Musings from History
A post covering some of the historical events from September 1954, when the British Aviation industry was at its Zenith.
Batlle of Britain Week
Remembering the Battle of Britain just 14 years earlier, a time where Britain and what is now the commonwealth stood completely alone. Had the country not held onto air superiority over mainland Britain, then it is likely that the Axis powers would have invaded and World War II would have taken a different course. On the 17th September the Royal Air Force held at home days at 56 RAF Bases.
The Victor and a production Valiant appeared at a number of stations in South East England; a Bristol Fighter and a Sopwith Pup staged a dog-fight at Biggin Hill; a large formation of Provosts toured various airfields; and a numbr of Sunderlands and formations from the Fleat Air Arm did likewise. Formations of many different kinds made tours, so that each station would be able to provide a view of the maximum variety aof aircraft types. Fighter Command alone provided no fewer than seventeen large formations.
A record total of 1,208,000 people attended the displays.
Here are a few other snippets from the same magazine, these are just things that have taken my interest – the magazine is just a great read if you have an interest in aviation. There is as much to be gleaned from the classified section (all 30+ pages of it) as there is from the technical sections, I just love to look at these magazines when I have a chance.
Aircraft Prices
Seventy years ago aircraft were relatively cheaper, B.O.A.C traded seven model 049 Lockheed Constelations for model 749A’s, with a cash adjust ment of £1.75 million – the 049’s being valued ar £2 million. This gives a fly away price on a L.749A Lockheed Constllation of just over £535,000, some might say a bargain but an Auster with a full C of A was only £500.
This was a time where the war time inventory was still being cleard, R. A. Short were selling Mosquitos Mk 6, Mk 16, Mk Mk 33 and Mk 37 and advertising spares for all other marks.
Civil News
Airwork was awarded the UK Government troop contract, this involved transporting 7,000 troops a year to and from Singapore in Hermese aircraft with 68 rear facing seats rated at 9g.
Other News
Lockheed
Seaboard and Western received the first of their L.1049B Superconsellation freighters, capable of carrying some 18 Tons of cargo – clained by Lockheed to be the largest freight aircraft in the world. The R7V-2 derivative of the L.1249 Super Constellation with the new turbo prop engines (The same ones fitted to the C-133 Cargo Master) managed a sustained speed of 412 MPH, these were delivered to the US Navy on the 10th of September.
Fokker
The Fokker F.27 Friendship has moved to static test, where wing flexing test as developed at RAE Farnborought during the Commet investigation will be used to prove the soundness of the design.
Douglas
The Douglas DC-7C has gone into production, PanAm is to be the launch customer with deliveries to commence late 1955 or early 1956 with an expected range of 5,000 Nm.
Boeing
The Boeing 707 testing carries on, with the prototype having being fitted with air brakes and a drag chute, Boeing have stated that the testing will take the airliner closer to the speed of sound than any aircraft before it.