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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 0409.PDF
LIGHT International, 15 March 1962 Letters The Editor of" Flight International" is not necessarily in agreement with the views expressed by correspondents in these columns. Names and addresses of writers, not for publication in detail, must in all cases accompany letters. RAF Aft-facing Seats SIR,—Regarding the letter which appeared in your issue for March 1 from Air Cdre Sir Vernon Brown dealing with aft-facing seats in the military version of the Avro 748, the fact is that aft-facing seats give a greater degree of safety in the event of a forced landing, as opposed to forward-facing seats; and as the RAF decide which is best, the passenger has no say in the matter. But in commercial aviation the passenger does have a say and a large majority prefer to see where they are going rather than where they have been. The aircraft that they are in is not going to have an accident, so why bother with aft-facing seats? Hounslow, Middx TWO TRAFFIC OFFICERS Mr Masefield's Old Friend SIR,—Again I have to join issue with you on the subject of accuracy pertaining to aviation of the thirties. In your issue of February 15 (page 242) you refer to Dragon aircraft G-ACIT which Mr Masefield has just purchased from Air Navigation and Trading Co of Blackpool. In the first place, Highland Airways Ltd were not ab sorbed in the 1947 Socialist "air-grab." Highland Airways, Inverness, and Northern & Scottish Airways, Renfrew, through the parent company, British Airways Ltd, merged with the LMS Railway Company's Railway Air Services interests on August 12, 1937, British Airways Ltd and LMS Railway Co each holding 50 per cent of the shares in Scot tish Airways Ltd, which became the new operating company for the whole of Scotland. It was Scottish Airways who were swallowed up by Socialist nationalization on February 1, 1947. When after 18 years of pioneering and operational service to Scottish Aviation, the nationalizers had no further use for my services, I asked leave to purchase G-ACIT when I left them. The request was refused by the ATA boys who were trying to run that organization. They knew quite well that they had no use for my trusted Dragon. I hasten to mention that this was a long time before Mr Masefield or his successor came on the field. In due course G-ACIT was sold to Blackpool. That aircraft meant a lot to me as it was the first Dragon I purchased and delivered for Highland Airways in July 1933, and it had the honour, along with myself, of carrying the first airmail service to be regularly operated in Britain at ordinary letter rates. G-ACIT also had the distinction of being the first Dragon to land on Fair Isle, midway between Orkney and Shetland. During the early part of the war I was detailed to fly Ad miral Somerville to that island on important radar siting. It was a hazardous landing as there was only 300yd available, and if one overshot there was a 200ft drop over the cliffs into the sea. When the rest of our fleet had been dispatched overseas at the beginning of the war, G-ACIT was retained to fly the official Scapa airmail and operate the Orkney air service for VIPs and Service personnel, with myself as pilot. It flew on constant service throughout the war in all weathers. I well remember one occasion with a load of 1,0001b of urgent mail, piled to the roof, I was rounding the high cliffs of Hoy in a 70 m.p.h. gale and snow blizzard, with overcast almost touching the sea, flying at a hundred feet or so, when a terrific squall all but turned G-ACIT on to its back. The mail tumbled all over the cabin, to make matters worse and recovery more difficult. It was touch and Copt E. E. Fresson (in flying suit) with Dragon G-ACIT, mails and local inhabitants of North Ronaldsay (see Tetter "Mr Masefield's Old Friend") go, but I came out right way up, kissing the gigantic wave tops. I stayed that night in Kirkwall! In all I flew G-ACIT well over l,000hr and had many difficult trips. I became very attached to that aeroplane. Mr Masefield is lucky to have acquired such a faithful hobby horse and I wish him many happy hours flying in it. Secondly and lastly, G-ACIT began and ended its life with us in the North of Scotland and never served on the Western Isles services, with the possible exception of the Inverness - Stornoway run. Inverness, Scotland E. E. FRESSON "Gadarene" Industry? SIR,—I have noted the Gadarene "parable" submitted by "Jeremiah" and published in Flight International for February 1. It has aroused my interest and I propose to take up the challenge. I am also a non-expert, perhaps only equipped with a modicum of commonsense, but there are several statements in his letter which I cannot let pass. I agree in part with what your correspondent has to say, that the current problems of Britain's aircraft industry are indeed severe ones; but just where the blame should be laid for the present situation is certainly a matter for vehement debate. This is a major point upon which 1 feel "Jeremiah" and myself differ. I consider the first basic assumption made by him to be somewhat misleading, because without possible doubt the percentage of people all over the world prepared to pay to fly, at any one time, could be many times today's figure. BEA's approach to air transportation—high density, low fare traffic—is good, plain, commercially applied think ing and it works. I admit that the short-haul market is ideally suited for this policy, but with M2 or M3 speeds and resultant shorter sector times, similar success can be achieved on long-haul routes. I am quite certain that the supersonic transport will be built, bought and operated, and quite possibly earlier than many people suppose. London - New York will take about ninety minutes, load factors could and should be high, passengers won't fuss over seat pitch in the next era, and who knows, there may be standing room for a dozen on flights from July to September! But, as "Jeremiah" rightly states, the only way to achieve really high load factors is to reduce fares, though I do not for a moment agree that the market is already nearly sapped. Furthermore, critics must be reminded that 1961 was an exceptionally black year for all major carriers and happily the situation for this year promises to be more encouraging. The airlines must continue to reduce fares on all routes if they are to survive with a profit, and this must be achieved as quickly as is practicable. Long-haul traffic is nowhere near its peak, and now is the time to attract large numbers of people to build up a wide market—to create a big demand in preparation for faster and no doubt costlier airliners. The next few years should be for consolidation before the big break into the SST field; achieve high load factors with cheaper fares within five years, and both airlines and travellers
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