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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1180.PDF
6 FLIGHT International, 4 July 1963 AIR COMMERCE . . . Given Congressional and industrial support for this ambitious programme, in the months directly ahead we will conduct an initial design competition among manufacturers both for design of engines and for design of an airframe. We have been at work on producing an RFP (Request for Proposals) in these areas. We expect that we will be able to make a first draft RFP available to industry and other Government agencies next month. Then would follow in tensive discussions of this RFP draft with industry, the airlines, and trade groups and associations. We hope the final RFP, estab lishing in detail the performance requirements for the transport and its associated systems, as well as fiscal and development plans, will be ready for actual release to industry in August. "The initial design competition then should run for approxi mately five months. At the completion of this initial competition, the Government will hope to select the one airframe and one engine manufacturer to go ahead with the full development, but only if a clearly superior airframe and engine appear at this point. If a clearly superior combination does not emerge we will choose two airframe and two engine manufacturers to continue through a year-long detailed design competition, and after that select the contractors for the development of a single prototype superior to any other comparable aircraft. This competition would include detailed drawings, mock-ups, cost analyses, and laboratory tests. The Government would provide financial assistance in this phase, but not in initial competition. As we speak of competition, I think it is very important to make clear there will not be any mystery about the selection processes. Prior to the actual initiation of any competition, we will publicize the main factors and their weights that will be used to choose successful competitors. The rules must be well known to all before the game gets under way. To the Administrator of the FAA on recommendation of the programme manager will fall the final responsibility to make the selection in line with the ground rules. The advice, suggestions and recommen dations of the air carriers, various Government agencies, and public associations will be given full weight. "Out of all this should come a safe, sound, economical, high performance supersonic transport that we hope will be test-flying within three years after the completion of the competition period (i.e., possible first flight early 1967, Concorde scheduled to fly end of 1966). The airplane should be flying in passenger service in 1970. "Some of my Government colleagues and I have just returned from the International Air Show at Paris. While I was there I had the opportunity to speak with the British and French about the Concorde project. They feel very confident that they will produce the first civil transport that will reach about twice the speed of sound. At the Show it was evident that the European nations were co-operating to an ever-increasing degree to pool their technical and economic resources to topple the United States from the posi tion of pre-eminence it has held in transport aviation for the past 30 years. While the challenge exists in many areas, the most out standing example is in the Concorde. The technical and political co-operation of both Government and industry is clear. It is an international effort, a kind of multi-lateral technical force that is After eighteen years with BOAC, Mr F. \C. Gillman (left), the corporation's chief of public relations, is retiring at the end of July. Although he is leaving the staff he will continue to be available to the corporation for advice and consultation on public relations mat ters. Mr Gillman will be succeeded by his deputy, Mr Alan Ponsford (right), who joined BOAC in 1946 determined to capture the common world market for air transpor tation. Ours must be a national effort, but not a nationalized one. It must be a partnership between Government and industry that does not paralyse free, private enterprise. If we move quickly enough, there is no reason to believe that the Concorde, or any other foreign-made aircraft, will pre-empt the supersonic air trans port market. But we must remember that airlines, regardless of nationality, will be forced by economic necessity to buy the best product they can get. "Here in the US, President Kennedy has decided that we will move full throttle into this new era of commercial supersonic flight. It wasn't an easy decision though the President did have some beacons to go by. For the past two years the Federal Govern ment—meaning Federal Aviation Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department of Defense—has been conducting a multi-million dollar research programme into the technical and economic problems associated with SST develop ment. We've looked at aerodynamics, structures, primary materials, propulsion, control requirements—and such hard economic factors as the future market for SSTs throughout the world, development costs, production costs, direct operating costs. "The conclusion of all this, simply stated, has been: First, a superior supersonic transport is feasible. Second, it is an expensive aircraft to develop, but not fantastically so, and certainly not beyond the resources of the greatest industrialized nation in the world. Third, there is a market for an American transport of per haps 200 to 250 first-round orders. If we do not develop an Ameri can SST, then the entire market, which could be something like 400 planes during perhaps a decade of first-round buying, will fall to our overseas competitors. Among the purchasers would be the airlines of the US, which would be forced to purchase planes pro duced overseas in order to remain competitive. Fourth, in the event that we did not proceed with SST development, the nation would default its position of pre-eminence in international com mercial aviation—with all that would entail in practical terms and in less measurable terms of confidence and prestige. Request For Funds "The President, following his dramatic decision that the United States should go with an SST, asked Congress for its approval and stated that he will soon request the funds to begin the develop mental programme. Congress, it appears, is very likely to join the President in favour of this important national effort. Assuming that Congress soon gives its support, we in Government and in dustry will expedite a programme which will certainly demand optimum technical and managerial skill and economic respon sibility. Our first major complex of decisions will consider this question: Specifically, what kind of SST do we want in terms of operating characteristics to meet the design objectives of maximum safety, high performance, and potential commercial profitability— within some reasonable level of development cost? My answer is this: We want optimum safety/speed/economy combination. This means the fastest supersonic transport with good handling qualities that we can get within these objectives—something well above Mach 2.2,1 expect. "We want a range that covers most of the major non-stop market routes of the world, say New York to Paris non-stop, roughly 4,000 statute miles. We want an aircraft with an engine economical and efficient to operate over a range of speeds—a substantially ad vanced propulsion system. It may have to be flown for shorter distances where the airlines would not desire maximum cruising speed. We unquestionably would want to be able to fly it briefly in a holding pattern around an airport. We would want an engine that has thrust enough to take the airplane to a considerable alti tude, well above 40,000ft, before going supersonic. The engine must also have long life, with a very favourable thrust-to-weight ratio. It must not drink fuel with the abandon of most of our high- performance military engines which must be refuelled in flight for long trips. It must, also, produce no more airport noise. In short, we want almost a perfect engine. We have, in fact, been told by our engine research contractors, which have included the nation's thfee primary industrial concerns in. this area, that this engine is possible. We are told that while it needs money and work, the technology is within sight, the materials will be available, and the design would be practical. "One of the reasons we would want this engine to have the thrust to take the airplane high and far before going supersonic is that we
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