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Aviation History
1965
1965 - 0099.PDF
FLIGHT Internationa/, U January 1965 Letters 61 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. Atlantic Prestige and Profit SIR,—Mr Baldwin's calculations (Letters, December 24) over-estimate the descent fuel by 2,0001b, so that his basic fuel requirements for the VClO's flight would be 114,5601b. The diversion fuel to Montreal would be about 7,7001b, the stand-off reserve and en route contingency fuel another 18,7001b. The grand total would thus be 140,9601b, com- pared with the Boeing 707's requirement, on the same basis, of 136,5601b. The height of 34,OO0ft is fairly representative of the cruise altitudes normally used and was chosen because it is the maximum height the VC10 can reach initially with a maximum weight take-off and i.s.a. conditions. A stepped- climb cruise would improve consumption a little for both aircraft, but not to a significant degree. With the current congestion on the Atlantic a level cruise is the rule rather than the exception. Work has already taken place to reduce the drag and increase the payload of the VC10. The result is the Super VC10. Fuel consumption figures are not available for this aircraft, but since its a.p.s. weight is 8,5001b more than that of the VC10 and its engines give more thrust, the consump- tion can hardly be less. Assuming it to be the same, we can make up a brief table of meaningful figures for the conditions previously discussed:— Initial cost ..a.p.s. (lb) Fuel required Ob) ..Total (lb) Max t.o.w. (lb)Payload available (lb) VC10 .. £2.6m.. 149,000 .. 140,960 .. 289,960 . . 312,000. . 22,040 Super VC10 £2.85m157,500 140,960 298,460 335,00036,540 707 £2.4m133,000 136,560 269,560 312,00042,440 Load factors on the Atlantic are very high and payload available is critical. I agree that the high a.p.s. weight is one of the basic failings of both versions of the VC10. The great failing is more basic still. The aircraft is more expensive to buy and operate than is its competitor, and over a given distance it carries less payload. It is also four years late in the field. Tn any business this is suicide. Most of the world's airlines are currently buying new jets. They have been doing sums, similar to those above, albeit more sophisticated, and most are now buying Boeings. The best service anyone can do our aircraft industry is to show why this is happening. Pretending that it isn't will merely send us headlong into the next debacle. Berks PUZZLED "No Silly Squabble" says Cambrian SIR,—Your news item on page 1107 of the December 31 issue headed "Licensing Sensation—2" apart from presenting an incomplete picture, does this company somewhat less than justice in referring to "a rather silly inter-airline squabble." We are far too busy trying to operate scheduled air services in accordance with public demand to waste our time, and the time of others, in "silly squabbles." I am certain you know the Cambrian approval to operate a Liverpool - Cork service was granted only after we had produced our estimates of traffic potential, which were far in excess of what the then incumbent, Starways, was trying to cater for, and which they denied existed. At the subsequent appeal, Starways (now wholly controlled by British Eagle) again stated that our estimates of traffic potential were highly The Vickers-Supermarine Spiteful (see /etter from Mr T. Con- naughton) was a post-war descendant of the Spitfire:, with straight- tapered, square-tipped wings and a deeper fuselage. This is the Rolls-Royce Griffon-powered F.I6 Spiteful which in 1947 attained a speed of 494 m.p.h. exaggerated. Since then there has been a further ATLB hearing and appeal, but with a difference—British Eagle are now using estimates of traffic potential to all intents and purpose identical with those produced by Cambrian a year- and-a-half before. Far from being a "silly inter-airline squabble," this is a further example of the inadequacies of the present Civil Aviation Licensing Act and regulations. It is a farcical situation which allows an airline to sit on a licence and not develop the route—only to do so later under pressure created by another airline which has faith in the potential of that route. Speaking of faith, it will be of interest to your readers to know that British Eagle suspended operations in the week ended October 17, and that on November 7—three weeks later—Cambrian had obtained bilateral clearance and had commenced to operate a thrice-weekly service—a higher frequency than British Eagle had operated during the summer peak period. Cardiff (Rhoose) L. B. ELWIN, Airport, Glam Managing Director, Cambrian Airways Ltd Wanted—A Spiteful SIR,—I have just finished reading your article on "Racing at Reno," by Don Berliner (October 15) and of all the reports I have seen in all the magazines yours is without a doubt the best-covered and most well written. I found but one error: the engine in the Bardahl Special was claimed to give 2,450 h.p., not 3,400 as stated in the article. [We did say "reportedly" capable of developing 3,400 h.p.—Ed] I'm sorry we could not make the cross-country; I feel confident we could have been first. But that's racing. At present I am looking for a Supermarine Spiteful with the Griffon 101 engine. I would appreciate any information your readers could forward as to the whereabouts of one I could purchase. I do believe that this machine, with a few modifications, could very well be the world's fastest piston- engine aircraft, and I would like an opportunity to prove it. 2415 Lombard, TOM CONNAUGHTON, Everett, Washington, Crew Chief, USA winning Bearcat First Life Saved by Parachute SIR,—You were good enough to publish (page 828, Novem- ber 12) a short summary of my lecture on the History of Parachutes to the Historical Group of the Royal Aeronautical Society on October 26. In the lecture I cast some doubt upon the generally accepted report that a Polish balloonist, Jordaki Kuparentko, saved his life by means of a parachute during an ascent over Warsaw after his Montgolfier balloon had caught fire. Originally these doubts had been raised by a variance in the dates quoted for the incident. Monck Mason, who seems perhaps to have been the originator of the report, gives two dates in his book Aeronautica (published in 1838): July 24, 1804, and July 24, 1808. Various writers since then have mentioned the parachute descent, giving either one or other date without apparently checking the validity of the event. In reply to an enquiry I had made, I recently obtained a
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