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Aviation History
1969
1969 - 1016.PDF
DIAMOND JUBILEE SALON Concorde 001, piloted by Andre Turcot, made its first landing away from Toulouse when it came into Le Bourget at lOIShr on May 29 after three varied-configuration runs over the airfield the Tu-154 trijet, Be-30 turboprop STOL type and an executive version of the Yak-40. At a pre-show conference (for the French press) two of the Russian cosmonauts, Vladimir Shalakov and Alexei Yeliseyev, were present. The contrast between the US, Russian and French space pavilions is dramatic. The scorched Apollo 8 capsule was unveiled on May 29 by the US Ambassador, Mr Sargent Shriver, in the presence of Apollo 9 astronauts James McDivitt* David Scott and Russell Schweickart. Show visitors viewing it pass through into a panorama of a Moon landing, which is now close enough to make the exhibit credible, with a background of Apollo flight recordings; thence there is one-way traffic into the US industry exhibition, housing 61 companies out of the 185 showing at Paris. The Russian space pavilion, as mentioned, is silent and1 large-scale, with its Venus probe, Proton, Molniya, Cosmos and other scientific satellites; there is no background music and no space recordings. The French have made the best of both worlds, so to speak. Their space pavilion is beautifully laid out: it describes the French scientific space programmes visually and audibly, in pictures, maps, diagrams and recordings, and outside the pavilion, at the entrance to the show, are three French satellite launchers. With Concorde, space and Europe's first variable-geometry aircraft, the Mirage G (which changed configuration' with brilliant aplomb in a brief display on arrival), at the Salon, France is bursting with aeronautical pride in this anniversary year. Britain makes a solid, if unspectacular, contribution to the show: the chief message which comes across in the combined display by the Society of British Aerospace Companies and the Ministry of Technology housed in Hall C3 is the strength and comprehensiveness of her aviation industry in developing and producing aircraft, engines, missiles, systems and equip ment. In the light-aircraft display, which forms such a large part of the Salon (and which includes Miro Slovak's transatlantic Foamier iRF4D), Britain is showing two new types, the Bulldog military trainer and BN-3 Nymph four seater. Britain's Rolls-Royce RB.211 can be visually compared with Pratt & Whitney's JT9D and General Electric's CF6; the two-seat Hawker Siddeley Harrier is being publicly exhibited for the first time; and a new British navigation, weapon delivery and flight control system for combat aircraft, Elliott's SWORD (strike and weapon ordnance delivery), is on view. The Canadians are making a special effort at this Salon to show their aircraft industry products and to meet present or potential customers. The Canadian pavilion houses exhibits by 30 different companies of widely varying character, many of them with European affiliations, and the daily flying demon strations by DHC Buffalo and Twin Otter have been vividly keeping in public view these types' STOL characteristics. West Germany is another country with a strong national representation, of about 30 different companies, whose products cover all fields of aviation—aircraft, engines, equip ment and space. A striking example of the last-named sphere is the ELDO Europa I launcher third stage, the German con tribution to the project, made by ASAT (Arbeitgemednschaft Satellitentragersystem). Another unique German contribution to the show is the Dornier Do31 E3 experimental VTOL trans port, which gave its first flying demonstration last Friday. Germany is also involved in one of the two entirely new international company names, Panavia and Sepecat, which make their first physical appearance (apart from mentions in the Press) at this year's Salon. Press conferences held by the two companies illustrated the differences in type, quantity and complexity of aircraft being (or to be) built by each: the Anglo-French Sepecat with its Jaguar strike/trainer, already flying, for the RAF and l'Armee de l'Air; the four-country Panavia with its multi-role combat aircraft, still in the design study stage, to be built in three different configurations for use by the air forces of four countries (Britain, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, though the last-named is still undecided whether to participate). Sepecat's briefing for the Press reflected the quiet confidence of a company which has reached the hardware stage of its project and has an assured market for it; Panavia's seemed confident, too, at least that the very great initial problems of such a vast international undertaking had been surmounted—while reflecting the fact that MRCA forms a crucial test-case for European military aviation tech nology, in which each member country of the consortium has to contribute design and productive skills. Whether France might now, in her "apres de Gaulle" period, decide to join the MRCA project has been a matter for speculation at the salon. When M Marcel Chassagny, president of USIAS, was asked at his press conference last Friday whether France might participate he confessed himself unable to give an answer. A step forward in European Airbus development was taken at the Salon last Thursday when the French and German Governments announced a joint investment programme in the A-300B, in which Britain is still commercially involved, through Hawker Siddeley, whose name appears on the fuselage mock-up being exhibited. Hopes that Britain would still invest nationally in the project were expressed at the Salon last Sunday. In a statement issued after a meeting with French aircraft industry trade union representatives, the British Action Committee for European Aerospace said that it believed the UK Government would be throwing away an unrepeatable opportunity of redressing the balance of payments if it did not invest in the project. "It would be disastrous to have two rival airbuses in Europe, killing each other's prospects." Space, international programmes, new technologies, especi ally in powerplants: these are the dominating themes of the 1969 Paris Salon, as detailed in the following descriptions.
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