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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 2101.PDF
122 FUGHT /nternot/ono/, 23 July 196 WORLD E W 8 THE MINISTER'S VC10 STATEMENT Last Monday afternoon, July 20, before a packed House of Commons, the Minister of Aviation, Mr Julian Amery, gave the eagerly awaited statement on the Govern- ment's proposed solution to BOAC's excess-VC10 problem. This highly contro- versial issue involving the conflicting interests of BOAC and British Aircraft Corporation was yesterday being debated in the House. The Minister said in his statement:— "Sir Giles has agreed that BOAC will take W of the 30 Super VClOs to meet estimated requirements up to 1967, and thereafter a further ten. This leaves BOAC with two Super VClOs above estimated requirements after 1968, with the possibility thereafter of getting rid of two 707s. "Of the 13 surplus Super VClOs, the RAF will take three. They already have on order 11 standard VClOs." According to Mr Amery: "The three aircraft for the RAF will be needed to maintain our strategic airlift capacity as existing transport aircraft cease to be operational." Prefacing his statement, Mr Amery had said: "I want to stress the point that the question is not simply what aircraft BOAC should not order to meet their estimated requirements, but whether they should cancel the order already given and at the same time embark on a policy of replacing some of the cancelled Super VClOs with new Boeing 707s." The Minister said he appreciated the force of the considerations advanced by Sir Giles Guthrie but did not think it would be right to allow BOAC to cancel the order for Super VClOs and to buy more 707s. In his statement Mr Amery acknowledged that BOAC could not be prepared to com- mit itself at this time either to numbers or to types of aircraft for service beyond the end of the decade. The Minister said that in April 1963 the then chairman of BOAC had asked the British Aircraft Corporation to suspend work on ten of the Super VClOs. The manufacturer agreed to this proposal and, Mr Amery said: "A final decision with regard to them need not be taken now." He emphasized that these final ten Super VClOs were not cancelled: new features or improvements, or an unforeseen increase in requirements after 1968, might make them useful. Turning to the vital question of the corporation's financial structure under the proposed fleet arrangements, Mr Amery said: "I have assured Sir Giles that it is the Government's intention to take whatever action may be necessary to reorganize the corporation's capital and financial structure, so as to enable it to operate as a fully commercial undertaking with the fleet of aircraft now planned and with those which may be ultimately selected. The detailed implementation of this assurance will be worked out between my department, the Treasury, and the corporation in the context of any other steps necessary to put BOAC on its feet financially." In reply to a question by Mr Fred Lee, Labour's spokesman on aviation, concerning what the Government proposed to do about BOAC's £80m accumulated deficit and the associated £4m annual interest payment, Mr Amery replied: "It will be dealt with when we come to make proposals to the House for the reorganization of the corpor- ation's capital structure." Following Opposition questions and charges of procrastination over the whole BOAC-VC10 question, Mr Amery pointed out: "What I have always said is that the chairman of BOAC should give us his judgment on commercial solutions and that he should not seek to determine what the national interest is... Many of the troubles of the corporation have arisen from the fact that the chairman sometimes thought he was judging where the national interest lay." Leading article, previous page: Sir Giles Guthrie's statement to BOAC employees, page 124. CC-2 or CC-4 hovercraft; the navaid demonstration and test aircraft operated by Smiths (HS.748) and Decca (Ambassador); and an RAF line-up of the Hunter Mk 12, Shackleton Mk 2 and two V-bombers. NASA Orders Aerogyro Lockheed-California Co announces re- ceipt of a contract for a rigid-rotor Aerogyro from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Designated XH-51N, the NASA helicopter will be similar to the pair of Army/Navy XH-51 As; it will be used for advanced flight study at Langley Research Center. Hot and High Transall First tropical trials of the Franco-German Transall C.I60 twin-Tyne military transport were concluded at Addis Ababa early this month. Between May 25 and July 1 the second prototype flew 92hr in 50 sorties from the Ethiopian capital and made 103 landings. On its return flight to Europe the Transall made demonstrations at Djibouti, Somalia. Alouette Across Canada In the course of a lengthy demonstration tour, recently concluded, a Sud-Aviation Alouette HI Artouste-powered helicopter, crossed Canada from its Atlantic to Pacific shore. The Alouette—which was flown by Jean Boulet, Sud's chief helicopter test pilot—was demonstrated in most of the principal towns to numerous federal, pro- vincial and private authorities. AOA Conference The Aerodrome Owners' Association will hold its annual conference at Cambridge on September 24 and 25 under the chairman- ship of Mr A. G. G. Marshall, chairman and managing director of Marshall of Cam- bridge Ltd. Visits to the local Pye Group factories and to Cambridge Airport are on the agenda. SBAC Show Participants Twenty-six types of aircraft and ACVs are scheduled to take part in this year's SBAC Flying Display at Farnborough (September 7-13). A further 15 types will be on static display. The full list provision- ally nominated for the flying programme is given by the SBAC as follows:— Beagle Aircraft: AOP Mk 11, B.206, B.242(new version of the B.218 twin-engined four- seater). Mk 9.Bristol Siddeley Engines: HS.125. British Aircraft Corporation: H.I26 (jet-flapresearch aircraft), Lightning. One-Eleven. Super VC10, TSR.2 (fly-over from Boscombe Down on certain days), Type 221 (supersonicresearch aircraft). Handley Page: Herald 401.Hawker Siddeley Aviation: Andover (748MF), Argosy 200, Buccaneer S.2. Gnat Mk 1,HS.125 and HS.748, Hunter Mk 6, Trident 1, P.1127.Short Brothers and Harland: Belfast, Turbo- Skyvan.Westland Aircraft: Scout, Wasp, Wessex 1, 2 and 5, Whirlwind Mk 10 and Series 3,SR.N5 hovercraft. Aircraft to be on static display are the Beagle Airedale and Husky; BAC Provost Mk 52; HSA Devon; Westland Scout, Wasp, Wessex 1 or 5 and Whirlwind 10. In addition there will be the Britten-Norman Now for Helicopter-mounted Bandits? The recent successes of wage-snatch bandits in Britain has led to a major security firm, Security Express Ltd, which specializes in the carriage of cash, bullion and jewels in a 554-strong fleet of armoured vans, to adopt helicopters for some of this work. Last week the managing director of Security Express, Mr Eric Cooper-Key, announced an agreement with a helicopter operator, under which the firm will trans- port experimentally some valuable consign- ments between central London and the provinces.
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