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Aviation History
1969
1969 - 0016.PDF
4 WORLD NEWS . . did not give much profit on the cheaper models like the Pup-100/150. "Break-even tends to be a receding target," he said. "At the moment I would say that it is several hundred Pups beyond our present order list." Although the workings of the entire Beagle organisation are under close scrutiny by Mr Myer and his new team, the managing director was certain that both of the company's main production centres would continue to be necessary and that there was very little chance that either one of them would be closed, although there might well be further re distribution of work between them. Last year's marketing policy of establishing regional distributors and agents would be continued and expanded, Mr Myer said. Lord Portal's Farewell to BAC If discussions on the MRCA (multi- role combat aircraft) and Three-Eleven are successfully concluded, British Air craft Corporation "will be able to face the next decade competitively armed at all points of its technology." This was stated by Lord Portal, the corporation's chairman, in his final Christmas message to all corporation employees. On When the Lords debated the indepen dents (on December 17, but it has not been possible to refer to it earlier in this column), the Earl of Kinnoull wanted to know if the Government were "aware of the concern now felt at both the short- and long-term future of the independent airlines, and what action they intended to take, beyond just waiting for the Edwards Committee to report." He hoped that the Government would welcome this chance "to dispel some of the anxieties and uncertainties that exist and to give a firm assurance" that the independents would "have an important role to play in the airline industry in the future." The Earl was the first of six speakers in this one-hour mini-debate; it was sumimed-up by Lord Beswick, who in the course of his speech said that the report would be received by the end of March and that the Government would state their attitude towards it shortly after words (see Air Transport, page 6). The Earl of Kinnoull, referring to the January 1 Lord Portal retired; he is being succeeded by Sir Reginald Verdon Smith. The retiring chairman congratu lated Sir Reginald on his appointment. "He is a man of great reputation who has had a long and intimate associa tion with our industry," he said. Lord Portal went on to say: "In the eight years of my chairmanship I have seen BAC develop from a number of previously autonomous units into a uni fied corporation which can truly claim to be the most powerful force in European aerospace. I have also watched the start of European collaboration which, if it can survive its infancy and solve the problems inherent in a multi-racial approach, cam bring great prosperity to all concerned." "Flight" Editorial Appointments Three mew Flight Assistant Editors are appointed with effect from January 1. Neil Harrison, CEng, AFRACS, will be responsible for test flying, light aviation and commercial aircraft. He has been with Flight since 1962, before which he was with Hawker Siddeley Aviation and Short Brothers. He was trained at the de Havilland Aeronautical Technical School, and is a member of the Tiger Club. Humphrey Wynn, BA, will assist the Editor with the organisation of the journal and be responsible for news and "cloud of uncertainty" over the heads of the independent airlines, had ascribed this uncertainty to difficult trading con ditions, restriction on travelling, freezing effect of the setting-up of the Edwards Committee, plus a "growing feeling of hopelessness at the present unbalanced system of licensing." One of the primary questions which would face the committee as they pre pared their report was, he thought, the role of the independents and the cor porations, and the relationship between them. He considered the value of the in dependents to be fourfold: they offered the stimulant of competition' to the cor porations, and there was clear evidence that this had proved beneficial; they could play an important part in the fierce struggle which the British airline industry must face in the future if it were to retain its rightful share of the world market over international routes. Thirdly, the independent played an im portant and valuable role as foreign currency earners (for instance, BUA earnings over £5 million on their ex- BOAC South American route); and fourthly, they offered the British aircraft industry an immense source of orders. The BAC One-Eleven, for example, was "virtually fathered, nurtured and bap tised by BUA." To Lord Granville of Eye the problem seemed quite simple: "It is impossible to try to run an airline in competition," he averred, "unless you have adequate capital and reserves. Airlines have to FLIGHT International. 2 January 1969 features, with special concern for de fence and Parliamentary affairs. He originally joined Flight in 1956, and was with the SBAC and the Air League in PR appointments from 1963 until 1967, when he rejoined the staff of this journal. He served in the RAF from ,1940 to 1946 as a pilot and is still a member of the RAFVR, with the rank of squadron leader. He holds a Private Pilot's Licence. Before he joined Flight Humphrey Wynn was a feature writer and reporter with Kemsley Newspapers in Manchester and London. Michael Wilson, BSC, CEng, AFRACS, as Asistant Technical Editor, will be con cerned with technology, spaceflight, and military research and development. A graduate of London University, before joining Flight in 1965 he was a member of the TSR.2 systems design staff with British Aircraft Corporation. He is a sail plane pilot. Phantoms for Israel Agreement has been reached between the United States and Israeli Govern ments, it was announced at the end of last week, before the Israeli attack on Beirut International Airport, on the sale of 50 McDonnell Phantom F-4s to Israel (Flight, December 5 and Novem ber 28, 1968). Deliveries are to begin before the end of this year and to continue throughout 1970. deal with setbacks and the problems of devaluation, and if they do not have the reserves, as have the large corpora tions such as BEA and BOAC and all the great international airlines, then they simply cannot weather the storm." Lord Beswick in his summing-up re plied to Earl KinnoulPs question as to whether the Government knew of "other likely casualties." He thought that "the worst service that could be rendered to this hard-working and imaginative sector of the air-transport industry would be to cast doubt upon its viability." Rebutting demands for expediting the Edwards Report, he quoted with ap proval a remark in a recent Caledonian Airways' news-sheet, that "nothing could be more harmful for the airline industry as a whole than for Proffessor Sir Ronald Edwards and his colleagues to be stampeded into producing a hasty, stop-gap report." Speaking in general terms about its possible recommenda tions, Lord Beswick said: No one expects the Edwards com mittee to dogmatise about every route or every company, but I shall be surprised if they do not present a pretty fair picture of the outlines of the industry as a whole. And while not giving all the answers, I shall again be surprised if the recommendations have nothing to say about procedures or machinery for providing answers. In other words, what is needed here is not a blueprint for a static industry, but a recipe for a dynamic and growing industry."
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