Evening star., 1952-04-27

Fonoscy Speedy British Jet Transport Will ove Size Of World

dent, has just announced that
if no United States builder will
make a firm offer on a jet
transport, including a specific
price and a specific delivery
date, his airline may buy jet
transports from another country
to meet the competition. This
probably would mean England.
but conceivably Canada, which
also has developed a shorter
range jet transport, the four
engined Avro C-102 Jetliner,
capable of carrying more than
40 passengers. No performance
data has been revealed on this
model, however.
Some of the features PAA
wants in a jet transport. it's en-
gineers say. are speeds slightly
higher than the Comets: low
wing design and an overall
design as near to the conven-
tional one as possible; operation
on heavy fuel, and extra braking
by parachute on landing.
While other big airlines have
not gone as far as PAA, they
are definitely interested, even
from the long-range point of
view. For instance. United Air
Lines has started studying
specifications for a jet and tur-
boprop transport. w. A. Pat
terson, its president. says. how
ever, it will take five years after
a plane has been decided upon
for a manufacturer to produce
a prototype. Another two years
would be required to get the
plane into regular service.
Air Force Experiments
The United States Air Forces
involvement with jet transports
at this time appears to be only
as an interested observer. No
activity is reported going on
currently.
In May of last year. the Air
Force conducted experiments on
the feasibility of developing jet
transports. The service used a
Chase XC-123A "Avitruck," a
troop and cargo carrying air.
craft with exceptionally large
wing and tail surfaces which
permit it to make short field"
takeoffs and landings. For
the tests it was equipped with
four J-47 General Electric jet
engines. After a time the ex-
periments were halted and the
plane was dismantled. The Air
Force said it had acquired the
data it wanted. and for the
present time wa satisfied with
the performance of its regular
piston-engined transports, and
others using turboprops. which
were in the mill"
The Military Air Transport
Service is one of the worlds
biggest users of passenger
carrying airplanes. When 1t.
Gen. Laurence S. Kuter, now
Air Force chief of personnel,
was MATS commander. he said
he could not believe that even
the tempo of aviation today will
produce measurable numbers of
large-type jet transports by
1885,"
Traffic Problem
Advent of the jet transport
in the United States probably
would call for a whole new set
of traffic control and commune
cation rules. They already have
been discussed by the British
Commonwealth conference.
For instance, to mention only
a few, a precise definition of
a jet transports position will be
needed at least 200 miles from
it's destination. Controlled areas
will have to be much more ex-
tensive than now, because of the
high speed of the big jets. It will
be necessary to improve greatly
the ground lines and radio tele-
type facilities along jet routes if
departure and other messages
are to keep pace with the speed
of the ships. It will not be pos
sible to give priority to jet
transports at airports where
mixed traffic is being handled.
The control system must be
standard for all types. Means of
radar Identification will have to
be improved. Better upper wind
and temperature reporting and
weather forecasting also will be