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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 0006.PDF
THURSDAY JANUARY 2, 1964 Number 2860 Volume 85 Official Orjaii o! the Royal Aero Club Fint Aeronautical Wttkly in the World Found* in IMS Editor-in-Chief MAURICE A. SMITH DFC Editor H. F. Kl NG MBE , Technical Editor W.T.GUNSTON Air Transport Editor - J. M. RAMSOEN Production Editor ROY CASEY Managing Director H. N. PRIAULX MBE '64 Dollar Questions In this issue World News Air Commerce Polynesian Flying-boats 8tralgrht and Level The High-speed Shape Coup d'Oeuil Tacticque Tlfirer, Tiger, Burning: Bright Letters : Airline Census 1964 8port and Business : Industry International Missiles and Spaceftiffht Service Aviation •lift. Transport Publications Ltd, DorsetHouse, Stamford Street, London, SKI; telephone Waterloo 3333 (Telex 25137).Telegrams Flightpres London Telex. Annual subscriptions: Home £4 15s.Overseas £5. Canada and USA $15.00. Second Class Mail privileges authorizedat New York, NY. Branch Office*: Coventry, 8-10 Corpora-tion Street: telephone Coventry 25210. Birmingham, King Edward House, NewStreet, Birmingham 2 ; telephone Mid- land 7191. Manchester, 260 Deansgate,Manchester 3 ; telephone Blackfriars 4412 or Deansgate 3595. Glasgow, 62 Bucha-nan Street, Glasgow Cl ; telephone Central 1265-6. Bristol, 11 Marah Street,Bristol 1; telephone Bristol 21491/2. New York, NY : Thomas Skinner 4 Co(Publishers) Ltd, 111 Broadway 6; telephone Digby 9-1197. © Iliffe Transport Publications Ltd,1964. Permission to reproduce illustra- tions and letterpress can be granted onlyunder written agreement. Brief extracts or comments may be made with dueacknowledgement. 2 4 11 12 13 19 2O 22 24 32 33 34 38a AMID the sprawling fields of aerospace how shall we be travellingin 1964? What new projects will be coming forward? Will our efforts always be justified? Technical, financial, military and moral issues array themselves in massive challenge; the year will be a stern one for the timid and the tired. Among the technical problems is that of how to build the supersonic transport. Techniques which have sufficed for military applications will be of limited help because a longer airframe life-span is required. Systems and servicing methods will also differ. While the integrity of the Concorde's structure seems fairly well assured, the welded stainless steel honeycomb of the B-70 is not directly transferable to an SST. As for finance, the money put up by the US Government is considered inadequate by the US air- craft-builders, who calculate a possible loss of nine hundred and fifty million dollars if the SST programme is terminated before certification, and of one thousand five hundred million if it is axed later through lack of orders. A consortium appears to be the only answer, and even so the firms must face a frightful risk. In any case, an entirely new engine will be demanded. Jet-lift will see new advances by the Bristol Siddeley/Hawker Siddeley and Rolls-Royce/Dassault alliances, and increasingly these will penetrate into the transport field. Reinforced plastic construction for light aircraft still seems far away. Is it Worth It? The view of the missiles industry is not a cheerful one for the purse- string holders. Every system now in contemplation poses immense technological and cost/effectiveness difficulties. A better ICBM could be built; but the only way to achieve it at a reasonable price is to improve Minuteman. By the same token a defence against the ICBM could bs developed; but only at crippling cost. As each week passes the question "Is it worth it?" intrudes more insistently. We in Britain will be entering the space business with Blue Streak; and doubtless we shall launch the annual quota of new space committees. Meanwhile the USA will continue to develop satellite applications, with communication satellites no longer a novelty. America's programme to hurry on up to the Moon will progress, perhaps, with fewer dollars and less hysteria. The USSR will continue to play its enigma variations on the theme of space, and Europe will embark on realistic co-operative programmes. In the vast air transport industry the precepts of safety, economy and comfort must be increasingly everyone's concern. The year 1963 was the safest yet; but there must bs no complacency about the behaviour of jets in turbulence (see page 9) and more money must be spent on aids and met. reporting. We may hope for reduced European fares (they have not come down for six years), and we trust that these will come about without cramming in seats beyond the limits of comfort, and possibly even of safety. Increasingly this year the alert executive will be chasing up business either jet- or turbo-propelled. No year, as we say, for the timid or the tired.
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