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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 1929.PDF
FLIGHT International, 6 September 1962 Only a few miles (as the aircraft flies) of flat Essex countryside separate the Marconi factory at Basildon from their much older premises in Chelmsford; but here one is in the world of ground radar and the talk is of 264 and storm-warning radar, 50cm sales and airfield installations. Yet when it comes to export business, many of the phrases have a familiar ring; representatives abroad who have "a good working knowledge of each part of the company," who convey to Chelmsford information about new airfield projects; enquiries coming in for ground surveillance radar; installations of 264 and 264A radar for the Director of Civil Aviation in New Zealand, and for the Rome Airport Fiumicino; 50cm radar sales all over the world—to Denmark, France, India, Hong Kong, South Africa, to name only a few overseas customers. Marconi make a point of keeping their agents well informed about what is going on at headquarters, by sending out lots of material, of both a technical and non-technical nature. These include translations into some of the more popular languages, for example German and Spanish, generally done in the form of an insertion into a publicity brochure like Long Clear View which describes and illustrates Marconi S264 50cm radars. The company have offices all over the world—in Singapore, for instance—and associated companies like English Electric-Marconi Argentina in the Argentine and Marconi Italiana in Italy. Marconi, too, pay tribute to the assistance they receive from the Board of Trade and from UK representatives overseas: air or commercial attaches may sometimes provide invaluable information. This may be in the form of a tip-off that a new airfield is projected; and Marconi can then prepare plans for a complete radar and air traffic installation. Again, the Board of Trade are very helpful when it comes to overseas sales where Government embargoes are involved; this particularly affects Iron Curtain countries, from whom several enquiries have been received. The company make a special effort to keep their customers informed, with an advance sales service as well as an after-sales service : Chelmsford is certainly geared to overseas markets, both in the technical sense and in that of publicity. Selling Airliners In the hall of the Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) headquarters at Weybridge, Surrey, is a map of the world engraved on glass: depicted upon it are some of the speed and distance records set up by Vickers aeroplanes over the years, including the Schneider Trophy victories and the Vickers Vimy Atlantic crossing of 1919. Another record Vickers might inscribe on their walls is that of being Britain's most successful post-war airliner exporter, with sales for the Viscount which have so far amounted to 435 aircraft and involved transactions with 60 operators in 39 countries (includ ing Britain). Viscount sales are still going on—New Zealand National Airlines Corporation, Lufthansa and Australian National Airlines are among recent customers—but sales efforts are now primarily geared to the VC10 and to the'forthcoming British Aircraft Corporation One-Eleven, and to back these aeroplanes there exists at Weybridge probably a greater concentration of know- how on selling airliners to foreign countries than exists anywhere else in the British aircraft industry. One thing the visitor quickly learns is how complicated a business this airliner selling is, and how difficult for anyone describing it to give a generalized example. "You're not catering for a market as such; every customer has his own individual requirements," the sales publicity manager, Mr R. J. Blackburn, explains. These customer requirements are built- in to a new aircraft from its inception. A particular airline's needs are closely examined, then embodied in calculations and design studies. Representatives of the manufacturer visit the airline, watch its operations, confer with its executives. Reports are made on all these visits, whether they last for several weeks, a few days or only for a lunchtime. The airline itself may draw up a comparative analysis, as has been done by a major company, between the BAC One-Eleven and eight other types of aircraft—big jet, medium- range version of it, short-haul jet, medium-short haul jet, medium jet, big four piston-engined airliner, medium ditto, twin-engined airliner and big turboprop airliner. These figures have been repro duced by BAC (with the airline's permission) and they make most interesting reading. In five graphs the nine types of aircraft are compared, providing relative analyses of block time v. distance; direct operating cost per statute mile v. range; d.o.c. per seat-mile v. range; break-even number of passengers v. range; and break-even load factor v. range. All these cost analyses are based on a 1966 cost level. The One-Elevens so far ordered are due for delivery in 415 East African salvage operation; a Boeing 707 being raised at Eastleigh Airport, Nairobi, by R.F.D. pneumatic lifting bags specially flown out from the UK October 1964 (Braniff), early 1965 (Kuwait) or mid-1965 (Mohawk). This kind of forward planning by both airline and manufacturer was exemplified by the president of Mohawk Airlines, Mr Robert E. Peach, when he announced his company's order for four One- Elevens. "After extensive study," he said, "we believe it to be ideally suited to our routes, the first pure-jet powered aircraft to be both adequate from a capacity point of view for Mohawk's heaviest segments, yet economic to operate over relatively short stage distances. We are proud to have shared in some of the development thinking of this aircraft, which will provide Mohawk's customers with the finest jet equipment available." "Some of the development thinking": the phrase exactly describes the long process that goes on before an airline orders a new aircraft, which is going to do business for it from three to four years ahead onwards, off the drawing-board. This is an act of faith between manufacturer and user, but faith based upon extremely strenuous mental exercises. One of the most important departments at BAC, in this respect, is the civil aircraft development group, which has within its purview all potential users for a new type and assesses their requirements. The fullest possible details are given to an air line which is a potential customer, and written information is supplemented by visits. Thus the chief designer of Hunting Aircraft, Mr A. J. K. Carline, has made numerous trips to the United States recently in connection with the One-Eleven. This kind of manufac turer-customer relationship is a continuing business; as Mr Black burn puts it, "selling aircraft is a 52 weeks in the year, seven days a week, day and night job." One all-important aspect of such selling is after-sales service; you can't simply supply a customer with his aircraft and leave it at that; he must receive support for maintenance and spares problems, and know in advance what such support is going to be. British Aircraft Corporation have drawn up an 11-page brochure on product support for the One-Eleven, based upon the work of the service department, whose facilities "are avail able to operators anywhere in the world through the medium of technical visits and resident service representatives". Every possible contingency—overhaul, repair, training, spares and technical publications—is catered for; and an interesting aspect is that the group "ensures continuity of thought and effort on the engineering of the aircraft and its systems, so that design improvements with one aircraft type are carried over to the next." Export orders are re flected in the training in the UK of overseas operators of British equipment, an activity which many companies have in common. Thus Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) have an aircraft servicing Concluded overleaf
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