FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1969
1969 - 0071.PDF
"Flight" photograph "The B-52 turboprop design proceeded in a climate of direct competition with the B-36": Boeing's B-52 (above), which competed as an intercontinental bomber against the Convair B-S2 (below) COMPETITION- "the lifeblood of aviation": an American view %W;m^MM WESTERN EUROPE'S NON-COMPETITIVENESS in aviation pro jects was criticised fey Mr George S. Schairer, vice-president (research and development) of the Boeing Company, in his recent Wilbur and Orville Wright Memorial Lecture at the Royal Aeronautical Society. Speaking on The Role of Competition in Aeronautics, he commented: "The economists and political leaders of Western Europe have been very busy during the past 20 years deciding that each of the countries of Western Europe cannot afford com petition even by prototypes. They have been promoting mergers in their industry and concurrently have been restricting their defence departments and government-owned airlines to buy from chosen sources. There has been a strong tendency toward directed single-source procurement and many forms of restraint of trade. "Regardless of the reasons for these actions, they have resulted, it seems to me, in a substantial reduction in the com petitive climate for aeronautical products in Western Europe. There seems to be a feeling that competition is expensive and cannot be afforded. It seems to me that only through competi tion does one end up with products which are competitive in international trade. The moves which restrict competition within a country seem likely to bring disaster to its inter national commerce." Mr Schairer went on to point out that "this desire to restrict competition" was not limited to Western Europe; it could also be found in Washington, DC. As he put it: "Many economists and politicians will stand up and make strong speeches about how America is great because of its freedom of enterprise and competition. Many of these same economists, bureaucrats and politicians will return to their daily work and engage in actions which are highly in restraint of competition, and usually on the assumption that a competi tion costs money—-and lots of money—and that we can no longer afford competition. It seems to me that in most circum stances they could not be further from the real truth." Mr Schairer's t>asic theme was that competition is good for aviation, and he illustrated this by famous examples, many of them involving his own company. Initially he stated his objective in presenting the paper as being to stimulate in the members of his RAeS audience "a strong personal belief that competition has been a major contributor to making aero nautics what it is today and a most necessary ingredient in the future of aeronautics." In a brief historical review, he gave some early instances of competition, from the mid-1900s onwards. Thus though the Wright brothers' initial triumph was motivated by the challenge of nature, within a very few years after their first flight, "they were to feel the hot breath of competition. This came in many ways. Other early fliers and aeroplane designers, Glenn Curtiss in particular, built competing aeroplanes and competed directly with the Wright brothers at air shows. They competed in tech nical development. They competed for contracts for the design and construction of aircraft. There were patent suits over the invention of ailerons and lateral control systems. There was competition for the credit for making the first manned, powered flight." .,,„,, ,_ The Schneider Trophy races from 1913 until 1931, when Britain won the trophy outright, "became an international testing and proving ground. . . . Much has been said before audiences of the Royal Aeronautical Society," Mr Schairer commented, "concerning the progress made in fuels, super chargers, engines, cooling and aeroplane design as stimulated by these races. I am sure that much that was learned from the Supermarine S.6B and its predecessors was applied directly to the Spitfire, and also to the Hurricane," Similarly the Daniel Guggenheim International Safe Air plane competition, instituted in 1927 and concluded in 1930, stimulated designers. "The objective of the contest was the development of aircraft with a minimum flight speed of less than 35 m.p.h. (16m/sec) which could operate out of 300ft (91m) fields, and which would have excellent control and manoeuvre characteristics. The winning aeroplane was the Curtiss Tanager, the runner-up was the Handley Page Gugnuck. The principal features of these two aeroplanes which differen tiated them from other aircraft of the time were retractable leading-edge slots, flaps and wheel brakes. Although neither aeroplane became a popular production type in the years following the competition, many features of these aeroplanes [are now] standard on the latest large commercial transports. It was when Mr Schairer came to refer to his own company and the competitions in which it had been involved, particu-
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
