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Aviation History
1973
1973 - 2663.PDF
706 LETTERS FLIGHT International, 25 October 1973 accidents. 1 saw about a dozen such mishaps, all with fatal consequences, and (since I was an ordinary pilot) is it not reasonable to assume that most other pilots saw their approximate dozen also? The pilot who turns back is then flying downwind and thinks that he is flying faster than in reality; this impres sion is accentuated by the fact that he is at very low altitude. There also apparently used to be some magnetic attraction about getting back as near as possible to the hangars or mess from which the pilot may have started. Then the aircraft stalled. It did not happen only to pupils but also to experienced pilots—one example was Maj J. B. McCudden vc. It was drummed into my cranium not to do this sort of thing and, though I have had several forced landings taking off (engines were not too reliable in those days), this good advice is one reason why I am alive today. Going ahead after engine failure does not necessarily mean straight ahead, but almost anything is better than the reciprocal turn in these circumstances. 19 Manor Road, A. H. CURTIS Potters Bar, Herts Pilot Pool SIR,—May I suggest that any anxiety experienced in British Airways as a result of the prospective retirement of senior and experienced captains has merely been engen dered by the long period of relative stagnation as far as promotions from co-pilot to captain are concerned? The myth seems to have been perpetuated that, unless a captain has greying temples, there is somehow some thing amiss in terms of experience. In fact many of the present captains took command in their early- to mid- twenties, which is a virtual impossibility with current promotion patterns. There is a large pool of highly qualified co-pilots who, while relatively inexperienced compared to the older cap tains, are still perfectly competent to operate transport aircraft to the standards required by the Civil Aviation Authority. 2 The Hermitage, Grange Road, N. E. B. PACK Barnes, London SW13 Engine Pods SIR,—In your October 4 issue under the title of Britain's International Aerospace Industry, you inadvertently or otherwise state that "Shorts are Europe's only engine pod specialist." This of course, depending on your meaning of specialist, is absolutely untrue. I would imagine there is nothing being done at Shorts that is not being done similarly, but on a different programme, at Abbey Panels in Coventry. Let's have it right. Shorts are not Europe's only engine pod manufacturer; we have been fabricating pods for donkey's years. Bayton Road, Exhall, ANTHONY LOADES, Coventry • Sales director, Abbey Panels Ltd Weir W-2 to East Fortune SIR,—Mr Paton (Flight, Letters, September 27) and other Scottish readers may be interested to hear that the Weir W-2 was offered to the Royal Scottish Museum when the East Fortune project was first proposed. The offer was naturally accepted and although arrangements for its transfer have not been finalised, the W-2 will be at East Fortune when the site is ready for opening on a restricted basis some time next year. South Kensington, G. W. B. LACEY, London SW7 Keeper, Department of Transport, Science Museum One of the Swedish Meteors mentioned by Mr Leslie Hunt (see letter below) Museum Meteors SIR,—-As a keen preservationist I am delighted that G-ARGX (WM261) has been presented to the Royal Scot tish Museum. What, though, has happened to the civil- registered Meteors in Sweden—SE-CAS (WF833), SE-DCC (G-ANSO) and SE-DCI? SE-DCC should certainly be saved as it was built by Glosters as the private-venture prototype G.44 Reaper, a ground-attack version with strengthened F.4 wing and F.8 rear fuselage. When de-militarised in 1954 the single-seat front fuselage was exchanged for a two-seat T.7 type, tip-tanks with stabilizing fins were fitted and, larkspur-blue, it was used by Hawker Siddeley as a demonstrator until, modified to T.7, it was sold to Sweden in 1959. If not scrapped yet, let us hope it is possible to preserve it for a museum. 90 Woodside, LESLIE HUNT Leigh-on-Sea SS9 4RB Joyriding with Giro SIR,—I read with interest Mr Trevor's letter in Flight for September 13. It would seem that Giro Aviation used the aircraft mentioned for joyriding activities until late 1939, flying off Southport Sands. I believe Autocar G-AMZV was also used. The company survived the following five years of war and 1948 found them using a Dakota to fly milk into Jersey each morning. This service they shared with Air Transport Charter (CI) Ltd. "Carissima," Mount du Coin, ALASTAIR LAYZELL St Brelade, Jersey DIARY Oct 28 Shuttleworth flying day; The Aerodrome, Old Warden, nr Biggleswade, Beds. Oct 29 Delft University of Technology: 7th Albert Plesman Memorial Lecture: invitations from Department of Aero-Space Engi neering, Kluyverweg 1, Delft, The Netherlands. Oct 31 Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies: "Mutual Balanced Force Reductions: The British View," by The Rt Hon Julian Amery; 2.30 p.m., Whitehall, London SW1. Nov 4-7 Flight Safety Foundation's 26th International Safety Seminar: "Economics of Safety and R&D for Long-Range Planning"; Hotel Sheraton, Lisbon, Portugal. Nov 4-8 39th annual meeting of the Air Transport Association of Canada; Chateau Frontenac Hotel, Quebec City, PQ. Nov 8 RAeS Astronautics and Guided Flight Section: all-day symposium, "The Evolution of Anti-aircraft and Anti-tank Guided Weapons in the United Kingdom"; 10 a.m., 4 Hamilton Place, London W1V OBQ. Nov 12 International Air Transport Association: 29th annual general meeting; Auckland, New Zealand. Nov 21 RAeS Management Studies Group: "On Both Sides of the Fence," by Handel Davies; 6 p.m., 4 Hamilton Place, London W1V0BQ. Nov 26 RAeS Graduates' and Students' Section: "Sigma and the Design of High-performance Sailplanes," by F. G. Irving; 7.30 p.m., 4 Hamilton Place, London W1V OBQ.
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