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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 2150.PDF
FLIGHT International, 9 November 1967 745 Steward, where did you put that canape dish? That trunk-route airline workhorse, the Boeing 707, sprouts a major new appendage in this artist's impression of the possible AWACS derivative for the USAF. The AWACS (airborne warning and control system) project is the latest arena of competition between the 707 and the Douglas DC-8, for variants of both have been submitted in the contest for contract definition study contracts available from the Export Credits GuaranteeDepartment, and the industry regards this service as extremely valuable. But it cannotalways be sufficiently comprehensive, and often prospective sales of aircraft abroadcan depend on the willingness of a financing organisation to lend a customer sufficientmoney to support the transaction, based on the security of the aircraft in question. "The more effective this security can bemade internationally, the greater the pros- pect of finance for such purchases beingavailable at home or abroad, and therefore the greater the prospects of foreign sales.Ratification will, in the industry's view, substantially improve the value of thesecurity." Shackleton Lost Two of the crew of ten, and one passenger, were rescued by the RN frigate HMS Ajax last Sunday, November 5, when a FEAF Shackleton Mk 2 came down in the Indian Ocean about 500 miles west of Singapore. The aircraft, of 205 Sqn, RAF Changi, was on a routine flight from Gan to Changi. Two of the crew were known to be dead and six were still missing as this issue closed for press. No Reports for PM There was no confirmation in White- hall last week for a recent story, in Interavia Air Letter, that special- committee reports had been submitted by Mintech, MoD and BoT to the Prime Minister outlining Britain's future air- craft, engine and aircraft equipment requirements up to 1985. It would appear that occasional reports on such subjects are submitted to the Cabinet from time to time, but that no special committee exists and no reports have been prepared specifically for Mr Wilson. NISC on Space Research ' On November 6 NISC (the National Industrial Space Committee) published its comments on the 13th Report of the Parliamentary Estimates Committee on Space Research and Development. The committee agrees with the recommenda- tion of the Report for a forward-looking space programme with its own budget and for the appointment of a Minister of State with responsibility solely for space. It welcomes a recommendation that a project study be undertaken to see whether a British military communica- tions satellite could replace the existing Skynet satellites in 1971, and it strongly supports the suggestion that expenditure on Black Arrow be increased from £3 million to £6 million per year. As was expected, NISC disagrees with the recommendation to oppose an in- crease in the rate of ELDO-PAS launch- ings; it feels that the Government has not fully appreciated the need for a long- term policy to inter-relate the ELDO, ESRO and CETS programmes. The other topic on which NISC pre- dictably differs from the report is the recommendation that Britain should not take part in the CETS programme for a television distribution satellite. Having discussed the many advantages to be gained by joining in such a programme, it suggests that the UK initiates an Intelsat-type satellite project similar to the Franco-German Symphonie and invites other countries to collaborate. On the same day, Eurospace (the industrial organisation of eight European countries) published a report, Recom- mendations concerning the Setting-up of a European Regional Telecommunica- tions Satellite System. We hope to discuss the NISC comments in more detail and the Eurospace report in an early issue. More World News overleaf SENSOR The long-delayed decision on BEA's re-equipment is due to be taken by the Cabinet within the next week. The choice is between the Trident 3B with an annual operating subsidy of £3 million and BEA's capital-reconstruc- tion, and the BAC Two-Eleven with no operating subsidy but BEA's capital-reconstruction. The latter would compensate BEA for the three- year gap between the Boeing 727-200 and the Two-Eleven. Although BEA's chairman, Sir Anthony Milward, was briefed last month on the L.I0II by Lockheed and on the DC-10 by McDonnell Douglas, he has not yet been briefed on the European airbus, the A-300, by Sud. Hawker Siddeley have kept the tech- nical levels in BEA informed. Westland and Agusta are in com- petition for the European market with licence-built versions of the Sikorsky SH-3D Sea King, with the Italians marketing a more "American" version than the Anglicised Westland product. The RNethN is considering Sea King offers from both countries. Other potential users in Europe are Germany and Sweden, with the total continental Europe market estimated at 120-plus. Development trials of the BHC SR.N4 cross-Channel hovercraft are to be based on the hoverport now being built at Boulogne. BHC's Cowes slip is too small; though a space is being cleared at the nearby Falcon yard this is further up-river and involves opera- tions through the town. The Pegwell Bay hoverport proposal is delayed in Whitehall; Dover, BHC feels, is un- suitable. For the first few weeks of its trials, N4 will rest at a buoy in the Solent. To counter competition from in- dependent-airline inclusive-tour charter flights, BEA are planning to offer from April 1969 charter accommodation on scheduled services up to the capacity of the aircraft. This is a further develop- ment of the "ITX" fare and is sure to be strongly opposed by the indepen- dents, who will see "scheduled non- scheduled" flights as a serious threat to their low-price package holiday busi- ness. Russia's new Tu-154 is expected to fly in the next few weeks. A 140-seater, it is very similar to the Trident. Its very similar rival, the llyushin 11-74, is slightly smaller. This is in the early project stage and seems unlikely to be built. A special set of stamps is being issued by the GPO in 1968 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the RAF. Aeroflot's single-engined Antonov An-2 biplane is still in full-scale pro- duction. Last year Aeroflot flew 30 million passenger-miles in this aircraft on village-to-village services.
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