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Aviation History
1968
1968 - 0866.PDF
828 LETTERS ... On our part we have sold so far 68 Islanders—up to the end of 1968 and some for 1969 production. We are now working on the sale of the balance of the 1969 production. We believe very strongly that the Islander represents the best possible combination of pay load/ performance/ price for the short-haul operator. Naturally, the manu- facturers will want to improve it. We are convinced that it is one of the most successful designs to get into pro- duction in recent years and we hope therefore that it will be available for many years to come in its present basic configuration. New York A. MULLER, Manager, Jonas Aircraft & Arms Co, Inc. Two Helicopter Slip-ups SIR,—Errors are so rare in your magazine that I fear many readers will have accepted two incorrect state- ments as accurate. The first is on page 767, in the Biggin Hill Air Fair report. You refer to a Sea Scout (helicopter). In fact, I presume you mean the Westland Wasp, from which the AAC's Scout was derived. If anything, the latter should be called the "Land Wasp," but certainly not the other way round. The second is on page 769, under the heading "Chopper Squadron's 21st." The Squadron involved must be 705, through which all RN helicopter pilots, myself included, pass during their training. They operate Hiller 12Es and Whirlwind Mk 7s (plus a few Mk 3 s—21-litre seven-cylinder Alvis radials with fewer bangs per mile than a vintage Bentley!) No 707 Squadron (also a training squadron at Culdrose) operates Wessex Mk 5 (twin Gnomes) for the training of Commando pilots. They celebrated their FLIGHT International, 30 May 1968 Birmingham TMA). These figures show that out of 51,704 movements (incidentally, it is the third busiest airport in the UK), only 14,207 were of air transport. In other words, 37,497 movements resulted from private, executive, or club and training activities. I realise these figures are by no means outstanding and would be happy to see them doubled; but surely they do not reflect a lack of co-operation from the authorities. From my own observations I would suggest that the relationship between (a) the Government departments responsible for aviation and (b) the private sector, represented officially by the iBLAC and BAUA, has never been better. Should Mr Rowe feel a need for crowded skies and aircraft noise overhead, there are plenty of houses avail- able on short final around Birmingham Airport. Coleshill, Warwicks p. w. SNAPE A Valiant's Working Retirement SIR,—I have been a regular reader of Flight for a number of years and it is not often I notice any fault in your reported facts. However, I cannot let one small mistake (concerning a subject of which I have a close personal knowledge) go uncorrected. On page 769 of your May 16 issue the caption under the picture of Valiant XD816 reads ". . . operated on Mintech trials from Boscombe Down." This fine old aeroplane has in faot just completed trials in which it was operated from Wisley Airfield by BAC, under a Mintech contract, being flown by John Cochrane and Peter Baker, our future Concorde test pilots. The nearest she has been to Boscombe Down in the last couple of years is 2,000ft (up!). She is still at Wisley, "resting" and awaiting a decision on her place of permanent retirement. Aldershot, Hants R. A. HARTLEY Senior Flight Test Observer, Valiant XD816) SIR,—I was very interested to see your photograph of Valiant XD816. However, I work in Farnborough Control Tower and have frequently watched this aircraft fly over, each time either heading for or leaving from BAC's Wisley Airfield, not Boscombe Down. According to one of our controllers, Wisley is its base, but who knows what trials it performs? Farnborough, Hants R. W. DEACON IN BRIEF Mr George J. Burton, of 74 Norbury Hill, London SW16, is seeking an accurate plan of Redhill Aerodrome as it was in its early days, to assist him in building "a scale model of a typical English airfield of the thirties." second birthday in December 1966 with a fly-past in the foim of a figure 2. The photograph enclosed was taken after the formation had passed the overhead position and the strain is beginning to tell. There had been no rehearsal. Hale, Cheshire K. J. PHILLIPS (ex 705 and 707 Sqns) Midlands Sky not so Empty ? SIR,—Having jusit read J. H. Rowe's letter "Beagled and Bewildered" (April 18), I am bemused and bewildered by his argument. I cannot believe that the skies over Stratford-on-Avon are as quiet as he makes out, and the veiled reference to controlled airspace and other Government "restrictions" on private flying are just not borne out by fact. No doubt other readers will also have studied the 1967 airport movement statistics recently published by the Board of Trade and have taken note of the figures for Birmingham (significant, for Stratford-on-Avon is on the southern boundary of the DIARY June 1-3 Roth mans International Air Race and Rally, Ballyfree Airfield, Gleneaiy, Co Wicklow, Ireland. June 1-9 Fifth French Light Aviation Show, Cannes. June MO National Sport Class Gliding Championships, Dunstable. June I USAF Armed Forces Day, Wethersfield, Essex. June 2-3 British National Model Flying Championships, Royal Naval Air Station, Yeovilton, Somerset. June 3 RAFA Eastern Area: 14th Annual air display, Rolls-Royce Airfield, Hucknall. June 3 Shropshire Aero Club: Flying display, Sleap, Shrewsbury. June 4 Aviation Forum: "Tariff Policy," by a speaker from BOAC; Kronfeld Club, 74 Eccleston Square, London SWI, 7 p.m. June 4-13 Turin Air Show. June 5 Kronfeld Club: "Why Fly?" by Ian Scott-Hill; 74 Eccleston Square, London SWI, 8 p.m. June 6-7 AGARD Avionics Panel: "Air- and Space-borne Computers"; Farnborough. June 7-9 International competition, Kiel-Holtenau, West Germany. June 8-9 Eighth Air tour of Piedmont Castles, Italy. June 8 International balloon race, Hengelo, Netherlands. June 8 USAF Armed Forces Day, Mildenhall, Suffolk. June 8-9 International Anjou Wine Rally, Angers, France. June 9-23 World Gliding Championships, Leszno, Poland. SBAC Farnborough Show: September 16-22.
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