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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 2416.PDF
FLIGHT, 311 3 September 1954 BEST-SELLER: As re ported below, Viscount orders have now passed the 150 mark. The 17 customer-airlines include British West Indian Airways, whose new livery is displayed here on the prototype Viscount 700, G-AMAV. CIVIL AVIATION MORE VISCOUNTS FOR CANADA A LTHOUGH delivery of Viscounts to Trans-Canada Airlines -^*- is not due to begin until the end of the month, the company has already shown its confidence in the British turboprop air liner by increasing the number ordered from 15 to 18. In addi tion, the Canadian airline has expressed its intention of ordering four more. The total of Viscounts firmly ordered is thus in creased to 149 (or 153 including the four aircraft covered by T.C.A.'s letter of intent). With in^tfal spares provision the seven extra T.C.A. Viscounts are yaKled at £2m ($5im). The first two T.C.A. Viscount 724s a#e approaching completion in the Vickers-Armstrongs erectudf shop at Weybridge; remaining air craft will be built at Hu*rL Fitted out as 48-seaters, the Canadian Viscounts will operant on inter-city routes within Canada and between Canada ajra the United States, including such important services as thej&ontreal - Toronto -New York triangle and the Toronto - Cbifcago route. The total value of Viscounts firmly ordered has now reached £44m, consisting of £12m in home orders and £32m in exports. Dollar orders—for Capital Airlines' 40 Viscounts and T.C.A.'s 22—are valued at $62m (£21.8m). QANTAS APPOINTMENT f\ N completion of a tour of duty lasting a little over two years, ^-' Capt. L. R. Ambrose is returning to Sydney. His place as London manager for Qantas Empire Airways will be taken by Capt. Russell B. Tapp, a Bristolian by bath who gained his R.F.C. wings in 1917 and joined Queensland and Northern Territorial Aerial Service (the original Qantas) in 1928. After commanding D.H. 86 services on Ae Brisbane - Singapore section of the Empire route, Capt. Tapp transferred to flying-boats, on which he made some notable flights during the war. Early in 1941 he made a 3,200-mile non-stop journey by Catalina from Canton Island to Sydney; his navigator on that occasion was Capt. P. G. (now Sir Gordon) Taylor. In 1943 Capt. Tapp com manded the first Catalina flight between Ceylon and Perth, thus inaugurating Qantas operations over the Indian Ocean. The achievement on the Indian Ocean route were recognized by the award of the Johnstone Memorial Air Navigation Trophy for 1948, which Capt. Tapp received jointly with his predecessor in London, Capt. Ambrose. SUPER-CONSTELLATION TIP TANKS 'T'HE Lockheed Super Constellation (L.1049G version) is likely •*- to be the first long-range airliner to carry wing-tip fuel tanks. Type 700D Viscounts will have leading-edge "slipper" tanks; the DC-7B has nacelle-mounted "saddle*^ tanks; and the prototype Comet 3 is flying with "pinion" tarfks. The Super Connie's wing-tip tanks, increasing fuel capacity from 6,550 to 7,550 (U.S.) gallons, will add 850 miles to*fhe still-air range (with reserves) of 3,770 miles. Other features of the L.1049G include provision for fitting cloud-warning radar^as ordered by T.W.A.); the installation of 3,250 h.p. Wright^A3 Turbo-Compound engines, each develop ing 100 h.p. mafe climb power than the DAls now fitted; and improved spdnd-proofing. Air France, K.L.M. and Lufthansa are among operators with L.1049Gs on order, and a similar air craft is being prepared as a private transport for President Eisenhower. BREVITIES "l/TSCOUNTS will operate nearly all the European services of ™ Air France during the coming winter. The 12 new turboprop airliners will replace DC-4s on most routes, with the exception of Paris-Prague and the German internal services; one DC-4 service between London and Paris will be continued. Viscounts will fly four return services daily from London to Paris and two weekly from Manchester to Paris. * * * The strike of American Airlines' pilots, which began on July 30th, was settled on August 22nd. Uifder the terms of the settle ment, the company will continiie!'to operate its DC-7 non-stop transcontinental services^ •rtft its contract with the Air Line Pilots' Association wjlrte amended to provide that crews "will not be assigned to/fly more than eight scheduled hours on flights with one or more intermediate stops." * * * Considerable increases in traffic during the first half of 1954 are reported by Swissair. The number of passengers carried on all routes increased by 35 per cent to a total of 237,513, and both freight and mail traffic went up by 23 per cent. The average load factor, however, dropped from 66.5 to 57.9 per cent, against an increase of 61 per cent in capacity offered. * * * The new Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, Mr. J. A. Boyd-Carpenter, has appointed Mr. 0„ 1!\ Gingell and Mr. S. M. A. Bannister as his joint principal private secretaries. • * * The first of three new Convair 340s ordered by Ansett Airways completed its delivery flight from San* Diego to Melbourne on August 16th. >ohe aircraft, which is reported to be alrfgh-density version accom modating 56 people, will enter service late this month. / •k * * J Iberia joined thp Tanks of transatlantic air lines on August 26th, when the company operated itsJrst Super Constellation service from Madrid to New York. The three new Iberia guper Connies will operate three return services weekly on this route. BACX AT WORK: Airworthiness flight-trials with the Britannia 100 prototype have lately been resumed. In this fine study, the aircraft is seen over the main Gloucester road on final approach to the runway of tbe\Bristol Company's-airfield at Filton.
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