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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 1375.PDF
FLIGHT International, 28 December 1697 1055 Mini-Delfin The tandem two-seat 1-29 Delfin, a widely used trainer in the Com- munist Bloc countries, is now supplemented by this single-seat fully aerobatic version. It weighs 1,5001b less than the earlier aircraft lines lined up on the Airbus, otherwise il would not be a viable project. According to his Ministry's estimates the demand for civil airliners in the period 1967-1976 would be of the order of £15,000 million. Of this it was reckoned 48 per cent would be Ameri- can demand, 7 per cent UK, 21 per cent the rest of Europe and 24 per cent the rest of the world. We could, Mr Stonehouse thought, expect 10 per cent of this market of £15,000 million. He agreed it was a pretty big assumption; but he was of the opinion that we stood to gain in the next decade something like £1,200 million more business if we went ahead with Europe than if we were to go it alone. Aircraft Industry Morale "Over the last decade, enthusiasm for and morale within the [aircraft] industry have decreased alarmingly." This view was expressed in a policy statement issued by the Bristol branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society in response to an invitation to all engineers by the Minister of Technology to be more articulate. Taking up Mr Benn's challenge, "on behalf of aviation, for which he is responsible," the Bristol RAeS branch says that the decrease in enthusiasm within the industry "appears to be part of the general malaise in which it is fashionable to knock patriotism and achievement, especially in aviation. "What we need," the branch says, "is a national policy for aeronautics which is carefully conceived in consultation between industry and research establish- ments, born under the aegis of an eager government, nourished with the under- standing that price escalation and date slipping are unacceptable, and brought to a successful conclusion in production." Instancing Concorde, the statement says that it is extremely saddening that this project, "conceived with such vision, should be beset at every turn by pin- pricks, uncertainties and often un- informed comments." "Prominence is given to the £500 mil- lion development estimates, ignoring the fact that the UK contribution is £250 million and that with a ten-year programme this is only £25 million a year. Compare this investment in future technology with, for example, a loss on British Rail of £130 million in one year." Co-ordinating Aircraft Preservation A British Aircraft Preservation Council has been formed, to act in an advisory capacity to individual bodies engaged in saving examples of famous types. Other organisations wishing to be repre- sented on the Council are invited to write to Mr M. J. Kenyon, 25 Ashley Drive, Bramhall, Ches. More World News overleaf Offshore operator As reported in "Flight" for December 7 (page 932), the Fana Investor Company has ordered o Sud SA 321J Super Frelon for support work in connec- tion with a drill-rig ship operating 200 miles off the Norwegian coast. Here a similar aircraft is seen making trial approaches to the vessel at Stavanger. According to a news-agency story, incidentally, "the Super Frelon usually has two or three propellers" SENSOR BOAC will now change its policy on the SST fare differential. Hither- to the airline has always insisted that Concorde and the Boeing SST must operate economically at existing fares. It now accepts the principle of a sur- charge, though it believes that the maximum the market will be able to bear is 20-25 per cent. BOAC is expecting to make a firm commitment to buy Concordes at the end of 1968 or early in 1969. British Eagle took delivery of their first Boeing 707-320C at Seattle just before Christmas. After a month's crew-training at Boeing the aircraft will be leased "wet" (i.e., with Eagle crews and maintenance) to a foreign carrier. The first of two 707-138Bs bought from Qantas will be delivered in the middle of January, the second following in March. These aircraft will be used on British Eagle's own services. Jet inclusive tours to Bermuda and to the Bahamas will be inaugurated in February. Winner of this year's Laura Tabor Barbour award, regarded as the world's greatest air safety honour, will be Mr Walter Tye, chief technical officer of the ARB. He will be the third British recipient, after Mr E. S. Calvert and Sir James Martin. The ETPS move from Farnborough to Boscombe Down in January may well prejudice the inclusion of many foreign students on future courses. The high security rating of many of the projects undertaken at A & AEE could preclude students from non-NATO countries. Sir Ronald Edwards and members of his civil aviation committee intend to visit a number of airlines, and to see their facilities and problems at first hand, in the course of their inquiry. The RAF will attempt to sell its recently withdrawn Beverleys to com- mercial operators. Some 20 in Britain will be disposed of, possibly through an agency, while six in the East will probably be sold outright to a local operator. There is little chance that the RB.207 will be fitted to BOAC's 747s. This rules out any realistic hope that any 747 customers will now specify RB.207s. Flight development of the BAC One-Eleven 500 prototype is exactly on schedule and no major snags have been encountered. The production aircraft is likely to fly before its March schedule. The next major BAC One-Eleven aerodynamic development, the fitting of high-lift devices, is now in the advanced design stage. A Russian space booster bigger than the American Saturn V (3,500,0001b s.t.) is likely to be launched soon. NASA officials believe that the next Soviet space "first" will be a manned flight around the Moon and back, some time during the next two years.
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