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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 1346.PDF
Official Organ of the Royal Aero Club First Aeronautical WMkly in the WorW Fouaded In 1908 THURSDAY MAY 7, 1964 Number 2878 Volume 85 Editor-in-Chief MAURICE A. SMITH DFC Editor H. F. KING MBE Technical Editor W. T.CUN8TON Air Transport Editor J. M. RAMSDEN Production Editor ROY CASEY Managing Director H. N. PRIAULX In this issue World News 742 A Bigger and Better Concord 744 Air Commerce 746 Wagner W-18 752 Straight and Level 75 4 The VC1O Enters Service: Special feature articles 7 56-771 Sport and Business 7 76 Missiles and Spacefligtit 781 Letters 786 Service Aviation 7 88 Maintenance Recording for the Airlines 790 Industry International 792 Ilifft Transport Publications Ltd., DorsetHouse, Stamford Street, London, SE1; telephone Waterloo 3333 (Telex 25137).Telegrams Flightpres London Telex. Annual subscriptions: Home £4 15s.Overseas £5 5s. Canada and USA $15.00. Second Class Mail privileges authorizedat New York, NY. Branch Offices: 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, 123 HopeStreet, Glasgow C2; telephone Central 1265-6. Bristol, 11 Marsh Street, Bristol1; telephone Bristol 21491/2. New York, NY: Thomas Skinner * 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 only under written agreement. Brief extractsor comments may be made with due acknowledgement. Enlarging: the Concord ON pages 744-745 of this issue we report for the first time designdimensions, weights and thrust for the Concord supersonic air- liner. We also announce the decision of the British and French partners responsible for the design to make the aircraft bigger and heavier in order to enable it to operate longer route sectors with greater fuel reserves. The decision is one of immense importance, and one which will be welcomed by all concerned with the project. It is news especially satisfying to airlines which have already bought the Concord: although the new aircraft will be more expensive, the original model was inclined to be marginal on many routes and to have very limited growth-potential. Key to this enlargement has been the decision of Bristol Siddeley Engines and SNECMA to provide an engine with an initial thrust of more than 32,0001b and with a promised up-rating to more than 35,OOOlb within two years of the start of airline service (i.e., in 1973). This is a major increment, because the original Olympus 593D was to be rated at 29,3001b only. The new engine—which, curiously enough, is called the 593B—will not be a "screwed-up," hotter version of the 593D. Quite the contrary; it is a scaled-up powerplant which, at the initial rating at least, will operate at a significantly reduced turbine inJet temperature. It should therefore offer such great advantages as improved propulsive efficiency, reduced specific fuel consumption, longer parts-life, possibly a lower noise-level and cer- tainly greater potential for future development. Moreover, it will be able to provide all foreseeable Concord propulsive requirements without the use of reheat. This will again reduce noise and improve efficiency, and will also simplify the powerplant installation. To Carry More, Further The design change has been made partly in order to offer an aircraft with greater payload/range performance, able to meet the expressed needs of several important airlines whose trunk routes include sectors longer than Paris - New York. The stretch has also been necessitated in order to meet the original performance, with a margin in hand for possible s.f.c. or drag problems, in the face of demands from customers for fuel reserves at least as great as those imposed on current big jets (and much more severe than the reserves recommended by the American FAA as a basis for SST planning). Fuel reserves are not, as one British newspaper thinks, a matter for the ARB; they are the choice of the airline. If experience shows that the Concord can be operated with more modest reserves—as a result of better airtraffic control allowing higher pattern speeds and bigger-radius turns, and the shorter sector times allowing reduced factors for possible weather-deterioration—the range/payload benefits would be very great. Finally, the increased cost of the aircraft development and manufac- turing programme is not to be viewed with dismay. Although, so far as we are aware, it has yet to be discussed in detail and agreed to by the British and French governments,lt is a case of a little extra investment promising a much greater return. Coming at a time when the US supersonic-transport programme has been postponed as a result of failure of any manufacturer to meet the required operating characteristics, this reshaping of the Concord to meet the needs of the customer airlines is a major stepping- stone to the production of a viable airliner almost three times as fast as average jet speeds of today.
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