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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1677.PDF
Official Orfan ol Hi* Royal Atr* Mnfe First Aeronautical Wookly in tht World Founded m i»a< URSDAY SEPTEMBER 19,1963 Number 2845 Volume 84 Editor-in-Chief IAURICEA. SMITH DFC Editor H. F. KINO MBE Technical Editor W. T. GUNSTON Air Transport Editor J. M. RAM8DEN Production Editor ROY CASEY Managing Director M. N. FRIAULX MBE In this issue World News 488 Beagles at a Meet 490 Air Commerce 491 Straight and Level 498 Belfast 499 X-19 509 Letters 510 Sport and Business 511 Beagle 206Y In the Air 514 Industry International 517 Cranfield Society Looks at 1973 521 Missiles and Spaceflight 5 22 Service Aviation 5 2 6a H! Tr*"«»«rt Publication* Ltd, Dorset """«!> Stamford Street, London, SE1: TvfSS0110 Waterloo 3333 (Telex 25137). «itsrramg F Ughtpres ^^^ Telex «™al subscriptions: Home £4 15c sZ?^?5 5s • Canada and USA $15.00. „ \'"I ®»» Ma« privileges authorized 8o?w (M?eM: <*»«"try, 8-10 Corpora-«£L ^ ': telephone Coventry 25210. S^T ne™""' King Edward House, New lanrt - 1S iImJ?«ham 2! telephone Mld- 2"; .' '«l. Manchester, 260 Deansgate, lri"sw 3 ; telephone Blaekfriars 4412 -^.;ragate 3595. Glasgow, 62 Bncha- ^tr5l26UGlMgOW C1: telephone ffSbl£S2L\N?': Thomas Skinner & Co We ',tersA, J-W> m Broadway 8; rt'one 6l«by 9-H97. IMS; "fpL^an8port PubUeations Ltd, tlona ,'Jpfojssion to reproduce Ulustra-«ao>"HI*tterPreas can be granted only w em,,'.?2? agreement. Brief extracts Mair*J?*?ts may be made with due mi. Time . . . P OLITICAL ideology is not rightly the concern of a journal such as ours, so it is not in any ideological context that we make reference to the words of a US Air Force general which appeared in our previous issue. The speaker was Gen Bernard Schriever, Commander of the Air Force Systems Command, and he said: "In our global contest with Communism, time has become a most precious commodity; and, in the final analysis, our effectiveness in managing time, as well as our other resources, will be the determining factor in winning that contest." Time is indeed a precious commodity, and an ideological struggle should not be needed to drive the fact home. Every human being has the same number of minutes in each day; but the utilization of these immensely valuable units varies enormously from one person to the next. Some countries even develop national characteristics as a result of their good or bad management of time; but the choice is not necessarily between the mahana attitude on the one hand and ulcers on the other. Britain's reputation as a manager of time is patchy. Remarkable feats have been achieved, especially during times of national emergency; but, in general, the Briton has lapsed from his firm Victorian standards until today a delivery schedule or a timetable has become something which may or may not be achieved, depending on how things go. In very many programmes which are this journal's concern—and they are programmes in which time is vital to success—Britain has demonstrated her inability to adhere to a timetable. Usually the slippage is not more than a month or two, and there is generally a more or less plausible reason for it. Unfortunately, rival nations frequently take the view that, in a com petitive world, no reason for slippage is ever really valid. And they are right. ... is a Precious Commodity Nobody in the aerospace business would dream of letting through a workpiece with any dimension outside the specified tolerance; but time, the fourth dimension, tends to be regarded as something quite different, where tolerances are less rigorous. In essence the matter is one of personal pride. Somehow or other, British industry at all levels must come to feel thoroughly ashamed of any failure to deliver on time. Many British manufacturers are heartily sick of reading about American roll-out or commissioning ceremonies, which always seem to be either spot-on or a day or two ahead of schedule. "Why," it is asked, "can't the Americans fall flat on their faces for a change?" They do; but the exceptions are those that prove the rule. Sir Sydney Camm, the renowned Hawker aircraft designer, said to us recently: "Looking at the work we have carried out here, and consider ing the advances made generally in aviation since 1920, I cannot escape the thought that, if we take any ten-year period, we would not have planned what we did in fact achieve. In other words, the planning would have fallen short of the progress made." This is another facet of the same problem; while some are optimistic about next year's roll-out, nearly everyone is pessimistic about what can be done in ten years' time. We recall that, in 1956, Air Cdre F. R. Banks pronounced upon "The Importance of Time in Aiicraft Manufacture." But many of the people at whom his message was directed simply did not wish to know. Perhaps the publishing business tends to make us rather smug, because the pro duction of a weekly journal allows no slippage. Aeroplanes are even more difficult.
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