Too Many Hands
It no longer makes sense for close allies to be working along parallel lines to develop certain kinds of very expensive equipment for the same purposes. We believe that steps should be taken at once to increase Anglo-American collaboration. Each country has a great deal to offer. A start would be the mere listing of all wholly military equipment the standardization of which would be advantageous and acceptable from the development and production points of view. So far as existing equipment is concerned, national prides should here be set aside in favour of increased international standardization.
Viscounts for America
The biggest and best news of the British aircraft industry for a long time was last week's announcement of a United States airline's order for three Vickers-Armstrongs Viscounts, with an option on 37 more. The manufacturer and the operator - Capital Airlines - stated jointly on June 3rd that the value of the total order, assuming that the option is taken up, would amount to $45m (£16m).
Dakota Attacked
The radio operator was killed and the captain and flight engineer seriously wounded in an attack by an "unidentified jet fighter" on a Dakota which, belonging to the Belgian Sabena air company, was flying over the Austrian-Jugoslav border on June 3rd. The transport aircraft was on one of the "pig-lift" flights now being carried out from Blackbushe to Belgrade. After the attack, the co-pilot took over the controls and made an emegency landing at Graz Airfield in the British zone of Austria. The captain of the Dakota said that the attacking aircraft was a MiG-15 with Soviet markings, and that it probably came from Hungarian territory. Following the landing at Graz, a Jugoslav aircraft arrived there to complete delivery of the pedigree pigs to Belgrade.
Source: Flight International
