Great Day in May?
The operational staffs at B.O.A.C are now busy preparing for the great day when they launch the first pure-jet passenger service in the world, and it now seems certain that this will take place during the first few days of May. The Corporation will need a minimum of four Comets to open the service, and so far three have been delivered; a fourth is due in mid-April.
Atomic Aircraft No. 2
It was announced by the U.S Defence Department last week that contracts had been placed for the construction of a second nuclear aircraft power plant and an airframe to utilize it; the firms concerned are, respectively, Boeing at Seattle and Pratt and Whitney at East Hartford, Conn. Both contracts were placed last year. The first atomic-powered aircraft will be the result of co-operation between Convair at Fort Worth with General Electric at Lockland, Ohio.
R.A.F Fertilizer Command?
A suggestion that R.A.F. aircraft should assist in fertilizing hill-farmland was made by the Earl of Listowel - and well received - in the House of Commons last week. Seconding the proposal, Lord Llewellyn, a former Minister of Food, disclosed that, when it was feared that the Luftwaffe might use gas-bombs, gas-spraying apparatus was developed for the R.A.F. and disguised by the suggestion that it would be employed on fertilizer-spraying. It was announced that three civil firms were currently engaged on aerial fertilizing in the UK.
Look, No Hands!
The new automatic pilot developed by General Electric for the U.S. Navy can, according to a G.E.C spokesman, "do anything a human pilot can do, except take-off and land".
Source: Flight International