MEN OF ACTION SERIES, NO. 1
                                                      


Airline Pilot

by ERIC LEYLAND

Illustrated by R. Barnard Way






Copyright 1957 by Edmund Ward (Publishers) Ltd
194-200 Bishopsgate, London, EC2


Printed in England by
ADLARD AND SON, LIMITED
London and Dorking




EDITOR'S NOTES

Eric Leyland was known primarily as an author of children’s books, both fiction and non-fiction. ‘Airline Pilot’ was the first publication in his ‘Men of Action’ series describing various careers. This book primarily describes the operation of BOAC Argonaut airliners. (A significant personal ‘Argonaut’ memory can be accessed here.)

As would be expected, there are many differences in operational aspects compared with the situation now. On the flight deck of the typical modern airliner will usually be found only two persons, captain and copilot. Over the years the other flight deck crew have vanished—there are no longer flight engineers, navigators or radio operators, now replaced by systems designed to be operated by the pilots. In contrast to the narrative in this book copilots frequently perform take-offs and landings.

In today's airliners both pilots may be female—a contrast to the all-male Argonaut environment of seven decades ago. As then, the captain’s authority remains supreme but current Crew Resource Management procedures ensure that inputs from other crew members are taken into consideration when appropriate.

In other areas, though, similarities to past times can be found. Then, as now, equipment and procedures are designed to maximise safety of operation and the importance of training of personnel is emphasised. Another curious link: only recently have airline passengers been able to communicate with the world below during flight using on board internet facilities. But in the BOAC Argonaut one of the Radio Officer’s tasks was sending telegrams for the passengers.

Besides the Argonaut other contemporary BOAC types mentioned by Mr Leyland are Stratocruisers and Constellations. The author also makes reference to two types about to enter service: the Bristol Britannia turboprop and the de Havilland Comet Mark 4 jetliner - the extensively redesigned successor to the ill-fated Mark 1s.

On the Flight Plan example in the text the cruise levels are shown as pressure altitudes of 13,500 and 14,000 feet. Pilots would refer to these as Flight Levels so the Argonaut would be cruising at FL135 or FL140. The chosen level would comply with contemporary rules for instrument flight depending on required track referenced to magnetic north. Distances are in nautical miles and true airspeed (TAS) is in knots (nautical miles per hour). At the cruising levels on this Flight Plan a TAS of 205 knots would equate to an indicated airspeed in the region of 160 knots. Note that nautical miles and knots are still used in airline operations in most countries.

The first leg on the Flight Plan example divides the distance into climb and initial cruise, the split presumably assessed by the crew taking into account aircraft weight and wind component. Likewise the '100 miles to go' is split between final cruise and descent.

In the original text the author uses the American word ‘airplane’ rather than the British ‘aeroplane’ and usually abbreviates it to ’plane. Likewise we find ’bus, (abbreviation of ‘omnibus’), in keeping with contemporary formal writing styles. In this new version the apostrophes have been deleted to improve the fluency of the text.

There are apparent discrepancies in the schedule quoted by Mr Leyland for the Argonaut ‘Majestic’ service to Nairobi. The quoted departure time from London Airport (Heathrow) is 9.15 a.m. and the flight time to Rome, the first stop, as six and a quarter hours. Arrival time at Rome is stated as 1.30 a.m. Since this is a day flight the arrival time would in fact be 1.30 p.m. (UK time). This would match a flight time of just over four hours, which in turn would be consistent with a cruising speed of 200 knots (230 mph). I have amended the text accordingly.

We have been unable to trace the current copyright owner of this book. If the owner objects to its availability on the Steemrok website, please write to comms@steemrok.com and the file will be removed without delay.

