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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 2207.PDF
528 FLIGHT International, 27 September 1962 ight and Level © "^P"//£ International Air Transport Asso ciation, in an effort to prevent illegal fare-cutting, is to recruit persons trained in criminal investigation.''''— newspaper item. If IATA has to spy on the ticket offices of travel agents and its member airlines, couldn't it do the job much more nicely and discreetly with U-2s? • Last week Sir Charles Boost, president of the Guild of International Airline Ticket Enforcement Officers, addressed the annual convention of the Guild in London. Welcoming the delegates, Sir Charles said: "Perhaps you will be wondering why I am addressing you disguised as a dear old charlady. There are two reasons. First, I am trying to symbolize the purpose of this Guild, which is to clean out the offices of so many travel agents and member airlines. Second, I want to set you an example of the limitless ingenious disguises which are available to us all. "Actually, I see among you some simply splendid masquerades. I particularly com mend the delegate in the second row for his magnificent Robin Hood outfit. And I think the two gentlemen over there, one with a long black beard, Spanish hat, and carrying a bomb with a lighted fuse, and the other, who looks just like Maigret, may perhaps have the best disguises of all, because they actually look like enforcement officers. As you know, the rotten beastly airline cheats who give the public cheap tickets are now so used to our disguises that they will least suspect those of us who actually look like enforcement officers. "One problem still remains to be solved and this I admit is a difficult one, a difficult one. I refer to those airlines who are not bound by our fares agreements and who have the jolly cheek to offer the public fares that are up to 50 per cent below ours. Never mind—we shall find an answer. "Good luck to you all. Your work is indispensable to the enforcement of the fare increases that our airlines must introduce if they are to remain in business and serve the public properly. "By the way, if any of you want discount tickets for yourselves or your families and friends, just let me know, as I think I can fix it." • 1 hear from someone in the British Air Line Pilots Association that during discus sions that they have had with various bodies about jet noise abatement, the view was put forward that some airport residents actually like the noise. A senior Ministry of Aviation official is said to have quoted the case of his next-door neighbour who, whenever an aircraft passes overhead, rushes out into the garden and takes off his hearing aid to listen to the gorgeous noise. • "The llyushin 11-18 is more than twice as economical as the Viscount," claims the Soviet news agency Tass. The comparison was made according to the costing method of the US Air Transport Association, says Tass. Although I am not prepared to publish the assumptions and cost estimates, I can tell you that according to the ATA cost method the Henson and Stringfellow Aerial Steam-Carriage was twice as economical as the Maurice Farman Foghorn. Any questions ? Above, seen at Farnborough; below, everyday scene at New York International • "The quickest way to increase booster reliability is to provide only canvas- covered blockhouses."—Astronaut Scott Carpenter, quoted by Aviation Week. • Dozing on the beach near Seaford, a friend of mine imagined he heard again the throb of heavily-laden B-17s clawing for altitude during the last months of the war. He awoke with a start to the realization that what he had heard was a stream of DC-6Bs, which continued relentlessly throughout his two days' holiday. Now there are only three British-registered DC-6Bs or Cs likely to have been in that stream—those belonging to Cunard Eagle. And during the whole time he was there he saw only one Elizabethan and one Viking. More recently (August 26), at Gatwick, I noted that five SAM DC-6Bs were running ten round trips in one day; and apart from BEA, BUA and Dan-Air, the only other operators represented on the tarmac were TAJ and Airnautic with one DC-6B or C each. If these two small sample experiences are any guide I think our independents must be losing quite a lot of tour business to foreign operators. We shall see, when the passenger statistics for this summer season are pub lished. • Mr Julian Amery, Minister of Aviation "Space beckons us with a golden finger." Lord Brabazon: "I say that space beckons us with the golden orbs of the pawnshop" ROGER BACON
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