Beall and End-All The fortieth anniversary this month of the Boeing Airplane Company was the occasion for a little reminiscing and satellite gazing by the senior vice-president, Mr. Wellwood E. Beall. "The next 40 years will see an old saying disproved," he predicts. "Some things that go up will not come down - at least not to earth." Continuing that the future of civil aviation was arriving so fast that his inclination was to duck, Mr. Beall added: "I think that I can see clearly what to expect by 1975. Beyond that are only vapour trails." Boeing, with orders for over a hundred 707s beneath their belts, are as competent as anyone to look to the next course - in fifteen years' time. "We can foresee," they say, "a 200-passenger jet transport with a maximum speed of 1,500 m.p.h. at 50,000ft elevation. It will fly from Seattle to New York in 1 hr 45 min, and from New York to Paris in 2 hr 25 min." Veterans on TV Old Warden airfield, in Bedfordshire, is suggestive of the park of a country mansion - as, in fact, it is - and a day there among veteran aircraft of the Shuttleworth Trust was not to be missed. A visit by a B.B.C. television film unit provided the opportunity. Producer Michael Peacock and his henchmen were apparently thinking the whole thing up as they went along; and with urbane Richard Dimbleby as interlocutor a trio of well-known pilots revealed unsuspected thespian abilities. Of course there was plenty of laughter - mainly over conversations that found no place in the soundtrack. Thus the occupants of the Avro 504, awaiting the word to start: Dimbleby (passenger, in dual-control rear cockpit): "I've got six lovely instruments here." Twiss (pilot in front cockpit): "You're lucky. I've got none." Dimbleby: "Is it all right for this petrol to be trickling into my shoes? I suppose it's part of the flight plan?" Wheeler (standing alongside): "Exactly. It shows the aircraft is serviceable." Breath of the Bygone A small airline based at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, claims to be the "most veteran-equipped" in the U.S. Known as Sky Tours, their fleet comprises two old 15-passenger Ford-built (1926) Trimotors and a 1932 Boeing. Their service is a daily routine of short hops between the flock of small islands in Lake Erie and the mainland. In the quarter century of carrying passengers, mail and livestock, the company "has never injured a passenger - or a cow." |
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Source: Flight International
