Animals on Board The carriage of livestock by air by British airlines has expanded so greatly that recently B.O.A.C. claimed "one in every seven passengers has four feet." Last year the Corporation carried 50,000 animals as against 305,000 human beings. The proportion would have been higher if birds, fish and reptiles had been included. Monkeys, birds and tropical fish are the most common travellers. Sometimes as many as 5,000 monkeys are carried in a flight, most of them bound for United States zoos and research laboratories. B.E.A. carries a heavy traffic in goldfish from Bologna, Italy and in dogs from all over Europe. From time to time it flies circus animals and does a regular run from the South of France with leeches for London hospitals. On more than one occasion animals and birds have been known to keep airline attendants busy. On one recent Saturday afternoon B.E.A. landed ten penguins at Northolt and found that the birds could not be delivered until Monday. Over the weekend 2 cwt of fish were fed to the penguins - and every single fish had to be tossed into the air before the fastidious creatures would eat it.
707 Evaluation The "first phase" evaluation testing of the Boeing 707 transport was completed in Seattle a few days ago, well ahead of schedule. Of the 50 hours flying time for which the makers had budgeted, only 48 hr 27 min were required. The final 26 hr 37 min flying was completed in only nine days. Scheduled tests included maximum level flight speeds at all heights, and further detailed performance investigations. Control forces were reported "excellent" on all configurations. The next phase of testing will involve such items as systems, aerodynamics and power plants, and will be particularly concerned with production of the U.S.A.F. tanker-transport version.
Tridac the Unique An abbreviation of "three-dimensional analogue computor," Tridac identifies an electronic calculator which has been under construction at the R.A.E. since 1950. Tridac is by far the largest "brain" in Britain and one of the largest in the world. Designed primarily to solve three-dimensional air-defence problems, Tridac contains such ingredients as 8,000 thermionic valves, over 70 miles of wire, 2,000 adjustable potentiometers, 2,000 relays, over half-a-million terminals and 1,000 gallons of hydraulic oil. It occupies some 6,000 sq ft of floor space and consumes electricity at a rate of 650 kW and has over 2,000 knobs and other controls.
Source: Flight International
