flugring, a consortium of Berlin travelagents which operates tours from Berlin to holiday resorts in Europe. Another associate. Aviameer of Antwerp, went intoliquidation in the spring of 1960. Among the other companies in which Mr Ronald Myhill has interests are Jaguar Sales in Germany;Travel Credit; and Brandaris, the big insurance company of which Mr Myhill has the German agency. At one time last week Derby Aviation was prepared to operateOverseas' Argonauts, with Overseas crews, to fly back to the UK about 5,000 stranded Overseas passengers, and to carry on thecompany's work during the season. At the time of going to press no agreement had been reached with the crews, though a combinedeffort by independents and travel agents succeeded in getting most of the stranded passengers home. Mr Myhill is reported to have said that creditors might get one ortwo shillings in the pound, depending on how much Overseas Aviation (CI)'s stock of spares could be sold for. Mr Myhill hastold The Financial Times that it is not possible for any of the creditors of Overseas Aviation (CI) to have any interest in theaircraft owned or being purchased by Overseas Aviation Ltd. Footnote: Mr Anthony Milward, chief executive of BEA, is reportedto have said of the events of the past week: "This has done civil aviation no good at all." BREVITIES It is reported that Lufthansa is evaluating the Max Holste MH.262Super Broussard for use on domestic routes. BOAC will open the first direct jet service from Britain to the Philip- pines on October 31; it will be operated twice-weekly by Comet 4s flying the London-Singapore-Tokyo route. United Air Lines are to re-purchase six of the 15 Viscounts returned to Vickers under the terms of United's merger with Capital Airlines. The aircraft are still in the USA. East African Airways Corporation is reported to have ordered threeFokker Friendships, for delivery by the end of 1962. A repeat order for a further seven may eventually be placed. If the order is confirmedEAAC will be the twelfth Commonwealth airline to buy the Friendship. The United Kingdom has granted Canadian Pacific Air lines trafficrights in London, which have been sought by the Canadian carrier for some years. A trans-polar service from Vancouver will be inaugurated,via Calgary and Edmonton, in October with DC-8s flying twice weekly. roxposition i of crash~^Procedure ^ left ~ Holdingtss; pattern ~ ILS Locohzerouter marker -Last contactfeat 1622 hr Established on£ILS procedure Interest in the Ministry of Aviation's proposals for a new luxuryhotel at Prestwick Airport has been shown by over a dozen concerns. An Overseas Aviation Viking suffered an undercarriage collapseduring an emergency landing at Lyons on August 14. There were no injuries. According to Interavia, the Canadian operator Nordair will introduceHeralds on the Montreal- Kingston -Toronto - London - Sarma- Windsor route in November. Captain D. W. Mitchell of Pan American has been fined $300 by theFAA following his Boeing 707's near-collision with a BEA Viscount at Rome on August 11 last year. BOAC's fleet of 19 Comet 4s has been examined following two in-cidents involving fracture of an undercarriage axle beam. No other fractures were discovered. The fractures occurred to the starboardundercarriage front axle beams. International Aeradio Ltd and BEA are discussing with the Ministryof Aviation the possibility of taking over responsibility for the "High- lands and Islands" airports. According to the recent White Paper it isproposed that these MoA airports would be managed by "an agent." The MoA has announced that by July next year all airlines operatingover Britain above Flight Level 250 (25,000ft) will be required to carry secondary radar transponders. The requirement will be progressivelyextended to aircraft using the ATC system at all levels. A pilot secondary radar scheme is already in operation at Southern ATCC at London. ICAO is to share with the Indian Government in setting up a nationalaeronautical laboratory at Bangalore; with the Mexican Government in expanding the International Civil Aviation Training Centre at MexicoCity; and with the governments of Morocco, Thailand and the United Arab Republic in setting up training centres in these countries. Recent difficulties between BUA and BEA over leasing of land atGatwick for maintenance-base construction have now been resolved by the MoA, from whom BEA leases land on which they intend to builda maintenance base. The Ministry has now offered BEA an entirely new site which will meet their requirements, and part of the present site willprovide the additional space needed by BUA. The Cunard Eagle Viking disaster at Stavanger on August 9, recorded last week and elsewhere in this issue, is believed to have occurred while the aircraft was following the IIS procedure. This map shows the position of the crash in relation to the ILS pattern
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
