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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 0403.PDF
FLIGHT International, 15 March 1962 © 403 Straight and Level e r'HERE is no suggestion of setting up a London helicopter station for city-to-city travel in the near future.'"—Mr Peter Thorneycroft, Minister of Aviation, Friday, March 2. I suppose it wouldn't take me much more than five minutes to go through my files and find goodness knows how many pronounce ments about London's heliport over the past ten years in conflict with this. But suddenly I remember the Aviation Columnist's Code of Conduct, devised by myself. Although I violate it sometimes (and reserve the right to violate it whenever I consider it appropriate) this Code says that you must never quote aeronautical Top People more than 24hr after they have spoken. This code, if adhered to, would enable aeronautical top people to speak more freely, knowing that the validity of their words will perish within the day, and there after never be turned against them. To enable complete freedom of speech on helicopters and heliports, my Code should be adjusted so that the validity of a quota tion extends for five minutes only. • Discussing a very advanced American space project—the Dyna-Soar hypersonic glider propelled by a Titan III military booster —the American magazine Air Force reports: "After burnout the solid rockets [of the first stage] are released and run back on short tracks before the heavy air loads on their sloping noses spin them rapidly out ward and away from the upper stages. This staging idea is based primarily on the success ful British Bloodhound ground-launched, antiarcraft missile design." The italics are mine. It looks as though we shall be able to claim at least one British lead in the Space Age. • Mr Joe Taylor, secretary of the Avro 504 Club, has something to say about the picture I recently published of the Avro 504 landing on the beach at Southport in 1919. The man in the middle of the picture was, in fact, Joe Taylor; he was. the "airport commandant." In addition to joy-riding, he tells me, they ran a daily air service from Blackpool to Manchester, calling en route at Southport. This was, he believes, the very first internal scheduled air service to operate in this country—and it had a regularity record of more than 90 per cent. The process of loading and unloading passengers, including fitting them out with flying helmet and goggles, took four minutes flat. • Still short of passengers, Lord Douglas ? I suggest a Saturday afternoon visit to the domestic departure building at Heathrow. 1 am told that on a recent February Satur day you would have found a heart-warming queue of stand-bys for the flights to Man chester. One frustrated traveller—no doubt thinking he might as well spend the rest of the weekend in London—found that all the Sunday evening flights were fully booked too. The best he was offered was the 0850. The Air Commerce pages in this journal contain frequent references to "national fag carriers," and all that. I thought you might (ike to be reminded that Imperial Airways, as we see in the picture of a Handley Page W.I0, was a flag carrier literally. Even so, they were outdone by the RAF who, as the picture of the Hyderabad shows, flew a pro fusion of streamers as well as flags Out of the window he could see aircraft em barking less than half a load for Paris, and a crowd of idle aircraft, presumably held in reserve for the July rush to the Channel Islands. BEA's preoccupation with tourism is coming in for increasing criticism, which will be sharpened by the deteriorating financial position of the corporation. The Toothill Committee report 1 refer to below, which was rather unnecessarily beastly to BEA, may well be the forerunner of further criticism about the corporation's domestic services. These are excellent so far as they go, but I have a feeling that, in terms of seats available, they could go much further. Roll on the day when Lord Douglas is offering his customers services on the hour every hour, and no advance ticketing. • BEA's Scottish air services were criti cized a few months ago by the Toothill Committee in its report on the Scottish economy. Recently Mr John Rankin, Labour member for Glasgow Govan, asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he was aware that: "Since BEA began to operate, it has never had a single suggestion from any individual associated with the Toothill Committee, and, even though the chairman of the Toot hill Committee is also chairman of the Scottish Advisory Council [for air transport], he never asked BEA to give evidence to his committee; and at no time did he himself make any suggestion for improving the services, although he had the opportunity to do so." The reply by Mr John Maclay, Secretary of State for Scotland, was: "This is getting very wide of the question." Perhaps, in the context, it was. But it nevertheless seems to me to be a very good question. • A new item of equipment seen recently at London Heathrow is a cerise-coloured catering truck owned by Fortes Aircraft Catering. An inscription on the side pro claims that the catering is "In Association With The Cafe Royal, London." I suppose it could be said that it is also in association with at least one snack bar I know on the Ml motorway, and hundreds of other milk bars in towns and cities throughout these islands. However, what I think will really intrigue you is the message in large capitals on the outside of the driver's cab. This reads: "International Radio Call-Sign Fortes Delta." Can you imagine it? "London Approach, this is Fortes Delta. Request joining instruc tions. I am on the A4, heading 270; ground speed 30; passing Fred's Caff, Harlington." ROGER BACOH
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