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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 1026.PDF
fLIGHT International, 9 April 1964 579 as the official number 2 international airport for Britain, and as Scotland's only truly inter-continental air terminal. A further £4m is at this moment being invested. Nevertheless, the visions of far-seeing men who exploited the natural assets of Prestwick in the past, for the good of all, are being allowed to dissolve into expensive pipe-dreams. It is in the interest of the people of this country to demand that these visions be made manifest, ensuring that an ample dividend be paid on such a wise investment, of public funds. It is in the interest of the nation as a whole to ensure that the proposed expenditure of a further £5m on the doubtful project of developing a new airport 30 miles away at Abbotsinch does not result in the draining away of Prestwick's resources. The Ministry of Aviation must be persuaded now to state their proposals for furthering the operational development of Prestwick, and their intentions regarding the provision of air feeder links, before the Government's legislative powers are lost for good with the creation of an Airports Authority. They should be required to put on record their intentions for guaranteeing a return for the considerable outlay of public funds at a time when the supersonic era could offer yet another threat to Scotland's air links with the world. It must be recognized that while the motives which have prompted Glasgow's city councillors to support the building of a new airport at Abbotsinch are well understood; the millions of pounds which are likely to be spent on this project could and should be used for more pressing purposes in the interests of Glasgow and Scotland. 211 High Street, Ayr H. CAMPBELL, chairman, ALLAN s. LOCKHART, secretary, The Civil Aviation Development Association for Scotland "Wake Up England" SIR,—In my letter of March 13, printed in your issue of March 26, I wrote that if Dr Bin Cheng was correctly re- ported as thinking that denunciation of the unamended Warsaw Convention is prohibited for parties to the Hague Protocol, he must have overlooked Article XXIV.3 of the Protocol. You report, on page 457 of the same issue, that Dr Cheng suggested no such thing—and I, for one, am pleased to hear this, though I could not accept that your article "Wake Up England" did not ascribe that suggestion to the learned doctor. I should like to take this opportunity of adding that in criticizing the views attributed to Dr Cheng I did not imply that Dr Cheng (whose scholarship is highly regarded and whose contributions to the work of the Royal Aeronautical Society's Air Law Group are well known) had in any way fallen below his usual high standards and I gladly and un- conditionally withdraw any reference to Dr Cheng. The point remains the same: Article XXIV.3 of the Hague Protocol specifically allows a State to denounce the un- amended Convention while being bound by the Convention as amended by the Protocol. If your article suggested the contrary I say you were wrong and, to adapt your actual words by inserting the word "not," it is "not necessary to be a party to both in order that the new Convention shall apply." London WC2 DONALD GRANT, Chief Information Officer, Ministry of Aviation [Our article actually suggested none of the things which the Ministry continues to assert that we suggested. Our point remains the same: Why does the Government appear to defy Parliament and propose to act in a manner which 35 other nations have not found necessary ? It has never satisfactorily explained why the United Kingdom cannot ratify the Hague Protocol without denouncing the unamended Warsaw Convention.—Ed] Saving the Shag bat SIR,—Many will recall the Shagbat. The Vickers-Super- marine Walrus amphibian may be a more dignified title for an aircraft—but, seeing a Walrus on the ground or in the air, the name "Shagbat" seemed just right. Walrus G-AIZG on an East Coast beach with a punctured wing-tip float (see letter below, "Saving the Shagbat") Training, bombing, spotting for the fleets (both naval and whaling), convoy patrolling, air/sea rescue work and joy- riding—the Walrus did them all and did them well. Pilots' reactions varied: "It turns with the slow dignity of a bus"; "Alors! try looping her—magnifique/" (a Free French comment); "Strong and seaworthy . . . could take 6ft waves in its stride." All were agreed, however, that the Walrus had no real vices. What a pity that it has almost disappeared, like so many other noteworthy types. So thought the Historic Aircraft Preservation Society, which discovered a Walrus Mk 1 lying derelict at Thame airfield near Oxford—without wings, floats and much else—the last one left in this country of the 740 built. How did it come to Thame? What can be done to preserve it ? The answer to the first question reveals a curious and chequered career which began in 1939 when three Walrus Is, originally part of a Fleet Air Arm order, were bought by the Irish Army Air Corps. One of the three was L2301, which was given the Air Corps number N18. Early in March 1939 the three aircraft took off from the Vickers-Supermarine works at Southampton for the Air Corps headquarters at Baldonnel, but none of them arrived at this destination. Heavy fog and general bad weather over the Irish Sea caused the formation to break up. One Walrus turned back and landed at Pembroke. N18, its engine giving trouble, put down on the sea off the Wexford coast; the third aircraft turned north and landed in Dublin Bay. A strong sea gave N18 difficulties and two local lifeboats were launched, but the crew, Lt M. Quinlan and Lt (now Lt Col) M. Higgins, successfully beached the aircraft. In company with the Air Corps' Ansons, based mainly at Rineanna (Shannon), the three Walruses patrolled the south and west coasts of Ireland during the war on neutrality- protection and rescue operations. In 1942, N18 recrossed the Irish Sea in unusual circumstances. A young officer who was under open arrest flew it to Cornwall; his crew of two was unaware that the flight was unauthorized and the fuel barely sufficient to make a landfall. The aircraft and crew were returned and N18 continued in service until 1945, when it was sold to Aer Lingus as EI-ACC. It soon returned to Britain in a para-military guise. In 1947, 615 (County of Surrey) Sqn, RAuxAF, was based at Biggin Hill, flying Spitfires 21 and 24. The CO, Wg Cdr R. G. Kellett, decided that one way of recruiting ground staff would be to provide facilities for air experience. Aer Lingus had EI-ACC for sale and Wg Cdr Kellett bought it for £150. One day in March, accompanied by his adjutant, Fit Lt F. B. Sowrey (now group captain, OC RAF Abing- don), he collected the Walrus—now G-AIZG—at Dublin Airport and took off for Croydon and thence to Biggin Hill. There the Shagbat entered the last phase of its active life. The first post-war RAuxAF summer camp was held by 615 Sqn near Norwich in 1947 and the Walrus was used to take personnel to the East Coast beaches. On the first of these joyrides the Walrus put down on the sea. The Coastguards, alert to emergency, shot off rockets and soon the Lowestoft lifeboat came up to investigate. Assured that nothing was amiss, the lifeboat crew (not the first one in the life of this Walrus) retired—but not before £5 for the RNLI's funds had changed hands. Nor was the take-off without incident: it had to be abandoned when a float was punctured (fighter pilots have little chance to amass seaplane hours!) but after
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