Flight International - 10 April 2018

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The war effort

The Germans have strained

every nerve during the past

winter to hasten

production, and

are now able to

turn out

machines at a far faster rate

than has been the case at

any previous period of the

war, in spite of their

shortage of many materials.

Russians rejoice

The fact that both Berlin

and the Ruhr can now be

raided on the

same night is

very significant.

News of the

raids is said to have had a

very heartening effect on

the Russians, who have the

most intimate knowledge of

the cruelty of the enemy.

Under the bridge

An RAF Hunter flew

through Tower Bridge,

London, in a

down-river

direction just

after noon last

Friday, April 5. The Hunter,

carrying underwing tanks,

was glimpsed momentarily

from Flight’s offices seen

making a descending,

mushing turn until it was

lost to sight behind United

Africa House.

Nuclear fallout

Additional reductions in the

strength of the Royal Navy

may be the

prelude to the

removal of the

RAF’s nuclear-

strike capability, if the MoD

decides not to replace the

WE 177 free-fall nuclear

bomb with another air-

launched nuclear system.

Two long-gone names share the ramp at JFK in 1966

Action Press/REX/Shutterstock

Joyce’s choice Junkers

berth from Perth

Qantas boss Alan Joyce was the
guest of honour at the Aviation
Club in London just after flying
in from Perth on the flag carrier’s
first direct flight from Australia.
Asked in which part of the
Dreamliner he’d endured the
17h leg, he confessed he had
“travelled in business class, as
you’d expect”.
However, he is no stranger to
turning right. During his five
years as chief executive of
Qantas’s no-frills sister Jetstar –
which offers flights of up to 12h

• he had only ever patronised
  his own airline, he said, adding:
  “I’ve done my penance.”
  Meanwhile, if anyone thinks
  17h in a metal tube is pushing
  the limits of human endurance,
  spare a thought for those who
  travelled on the airline’s Double
  Sunrise service during the last
  two years of the Second World
  War. Flown on a Consolidated
  PBY Catalina, stripped of all
  non-essential equipment,
  between Crawley, near Perth,
  and southern Ceylon (modern
  Sri Lanka), the flight took up to
  33h and helped maintain the
  essential air link between
  England and Australia. A total
  of 271 operations took place
  between 1943 and the end of the
  war, with passengers being
  awarded the Secret Order of the
  Double Sunrise, named after the
  two dawns the flight witnessed.
  At another reception at
  Australia House in London to
  mark the nonstop service from
  Perth, the Premier of Western
  Australia, Mark McGowan,
  pointed out that Australia had
  been on the front of every
  newspaper. “I want to thank the

corrugated aluminium skin –

the project team says it needed

to “re-learn long-forgotten

construction techniques”.

Much of the aircraft was built

like the original, with

compromises in “as few areas as

possible”. These included

installation of brakes on the tail-

dragging aircraft, and hydraulic

shock absorbers rather than

bundled rubber bands on the

original landing-gear.

A 450hp Pratt & Whitney

R-985 Wasp Junior radial engine

was selected to have a “reliable”

powerplant, replacing the

original 300hp BMW engine.

The pilots were unable to

draw on much experience for

the first flight. “No pilots with F

13 experience remained who

could have informed us about

the F 13’s flying qualities,”

Junkers says. But the pilots were

reportedly “surprised” about the

aircraft’s “benign handling

characteristics”.

Eagle’s era

Nigel Thompson, ex-general

manager marketing and PA to

the chairman and managing

director, Harold Bamberg, writes

to remind us that 14 April marks

the 70th anniversary of the

formation of British Eagle.

Sadly, 2018 also marks 50

years since its bankruptcy in

November 1968. The airline

latterly operated Vickers

Viscounts and Bristol

Britannias, and was a victim,

among other things, of the UK’s

sterling devaluation that year.

cricket team for the great job

they’ve done in raising

Australia’s profile this

weekend,” he remarked.

Metal maid

Nearly 100 years after the

Junkers F 13 took to the air,

German and Swiss aviation

enthusiasts plan to restart

production of the world’s first

all-metal aircraft.

A replica of the low-wing,

single-engine aircraft – which

could accommodate four

passengers in its cabin and two

pilots in an open cockpit – was

built in Switzerland by a team

around project initiator and

investor Dieter Morszeck, chief

executive of German luggage

manufacturer Rimowa.

The aircraft flew for the first

time in 2016 and was

certificated in January by Swiss

regulators. A company called

Junkers Flugzeugwerke is being

set up in Dübendorf to operate

the aircraft, with a plan to start

“small-scale production in

response to individual market

demand”. For the reconstruction

of the aircraft – which features,

like many Junkers types, a

“Knocking on? I’m a lot Junker than you might think”

STRAIGHT&LEVEL

38 | Flight International | 10-16 April 2018 flightglobal.com