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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 0106.PDF
104 FLIGHT Intimations!. 19 January 1967 Longest flight of a Hawker Siddeley buccaneer to date was made by an SAAF S.50 from Waterkloof, Pretoria, recently, when the aircraft flew over 5,000 miles in nine hours, made the first two air-to-air refuellings in South Africa and landed with substantial reserves of other "consumables" such as oxygen and engine oil. The pilot was the OC of 24 Sqn, Cmdt A. M. Muller and the observer Maj T. ). de Munnkk EUROPEAN F-5 PRODUCTION HOPES DECLINE THE PROSPECTS FOR EUROPEAN PRODUCTION of the Northrop F-5 tactical fighter in the Netherlands and Belgium, with final assembly at Fokker's Schiphol works, have taken a sharp downturn in recent weeks and now appear slim. The in- decision of the Belgian Government on whether to order the aircraft appears to be the main factor in the sudden change, which has resulted in the Netherlands Government sending a mission to Canada to assess the prospects of buying F-5s off the line now being set up by Canadair at Montreal to satisfy the RCAF's requirements. A Netherlands version of the events is that Fokker's quote was based upon a reasonable total of 250-260 aircraft, envisaging orders for both the Benelux air forces and the possibility of an order for the Austrian Air Force. Northrop also quoted for building the aircraft in California and its quote, due to expire on July 1, 1966, was extended at the request of both the Netherlands and Belgian Governments until January 1 this year, to permit further evaluation, particularly by the Belgian Government, which was stalling the decision for domestic, political and economic reasons. The Netherlands Government chose the F-5 last November but the Belgian Government again deferred a decision until February 15 this year. The Netherlands Government therefore asked Northrop to arrange for pro- duction to be put in hand in the USA at the quoted price, realising that its own requirements alone—rumoured to be 106 aircraft—would be uneconomic and would result in a high price if built by Fokker. Northrop rejected the Dutch letter of intent, having warned that its quote would be about £5 million higher after January 1, 1967. In any event, it is understood that Northrop's US lines are fully extended meeting inflated demands resulting from the Vietnam war. Consequently, the Netherlands are now to investigate the prospects of buying Canadair-built F-5s at, hopefully, a lower price than Northrop's, and Cana- dair should certainly be in a good position to build them, though last week Canadair disclaimed knowledge of the mission. A very substantial order pro- viding several years' work looks like slipping out of the Netherlands indus- try's grasp and this may cause difficulties for Fokker which, officially, is making no comment on the matter. It seems likely that a Netherlands order would demand a quid pro quo from the Cana- dians, with some work being sub- contracted by Canadair to Holland. The Netherlands Press is strongly criticising the Belgian Government for wavering so much that it is now unable to buy the aircraft at the original quotations, and says that if a joint con- tract is eventually placed, it will be at a considerably higher price, which both will have to pay. Since the Second World War the two air forces have made common fighter equipment decisions and have benefited from common produc- tion programmes. This mutually bene- ficial rapport has now taken a hard knock. Among industrial dispositions made in anticipation of Benelux production of the F-5 are the acquisition by Fokker of the Belgian airframe company SABCA, and the purchase by Northrop of a share- holding in Fokker which, though not controlling, is a very substantial one. MoD Reorganisation CHANGES IN ORGANISATION at the Ministry of Defence follow the recent political re-shuffle which abolished the post of the three individual Service Ministers. As recorded in last week's issue (page 42) there are now two functional Ministers of Defence—Administration and Equip- ment—responsible to the Secretary of State, Mr Denis Healey, and the only Ministers with individual Service responsi- bilities are three Parliamentary Under- secretaries. To strengthen the machinery for deal- ing with personnel and logistics matters the new post of Chief Adviser (Personnel and Logistics) has been created and the post of Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Personnel and Logistics) abolished. Admiral Sir Desmond Dreyer, appointed to the new post, will be responsible to the Secretary of State within his own sphere of activity and will normally report through the Minister of Defence (Administration), Mr Gerald Reynolds. He will be subordinate to the Chief of Defence Staff but not directly responsible to him. Another new post is that of Chief Adviser (Projects) which will be filled by Sir William Cook. He will have direct access to the Secretary of State and will be general adviser to the Minister of Defence (Equipment) on project matters. A third Chief Adviser's post—Studies- will be filled by Dr A. H. Cottrell who will undertake, on the Secretary of State's behalf, such studies in the general defence policy field as the Secretary of State decides. Cessna Twin to Follow Bird Dog UNABASHED BY ITS DENIALS a few Weeks ago that it planned any such thing, the USAF announced on December 29 that it is to buy 176 Cessna 337s for forward air control and psychological warfare duties. It released a $4.5 million first payment to Cessna of an eventual $11' million purchase. Training is to begin in the spring and the first squadron will be operational in the summer. The Cessna 337 is known to general aviation as the Super Skymaster, a high- wing cabin aircraft with a tandem twin- engine configuration—one engine driv- ing a tractor propeller and one a pusher. The USAF purchase includes 145 air- craft, to be designated O-2As, for for- ward air control, and 31 aircraft, O-2Bs,
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