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Aviation History
1965
1965 - 0028.PDF
18 Letters Letters for these columns are welcomed, though "Flight Inter- national" does not necessarily endorse the views expressed. Name and address should be given, not necessarily for publication in full. Brief letters will have a better chance of early publication. ATLB and the Minister SIR,—In referring [leading article, December 24] to my proposal that the ATLB should be required to act in accordance with policy directives issued by the Minister of Aviation, you say that I suggested that this is what the Board wants. I have never made any such suggestion, but I did point out that the Board has been critical of the present arrangements. May I draw your attention to Paragraph 6 of their annual report for 1963-64:— "As we said in previous Reports, the Act does not provide positive guidance on policy for the Board to follow in deciding whether or not to grant an application and it appears to have been the intention of the legislature to leave the Board unfettered as regards the general policy they should pursue." House of Commons ERIC LUBBOCK Homeless Spey Phantoms? SIR,—Regarding the proposed Spey-Phantom for the Royal Navy, unless 1 am very much mistaken only the Eagle will be able to use the outstanding American aircraft operationally; Ark Royal could do so, but needs major structural alterations. Victorious, Hermes and Centaur are too small and in my view are capable only of anti-submarine duties or, equipped with COIN aircraft, of supporting the commando carriers in bush-fire actions. Is it, then, worthwhile to redesign and licence-produce the Phantom when we have only the one carrier available ? Gorebridge, Midlothian DAN MCMAHON End of a Martinet SIR,—I read with interest Mr Peter M. Thomas's letter (December 3), concerning the Skyfame Museum, and am delighted to hear of his two prospective Beaufighters. I regret to inform those interested that the Irish Air Corps' last Martinet, 145, the last of approximately 1,700 built, was sold to a scrap merchant last August 22, and has now been "reduced to produce." I enclose a photograph of the Martinet lying in the scrap- yard at Baldonnel, to which it was evicted in December 1963. It is reported that it was moved there by crane, and was dropped about 10ft on to its final position. Before taking the enclosed photograph I first had to tack up the Air Corps roundel with an old nail. Dublin 14 PAUL R. DUFFY Hush-hush Dakotas SIR,—Your recent correspondence on the "Hush-hush B-24s" operating from Leuchars brings memories of a Scrap-yard Martinet (see letter from Mr P. R. Duffy, above) fLIGHT International, 7 lanuar/ 1965 service which operated between Dye* (Aberdeen) and Sweden in the earlier years of the Second World War. The mysterious comings and goings of yellow-painted Dakotas, liberally covered with Swedish identification marks, in English, German and Swedish, excited my interest as a youthful spotter, but I have never seen any reference to the operation in print. Perhaps some of your readers could give details of this service, which, from the damaged state of some of the aircraft, attracted attention from at least one of the opposing sides! Fairlie, Ayrshire w. LAING Wrong: Fuel SIR,—As a member of that ill-defined section of the populace which is described collectively as "the travelling public" I was much encouraged to read in your December 24 issue of the formation of the Air Safety Group. Not being especially keen on the habit of peering into the mouths of gift-horses (which seems thoroughly unhygienic anyway) I would not presume to question the benefits that the new group will bestow on us. Even so, I am not entirely happy about its aim to take "immediate action on the superior safety of JP.4 gasoline in^ comparison with JP.l kerosene airliner fuels." It seems to me that, following the modern aeronautical trend, this particular gift-horse has got itself at the rear of the vehicle. London Wl F. THOMAS [We purged ourselves of this inflammatory slip-up in our issue of December 31. Our renewed apologies to those airlines who stick to kerosene despite the cost.—Ed] Bacon Grilled SIR,—A close perusal of Roger Bacon's four pages in your issue of December 24 would seem to show that he has not written a word worth repeating in the past two years, and only seven lines in 1962.* To be paid his enormous salary for such masterly inactivity must surely entitle him to a place in some Ministry where he could rest in peace and good company, and not suffer those faint twinges of conscience which the sight of his hard- working colleagues in the Flight editorial office must arouse. Failing this you might have him stuffed and mounted on a pile of brochures in the entrance hall. London NW3 ALAN F. HUTH * Aide-memoire: RB confined his selection mainly to 1958-61. —Ed A R Y Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan 7 7 7 12 13 13 13 13 13 14 14 15 RAeS: Young People's Lecture, "Ground-effect Vehicles," by R. Stanton Jones. RAeS Belfast Branch: "Service in the Skies," by a BO AC stewardess. RAeS Southend Branch: "History of Channel Air- ways," by B. F. Collins, and symposium, "Air Traffic Control." RAeS Luton Branch: "The Wright Brothers," by C. H. Gibbs-Smith. Society of Environmental Engineers: "Methods of Measuring Cushion Performance," by D. C. Allen. Kronfeld Club: "Lighter than Air," by Dixie Kidd. Institution of Mechanical Engineers: James Clayton Lecture, "The Scientific Investigation of Aircraft Accidents," by P. B. Walker. RAeS Chester Branch: "A History of Airlines," by R. E. G. Davies. RAeS Southampton Branch: "Hovercraft," by A. E. Bingham. Institution of Electronic and Radio Engineers Southern Section and IEE joint meeting: "Attitude Control of the Skylark Sounding Rocket," by J. F. M. Walker. RAeS Halton Branch: "The Concorde," by G. L. Auty. Institute of Navigation: "Visual Factors in Aircraft Navigation," by E. Heap.
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