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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 0172.PDF
174 FLIGHT International, 1 February 1962 (T) Straight and Level Qy THE so-called duel between the Herald and the Avro 748 is perhaps the last of its kind we shall ever see. My thoughts go back to the many contests that have taken place at Martlesham Heath, where both these aircraft have had their prowess tested for the favours of the RAF (and the Minister). The classic Martlesham duels were Fury v. Firefly and Hart v. Fox circa 1930, and Bulldog v. Hawfinch in the late '20s. And of course there is nothing new in HP-Avro rivalry—the example which immediately comes to mind being Lancaster v. Halifax. • From a lecture to the Cranfleld Society by Mr A. J. Lucking: "Many British engineers from this vanguard industry have found that they can obtain better technical satisfaction and higher material standards abroad. To undertake even a few of the advanced pro jects now being discussed, we need these men here. To get them back, and retain those we have, competent engineers should be assured of a two-car standard of living in their mid-thirties. They can obtain it in North America." From a Pratt & Whitney advertisement in the "Guardian" of January 23 recruiting staff for "a new research and development laboratory in a stable New England com pany:" "Positions available are senior positions of responsibility and stature . . . Excellent salaries are offered . . . Opportunities for professional growth and advancement . . ." • Bomber Command make a distinction, when they talk about V-bombers taking off from slush-covered runways, between peace time and wartime operations. In peacetime, they say, their safety pre cautions are as stringent as those of the airlines; but if the balloon went up, nothing would stop them from getting airborne— their aircraft have so much excess power they don't think any conditions could beat them. I can well believe this; at Scampton last year they told me that a Vulcan could take off on three engines with a 40kt tailwind. It's there that they have the Derwent- powered runway "de-winterizer," for burn ing up snow, ice or frost. The cost must be enormous; but it looks as if Bomber Command are trying to combat slush trouble by not letting it start. • Sometimes I am perhaps a little beastly about the Americans, and the things they get up to. I don't think I have ever been actually really beastly, but I am afraid that the time has now come. For sheer hypocrisy and sour grapes I think the Americans' attitude towards the export of Viscounts to China takes some beating. The more I think about the tactics they employed in trying to stop the sale and, failing that, the sale of licence-built equip ment already sold to the USSR and other Communist countries, the more vexed I feel. Now I hear that Sud's GE-engined Cara- velle demonstrator will include Peking among its points of call on a forthcoming world demonstration tour. I hope that before the aircraft arrives there the Ameri cans will insist that its GE General Electric CJ-805 turbofans will be taken out and replaced by Rolls-Royce Avons. There, I feel better now. • British United takes over Silver City. In the same week, in the United States, American Airlines and Eastern Air Lines announce their engagement. I am wondering just how madly wild it is to speculate on a BEA-BOAC merger. This idea has been seriously looked at, and discarded, two or three times in the last 15 years. But let's look at it again. How about aiming for one public airline, perhaps called British Airways, with auto- MONDAY, SEtniiSlBER 9, 1946 The interior of Westland's SR.N2 Hovercraft adds a completely new dimension to transport by air. It will also add a completely new dimension to the role of the stewardess. She will, it seems to me, have to be a fully qualified cinema usherette Cirpup Captain Edward DonaM*MJft~hrr« aeati (right) with fcU «**¥—whp <m Sarttttdav set wp a Iww air «p«ed rererd tit 6)6 ro.p.b. in a <*iwtpr jet ffiape at Taparmert, mar maxe an'atiawpt Sater in fcite ireefc to raise this spet-d naftrt-r the Mo m.pja. mar* No paper is immune from the occasional gaffe, but I was wondering whether there have been any more amusing than this historic one. Sent to me by a reader, its caption reads: "Gp Copt Edward Donaldson—here seen (right) with his crew—who on Saturday set up a new air speed record of 616 m.p.h. . . ." nomous divisions, European and Overseas? The advantages and disadvantages are worth weighing carefully once again. It's a thought, too, that if Britain is going into Europe, our air transport industry will have to go in with it. The idea of a British Airways joining Air Union would upset Sir Charles Boost terribly, I know, but perhaps we could make him chairman of Straight and Level, which is as British as anything. By then British United Airways will probably have swallowed up all but the most independent independents, and prob ably also the Coal Board and ICI. Perhaps it will then swallow British Airways. • "The. new company [British United- Silver City] will be the world's biggest unsubsidized airline ..." Daily Herald. • "Of course our aeroplane can be loaded from truck-bed height. A suitable truck is being designed at this very moment." ROGER BACON
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