Julien Evans
Editor
Steemrok Publishing
2026
steemrok.com





B.O.A.C Argonaut Atalanta taking off from Entebbe

The Captains on the flight deck of a B.O.A.C. Argonaut
Contents
Click on the blue dots to access the various items directly

    
 1   ALL ABOARD

  2   THE TEAM

 3   GETTING READY

  4   TAKE-OFF

  5   ON COURSE

 6   TOUCH-DOWN

  7   TRAINING

  8   LORDS OF THE AIR
Grateful acknowledgment is made of the assistance given by B.O.A.C. to the Author in providing the detailed information used in this book and in supplying the photographs and references for the diagrams
List of Illustrations
PLATES

 An Argonaut taking off from Entebbe
 The Captains on the flight deck of an Argonaut
  ‘Briefing’ in the Meteorological Office at London Airport
  Navigation training in a Dove aircraft
  A Navigating Officer in the Operations Room at London Airport
  The Radio Officer at his post in an Argonaut
  Approach and runway lights at London Airport
  The Southern Air Traffic Control Centre at London Airport
  Ground Control Approach Installation at London Airport
DIAGRAMS

    1  The design and structure of an Argonaut
    2  The rings and badges of B.O.A.C. flying personnel
    3  An example of a Flight Plan
    4  The lay-out of the cockpit
    5  How the rudder, elevators and ailerons are operated by the control column
    6  How the elevators and ailerons make the aircraft turn or climb or dive
   7  Simplified diagram of a compass
    8  How the Track Made Good may differ from the Required Track
    9  How an aircraft may fix its position
  10  On the approach for landing


CHAPTER 1

All Aboard

Have you ever been up in an airliner? You can’t understand what sort of job the Captain has to do unless you know quite a lot about air travel; and you can’t know anything at all about it unless you have made at least one trip in a modern airliner. So the best thing to do is to take a trip and see something of what goes on. Even a short trip will help you get the feel of it, which is quite different from the feeling you have when you travel by bus or train or ship.

The trip we have laid on for you is from London Airport in an Argonaut to Nairobi in East Africa. This, of course, is a long trip, so we shall go only as far as Rome, the first stop. Rome is reached four and a quarter hours after leaving London Airport. This will be quite long enough for you to get, not your sea-legs, but your air-legs!

The Argonaut is an all-metal aircraft built of light alloy. It measures 93 feet 8 inches from nose to tail and the wing span is 117 feet 6 inches. When it is fully loaded the weight is 36½ tons. Argonauts are either all first class, the Majestic service, or tourist class, the Coronet service. The difference is that a Majestic Argonaut carries only forty passengers, whereas the Coronet accommodates fifty-four. There is more room and therefore more comfort on a Majestic. You are lucky enough to be flying by Majestic.

There must be very few passengers who understand anything about the work that goes into putting such a huge plane into the air, keeping it safely and surely on course, and landing without a hitch at the destination. Ordinary passengers never do understand such matters. They accept air travel just as they do a journey by bus or train.

They know there is a crew on board and that there is a Captain of Aircraft, to give him his proper title, but they don’t know what duties the crew have to attend to, or very much about the planes they travel in, how they are navigated or how they are maintained in such perfect order. They have little idea, either, what the Captain’s job is except that they suppose he must be in charge!

You will be just like these other passengers during this flight, your first, but when it is over you will be able to learn all about the work behind the scenes and exactly what tasks the crew undertake, the Captain being responsible for every move. If you remember all that you see and hear during the flight, you will find it much more interesting when you come to the later sections of this book, which explain the duties of the crew and how the Captain is able to take his aircraft into the air and bring her safely and comfortably to her destination.

It is Friday and the Argonaut Majestic leaves London Airport at 9.15 a.m. for the Nairobi flight, first stop Rome. You can go aboard straight away and have a good look at the plane.

The passenger entrance is amidships but slightly towards the rear, between the two cabins. These, the rear cabin and the forward cabin, are connected by a broad central aisle. The larger cabin, forward, seats twenty-four passengers, the rear cabin sixteen. If you turn left when you enter, past the enclosed pantry which you will see marked on this diagram, you enter the forward cabin and can examine the lay-out. The seats are in pairs on either side of the aisle—and what comfortable seats they are. They are armchairs really, and each has a separate control which adjusts the tilt of the back so that passengers can lie right back and sleep in comfort if they want to. Notice that each seat has a head-rest cover and pillow in spotless white.

