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Aviation History
1973
1973 - 1558.PDF
862 FLIGHT International, 7 June 1973 European helicopter company formed Last Thursday at the Paris Salon, M Henri Ziegler, president of Aero spatiale, and Mr David Collins, chair man of Westland Aircraft, announced the formation of a joint company called Heli-Europe Industries. Mr Collins is chairman and M Ziegler vice-chairman: other directors and the capital are not yet confirmed. The new company will be registered in England and have its headquarters in Paris. Heli-Europe Industries will at first carry out market research to deter mine future helicopter projects to be jointly undertaken. It will progres sively move into design and product support, but will not undertake manu facture. Significantly, Mr Spinelli, EEC Commission member for industry and technology, sent a congratulatory cable to the new company expressing the hope that other companies would join. Aerospatiale and Westland have indeed already held discussions with MBB in Germany, Agusta-Nardi in Italy and Casa in Spain, and these companies may take part in Heli- Europe Industries at a future date. Existing associations with Bell and Sikorsky in the USA are not neces sarily an obstacle, although US companies are not currently viewed as members of Heli-Europe Industries. The helicopter interests of Westland and Aerospatiale already have an annual turnover of more than £150 million. The new company is one of the first collaborative ventures to be initiated without a specific government contract to undertake. The joint com pany is, however, seen as a particu larly important beginning by the European helicopter industry and European governments and Mr Collins said it would increase Westland Air craft's already considerable involve ment with helicopters. CFM56 go-ahead? General Electric was hoping that the CFM56 was on the agenda for the discussions held between Presi dents Nixon and Pompidou in Iceland last week, and that an announcement will be made soon confirming the partnership with Snecma. This was said at the Paris Air Show on May 31 by Mr Gerhard Neumann, chief executive, General Electric Aero Engine Division. "We are looking forward to the launching of this engine," he said. "We remain confident that the market for it will be very good for many years to come." Mr Neumann referred to "mis understandings" in the British and American press about the possibility of a GE-Rolls partnership on a simi lar project. "There is no secret that Rolls-Royce is interested in an Ameri can partner on some programmes," he said. "We have had talks and have found that in most areas we are in aggressive competition. Rolls-Royce asked us if we are married to Snecma on the CFM56 and my answer was yes. The thrust class 18,000-29,0001b was out of the area of co-operation." He said GE had been asked by the French Government whether it would co-operate with Rolls-Royce and the answer had been that GE did not know "as we haven't got a firm agree ment on the CFM56." He confirmed that GE people are not currently working with Snecma. JT10D partners Pratt & Whitney announces that, subject to government approvals, Motoren-und Turbinen-Union, Fiat and Alfa Romeo will be its European partners on the JT10D civil turbofan programme. Rolls-Royce and the JT10D Talks between Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce on the JT10D type of engine have been in hand since before discussions began with one of Pratt & Whitney's above European partners now identified, Mr Harold Gray, president and chief executive of United Aircraft, told Flight at the Paris Salon. The sort of relationship that the companies had discussed would, he thought, mean that part ners would have design and produc tion control of the parts assigned to them, including production and spare The experimental JetRanger and its new Avco Lycoming LTS 101 engine which flew for the first time on May 22 at Bell Helicopter's test centre at Arlington, Texas parts for all world markets. There would be overall P&W programme management. Asked by Flight whether he wanted Rolls-Royce participation in the JT10D programme, Mr Gray replied: "I think what I have said could be construed as that, yes. One of the problems has been that our talks with Rolls-Royce have been with a third generation of management." Was the world big enough for three engines in the 10/15-ton class? "In my personal opinion," replied Mr Gray, "the answer to that is no." He did not think there was any classified technology in the JT10D that would run foul of security, as had appeared to be the case with GE's contribution to the CFM56. Although Mr Gray declined to comment, it is understood that P&W is assuming that the GE-Snecma programme is firm. There appears to be no doubt that the JT10D is a solid programme and that the partnership agreement with MTU and Fiat is expected to involve substantial financial con tributions by the German and Italian Governments. FAA Administrator supports Concorde "Concorde is a beautiful aeroplane. The whole world compliments Aero spatiale and BAC. It is, in my view, the way to the future." Mr Butter- field, the new FAA Administrator, was answering questions on Concorde at the Paris Air Show last week. Mr Butterfield continued: "There is no desire on the part of the US Government to hamper commercial exchange. We are -opposed to dis criminatory legislation. There are no noise rules applicable to SSTs and there are no Federal regulations that prohibit Concorde from flying into the USA." Certification, he said, was 85 per cent complete, and "we expect to certificate Concorde at the same time as the British and French authorities." Type certification, he concluded, had to do only with safety. First flight for LTS 101 Avco Lycoming's 600 s.h.p. LTS 101 turboshaft engine made its first flight on May 22, installed in an experi mental Bell JetRanger helicopter. The LTS 101 was originally designed for the US Army's Aerial Scout heli copter, cancelled last year during financial cutbacks. Government sup port terminated, but Avco decided to continue development to fill a gap in the 400 s.h.p.-900 s.h.p. range, in which Turbomeca's Arriel and a new
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