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Aviation History
1965
1965 - 0144.PDF
82 FLIGHT International, 21 January I96S WORLD NEWS . . . announced that 62 firm orders have been received for the $595,000 six/eight-seater. Four different makes of executive jet are now in service (HS.125, Lear Jet, Jetstar, and Jet Commander); two others under development (HFB 320 Hansa and Das- sault Mystere 20) should be through their trials this year. HISTORY IN SCOTLAND The Glasgow Branch of the Royal Aero- nautical Society is looking for exhibits recalling the history of aviation in Scotland. It is holding an exhibition—beginning in late September 1966 and lasting three or four weeks—to mark the centenary of the Society. The main hall of Glasgow Art Galleries and Museum will house the exhibition, and film shows and lectures will be given in rooms. Mr W. Newman Alcock, branch secretary, has asked that anyone willing to lend exhibits should communicate with him at 57 Dumbuck Crescent, Dumbarton. Inter-city STOL Preceding the appoint- ment of an FAA task-force to study development of civil V/STOL for inter- urban transport (reported on page 90) was a demonstration at Dulles International Airport, Washington, by a US Army DHC Caribou, which made a series of take-offs and landings from the SSft-long heli- copter landing area RHODESIAN RAeS The Council of the Royal Aeronautical Society has agreed to the formation of a Rhodesia Division of the Society. The fact that Rhodesia thus breaks away from the Southern Africa Division is due to the efforts of the Salisbury Branch, which has been pressing for such a move for some time past. Officers elected at a meeting earlier this month were Capt M. O'Donovan, AFRACS (operations manager, Central African Air- ways), president; Capt J. R. Orbell, AFRAes (chief pilot, CAA), vice-president; Mr S. H. Guy, ARAes, secretary; and Mr R. A. Springall, AFRAes, treasurer. By virtue of his position as president of the Rhodesia Division Capt O'Donovan also has a seat on the parent Council in London. The Division, which has branches in Salisbury and Bulawayo, has a total membership of over 230, with members from as far afield as Tanganyika, Kenya, Aden and the Sudan. press ROBERT BLACKBURN When a great national crisis looms—and threatened extinction of the aircraft industry is just that—the role of the Press is vital. Without the daily newspapers, magazines, TV and radio, the existence of the crisis would be unknown to the majority of citizens. And, with Parliament on holiday, there would be no democratic forum for discussion of the issues involved. Last week Britain's Press rose to the occasion. The crisis was real, not created to fill front pages. One could quibble about odd inaccuracies or scare stories, but to do so would be trivial and short-sighted. The Daily Mail's leader of January 13 was a milestone—the first time a popular newspaper has hammered at the unnecessary secrecy surrounding so much of British aviation: "In contrast with America and France the Aviation Ministry refuses to publish advance and progressive cost figures on its projects. This precludes any public machinery which could flash red lights at an early stage." The Daily Telegraph's leader on January 11 summarized the TSR.2 issue with insight: "On the face of it, cost analysis seems to argue almost unanswerably against TSR.2; its American competitor, the TFX, is far cheaper. But wait: wait till the trade unions concerned, the technolo- gists, all who make aircraft and fly them, have had their say. Under conflicting pressures nothing appears simple—nor is it." One of the most penetrating leaders appeared in the Financial Times of January 14 under the heading "The Realities of Power." I would recommend a study of the full text to anyone who can obtain a copy. Of calculated leaks, a subject rarely discus- sed by newspapers, it says: "This kite-flying has respectable antecedents, but as being practised now has two substantial weak- nesses. First, it rallies conservative forces, who naturally oppose any change. Second, it causes confusion in Government Depart- ments, many of which have little or no idea about what is being proposed . . . Leaks may soften opinion into accepting a policy decision already made: if there is no decision, they sow confusion only." How I wish I'd written that. A lot has been printed about Mr Richard Worcester and his reported role as an adviser to the Government, but not until January 13 did it emerge that, according to The Times political correspondent, "It was officially denied yesterday that Mr Richard Worcester is advising the Government on aviation matters. Whitehall explained that Mr Worcester has never met Mr Wilson and had not been asked for advice, although he has been a close friend of Mr Wigg, the Paymaster General, for many years." The Telegraph reported "signs of irritation in Cabinet circles at the tendency to describe Mr Richard Worcester as an 'adviser' of the Government." Why then did it allow the misunderstanding to persist for so long? On January 14, on the BBC Home Service, Mr Worcester himself denied that he was an adviser to the Government. The industry leaders invited to dine at Chequers last Friday must have been pleased to know that they were seeing only one Mr W. No less an authority than Sir Denning Pearson wrote to The Times in denial of a statement by Mr Worcester that "Rolls- Royce calculate the Concorde cost to be £1,000m." Another letter in The Times, from Mr Robin Ollington, deplored the appointment of an American firm of design consultants for the interior styling of the Concorde, "... surely we could have picked a team that would be capable of producing a scheme as good or indeed superior to any- thing that could be dreamed up in the lush offices Of New York?" Point taken, Mr Ollington, especially if you are a British designer who finds industry slow to appreciate that there are good designers here in Britain; but in fairness to the American involved it should be recorded that he has been working with British aircraft designers for years and is practically a transatlantic commuter. Hurrah for the Plane Makers, ATV's superb series of plays about the fictional Scott Furlong and Ryan aircraft companies, which went off the air for a rest period last week. Even the title has passed into the language, and newspapers refer daily to the planemakers. For the convincing detail of the Plane Makers, a very good mark to Mr Michael Jolley, the 31-year-old public relations executive, pilot and honorary PRO to the Tiger Club, who advised on the third series, and another to the producers, editors and writers who took his advice at every stage. My only criticism (from first- hand experience) is that really big men in the industry are not as bad-mannered as Wilder or Corbett: quite the reverse. Finally, a headline in the Bournemouth Echo of January 14: 10,000 MARCH OVER TSR.2.
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