The central arm-rest between each pair of seats can be removed so that there is even more room. In the cabin wall by each pair there is a button which, when pressed, calls a steward; and there are also reading lights which can be switched on or off as passengers like. Small tables for meals can be attached to the seats. Windows which give a wide view are placed one at the end of each row of seats.

If you walk right down the central aisle towards the front of the aircraft you leave the forward cabin and, passing through a door, you come to a passage which has opening off it two toilets and cloakrooms for washing, as well as a ladies’ room. A door at the far end of the short passage opens into the control cabin or cockpit as it can be called. It is here that the operating crew work, led by the Captain. In the control cabin at the moment the Captain and his crew are attending to checks and the many tasks needing attention before a flight. You will learn all about these later and also find out about the lay-out of an airliner control cabin. The communicating door is closed now and the crew don’t want to be bothered. In fact no passenger is ever allowed into the control cabin. This is a most important regulation.

Now let’s move back through the forward cabin again to where we first entered the Argonaut. Opposite the passenger entrance there is another toilet and a wardrobe. Then comes the rear cabin, just like the forward cabin except that there are fewer seats, the cabin being smaller. At the far end, though, there is something quite different from anything you have yet seen in the plane.

This is a cocktail lounge, right at the rear of the plane. There are seats for six people grouped round a central table. Refreshments are served in the cabins at any time, but if passengers prefer, they can also be served in the cocktail lounge. On long flights it makes a big difference if you can move about the ship and change your position, from cabin to lounge and so on. The Argonaut, although not the largest plane operated by British Overseas Airways Corporation, seems very spacious.

Do you notice that there are curtains at all the windows? These are drawn at night and then it is difficult to realize that you are in a plane at all, flying thousands of feet above the ground. So smoothly does the plane fly that you might think you were in a motor coach—except that coaches are nothing like so smooth or comfortable! In a plane the pilot doesn’t have to brake suddenly at traffic lights or alter speed according to traffic conditions!

For those of you who are interested in engines, the Argonaut is powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, 12-cylinder, liquid-cooled. On take-off, over 7,000 h.p. is developed. The average cruising speed of the Argonaut is between 230 and 265 m.p.h. Cruising height is between 15,000 and 20,000 feet. The maximum range is 3,110 miles, 3,226 gallons of petrol being stored in the tanks.

Other passengers are now coming aboard and you had better take your seats. You each have a card bearing the number of your reserved seat, but this doesn’t mean that during the flight you cannot change your seat if you want to. For the moment, however, you must go to your reserved seat, in the rear cabin. One of the stewards takes you to your seat and you settle down.

When all the passengers are on board, an announcement is made. This informs passengers that the flight is about to start and that the first stopping-place will be Rome, which will be reached at 1.30 p.m. The cruising height will be 15,000 feet, but there will be no discomfort due to this because air pressure in the aircraft will be maintained by special equipment at what it would be at only 8,000 feet. I expect you know that the higher up a mountain you go, the more difficult it is to breathe; and the same applies, of course, if you fly at high altitudes in an airplane. We shall explain about the special equipment later. At the moment the point is that you will feel no discomfort although the Argonaut will be flying so high.

It is explained where the emergency exits are and how they are to be used in case they are needed. Passengers are instructed to fasten the safety-belts. These are only used at take-off and landing. During the flight they may be unfastened. There must be no smoking until after take-off. Notices are lit up to make sure all passengers know they must fasten their belts and that smoking is prohibited. The stewardess helps passengers with their belts.

Sweets are offered because some people have a queer feeling in their ears when the plane climbs. Sucking sweets has a good effect on this.

The engines have started now, but the plane doesn’t take off. You are expecting it will but then you find that what it does is to move quite a long way along the ground, taxi-ing as it is called. Then it halts again. You can see the runway stretching away into the distance.

There is a sudden roar as the engines are opened up, but then they are throttled back yet again. You don’t know why, but you shall learn that later, along with many other matters.

