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Aviation History
1972
1972 - 1376.PDF
TRAIMSPO '72 REPORT : Mm 9*Pl ,rs,. :ws:*;^»::^i^ffi»:-*™<-:•"•••••••••• ••••••• J. M. Ramsden and David Woolley report from Dulles Airport, Washington, on America's great international transport exhibition. "Flight" photographs by the authors. THE PROPOSITION that aviation makes life better for ordinary people, hitherto scorned by deafened and polluted taxpayers, is confidently and convincingly asserted at Transpo '72. America's first industry-supported air show is also fun. The greatest air pageant ever staged is attracting a forecast million visitors to a festival of mobile man—the consumer of cars, trucks, trains, ships, hovercraft and—not least—aircraft. All the big American aerospace companies are here, gathered together in one spot for the first time in history. There has been strong support for the show, to the satis faction of its sponsor, Mr John A. Volpe, US Secretary of Transportation. Together with corporations like General Motors and Ford the aerospace companies have mounted what adds up to a major PR exercise on behalf of technology. Twelve times a day on the United Aircraft stand a group of Broadway artists sing of The Miracle of Creating Through Technology. Some engineers may laugh at girls like Julie Andrews warbling about smoke-free combustors; it sounds a pretty preposterous idea, but it seems to be reaching people. The audiences number about 200 a show. Nasa, concerned that the public thinks of it only as a space agency, has taken a joint stand with the Federal Aviation Administration to put on a display of how the US Government serves civil aviation (including the private pilot) and how civil aviation serves the people. Aerospace influence on surface transport abounds. British Rail's Advanced Passenger Train, APT, is here with its extruded aluminium structure, aerospace-engineered tilt-control system and wheel-flange dynamics, and gas- turbine propulsion. So is the Grumman TACRV tracked hovertrain, and strong exhibits by British hovercraft companies. The British presence is by far the most energetic of any foreign country. Most British exhibitors have colonised a large area of Hall A next to the stand of the host, the US Department of Transportation. On the very day the show opened the supersonic dawn broke: it was announced that the first order for the Anglo-French supersonic air liner had been placed by BOAC. The PR impact was dulled by another big event of the opening day, the arrival of the Boeing 707 prototype, the first American jet airliner, for presentation to the Smithsonian Institution where it will join the Wright Biplane, Spirit of St Louis, and Apollo 11. The red-overalled pilots of a certain swarm of Gnats are greeted with Hi! wherever they go, and their display under Ian Dick is as good as it has ever been. An RAF Vulcan impresses too. Europe's contribution to transport is generously chronicled in the entrance area, where pictures and crisp words tell the story from the wheel to Apollo. "The mobile society has come to the crossroads," we are told. Pictures show cars crawling along "parking-lot expressways" through their own pollution. In the heat and dust of a hot Virginia day, deafened by the roar of US Navy or USAF Phantom display teams, you can walk among sur vivors of a more natural age, including an original Conestoga covered wagon. Never before has the ideal of a pollution-free society been more fervently celebrated. "Ecology with technology," proclaims the FAA. The CF6 is a "Good Neighbour Engine." Northrop technology is "devoted to improving the quality of man's life." Pratt & Whitney's Vtol is "in the service of mankind." Nasa is not just planning long-haul airlines; it is planning Quiet, Clean Long-haul airliners. Whoever decided not to bring Concorde with her present smoky, noisy engines certainly judged the mood of this show. You have to keep up with the terminology as well as with
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