FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1970
1970 - 0024.PDF
10a Letters The Government and Beagle SIR,—I find the argument of your editorial "Keeping Beagle Flying" (December 11) alarming, to say the least. Perhaps your research department could inform me whether de Havilland would have survived before the war if the equivalent of £25,000 had been spent on each of the first 100 Moths produced? Also you appear to be bemused by the highly question able economic doctrine, fashionable amongst meddling socialists, that an industry can survive without a home market. There are plenty of practical ways in which the Government and their agencies could create the necessary conditions for a viable home market for a small fraction of the cash you are suggesting that they should spend on Beagle. Then Beagle (and a few other light-aircraft companies) would prosper. Please ask the staff of your excellent sister journal Yachting World for the reasons behind the success of the British small-boat industry since the war, success which has been achieved, I might add, both at home and abroad without the help of Uncle Taxpayer. London SW10 D. M. J. TONES SIR,—Although only a visitor to Great Britain I would like to echo the view of F. T. Wilson (Letters, Decem ber 11) regarding the apparent apathy of the Government toward Beagle. To allow Beagle to become another Handley Page is a major let-down to the British aircraft industry, and indeed to the British public. If one stops to look back, it will be seen that through the entire history of aviation Britain has always been at the top. One only has to think of wartime fighters, of the Comet, the VC10, the Hawker Harrier, of Rolls-Royce, of Concorde and many others to see that even now, to the man in the street, this country is a leader in the field. Must the Government, through such a short-sighted policy, be the means of handing its future, piece by piece, to someone else? The real beginning of Beagle can be seen—when, as a company, it will be self-supporting and profitable—in only five years at a cost of only £6 million. Surely the points "for" outweigh those "against" (which is a much better proposition than is generally quoted and accepted by the Government); and, if the Government won't support her own future, surely there is finance in private enterprise to keep Beagle British? One never knows, at this rate we may hear the name Pratt & Whitney (UK) Ltd. London SWI ALAN R. PARKER Flap Settings SIR,—May I have a say in the recent correspondence on flap operation of light aircraft? The following are recom mended methods of operating the Cessna 150:— Soft-field take off: 20° flap; climb initially at best angle and then at best rate; retract flaps at 60 m.p.h. Soft-field landing: use full flap and bring flaps in quickly to keep nose up. Short-field take off: streamline elevator and use no flap. Short-field landing: use full flap and leave down (aerodynamic drag is high and brakes can be used to maximum also). These methods work for good theoretical and practical reasons, as demonstrated by the FAA—not just by "two works pilots," nor even by taking a vote among the instructors at Oklahoma City. It is all very well saying pilots should get used to operating large aircraft, but surely priority should be given to learning to fly the training aeroplane first in case it has to be used seriously (!) one day—we don't FLIGHT International, I January 1970 all go straight onto Boeings but, even if we do, should we not understand the necessity of operating according to the Flight Manual for take-off and landing procedures? High Wycombe, Bucks J. MINTON John Yoxall SIR,—As a colleague of John Yoxall on the staff of Flight for over 30 years I was grieved to learn of his sudden death. I was in a particularly favoured position from which to appreciate his skill as an aerial photographer. Whereas the reader ordinarily sees only the published pictures I was able to see the unpublished ones as well, and the difference between "use" and "reject" was so marginal that selection was always a tricky task for those of us concerned. None of his old friends will forget his immense—and amused—zest for his job, whether he was performing it in an open cockpit or an office chair. Esher, Surrey ROY CASEY Certificate before Breakfast SIR,—Perhaps I might be allowed to add some further and, I hope, final details concerning the aeroplane on which Noel Pemberton Billing took the test for his pilot's certificate (Letters, October 30). The machine he used was indeed a Henry Farman biplane. Billing had tried without success to persuade one of the schools at Brooklands to take him on, but as none would risk a valuable aeroplane for such a gamble, he was forced to purchase an old Farman from the Maurice Ducrocq Flying School. After a brief period of instruction from Barnwell, the Vickers School instruc tor, P.B. took and passed his test in a manner which makes hair-raising reading even today. In one of his books Billing recalls the arrival, shortly after the flight, of a cinema operator and reporters; and how, as a concession to the former and because of "a streak of sensationalism" in himself, he went through the whole performance tor a second time! Ilford, Essex PHILIP JARRETT Veteran VC10? SIR—BOAC Super VC10 G-AFGK Flight, December 4, page 863) must surely be the oldest surviving aircraft of this type—can I see it sometime, please? Bishop's Stortford, Herts JOHN STEDMAN PS—Should it not read G-ASGK? [Indeed it should—Ed] IN BRIEF The Schneider Trophy races are to be the subject of a book by David C. Mondey (175 Raeburn Avenue, Surbiton, Surrey) and he asks anyone with information or photographs to contact him. DIARY Jan I RAeS Young People's Lecture: "The Ubiquitous Vortex or Up the Spout and Down the Drain," by E. C. Masketl; 3 p.m., 4 Hamilton Place, London Wl. Jan 6 RAeS Boscombe Down Branch: "Current Developments in Blind Landing," by B. D. Armstrong and N. Hughes; 5.30 p.m., Lecture Hall, Officers' Mess. Jan 6 RAeS Dublin Branch: "VTOL," by D. G. Brown; 6 p.m., Lecture Theatre, College of Technology, Bolton Street, Dublin 2. Jan 6 RAeS Management and Studies Group: Annual general meeting and film show; 6.30 p.m., 4 Hamilton Place, London Wl. Jan 6 Institute of Transport (West Middlesex Group): "Industrial Relations in Air Transport," (speaker to be announced); 6.30 p.m Centre Airport Hotel. Jan 7 RAeS Specialist Lecture: "The Sub-critical Response and Flutter of a Slender Wing Model Aircraft," by D. Payen; 6 p.m., 4 Hamil ton Place, London Wl. Jan 7 RAeS Christchurch Branch: "Background to Concorde," by J. D. Oughton; 8 p.m., Anglo-Swiss Hocel, Bournemouth. Jan 7 RAeS Reading Branch: "A Pioneer Flight with the Monospar," by T. Wood; 7.30 p.m., Reading University, Faculty of Letters. Jan 7 RAeS Swindon Branch: "The Influence of Aerospace on Future Transport Systems," by Prof K. L. C. Legg;7.30 p.m., The College. Swindon. (Joint lecture with Swindon Engineering Society.)
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