Now at last all is ready for take-off. Again the engines accelerate but this time do not die down again. The Argonaut moves slowly down the runway . . . faster and faster. Have we left the ground yet? You can’t be sure. Yes . . . no, surely not, the wheels are still on the tarmac. But wait a moment . . . now we really are airborne!

The plane has left the ground, but it was very difficult to tell exactly when, for the Captain was so skilful that there was no jolt, no sudden sensation.

But we are airborne now and the plane is climbing with steady, smooth power. The sun is shining brightly and there is no cloud at all. Look down and behind. Already London Airport looks like a collection of models. The Argonaut is on its long flight to East Africa!

The lighted notices go out and passengers can relax. The stewardess is helping those who are having trouble unfastening their belts. Some passengers get up and move to the lounge at the rear of the airliner. Others sit gazing out of the wide windows at the ground now far below. A few others sit rigidly, a little scared, for this is the first time they have been up. They will soon get over it though.

What about you? Do you feel at all strained? No, of course not. Why, the smoothness and the feeling of safety is far greater than in a train or a bus! It is difiicult to realize that you are perhaps thousands of feet up in the air, until you look down at the ground far below.

The Argonaut is still climbing, for 15,000 feet is quite a way up. It’s fascinating to watch the ground below, with London now left behind and the countryside spread out under the sun. How small the fields look; the roads and the railways are like narrow ribbons. You can see towns and villages far, far below. It’s a new view of England . . . and there in the distance ahead is the sea. Very soon now we shall be over the English Channel.

The airliner is levelling off now, for the proper height has been reached. We are very high now but it isn’t cold for the special heating apparatus is being used. There is also cooling equipment on board so that if necessary the temperature inside the cabins can be lowered.

The stewards and the stewardess are attending to the passengers’ wants. They are offering magazines and newspapers; some passengers are already asking for light refreshments. Notice the stewardess over there talking to some children who are flying alone, without their parents. The stewardess will look after them all the way to Rome, where they are to join their mother and father. She will see that they are quite happy and cared for.

Would you like to stretch your legs? Good, then let’s walk back to the lounge at the rear. You can have a snack and a glass of orange or lemon if you like. It’s rather fun eating or drinking when travelling. I always enjoy it on a train, but it’s even better on a plane. Soon we shall be served with lunch, so don’t spoil your appetites by eating too much now. B.O.A.C. meals are very good indeed.

The flight continues, smoothly and without any sort of trouble. We go back to our seats and lunch is served, the special chair tables being used. What wonderful food it is, too; just as we expected. All meals are included in the cost of the ticket. There won’t be a bill presented at the end of the meal, so eat as much as you like without bothering about the cost. That’s a nice change, isn’t it?

Now we are over France, England and the Channel left behind. The Argonaut is droning across France, making for the Alps and Italy. We enter cloud now, but don’t worry, even though the cloud presses against the windows like thick fog and you can see nothing. The Captain can’t see any more, either, but there is no danger of his losing the way, running into another plane or taking the wrong turning! How he finds his way even through thick cloud you will learn later. At the moment just relax and don’t worry—he knows exactly what to do.

Out of the cloud again now and there are the Alps below, with the sun shining and glinting on the snow-capped peaks. And here is the Captain himself, come to have a few words with the passengers. B.O.A.C. like their Captains and First Officers to come into the passenger cabins every now and again, for to see and talk to the man in charge or his deputy gives passengers a feeling of confidence.

He stops by us and has a chat.

‘Well, are you enjoying the trip?’ he asks. ‘Everything all right—no complaints?’

Certainly you have no complaints. The stewards and the stewardess are looking after you wonderfully well, the plane is riding beautifully and everything is fine.

The Captain tells you exactly where the plane is now and how long it will take to reach Rome. Then with a cheery smile he passes on. You are left thinking what fun it must be to command a great airliner like this. Ah, well, you never know. One day perhaps you will find out!

The hours pass. The Alps are crossed and we are over Italy. More refreshments are served, you get to know several other passengers, you walk back to the rear lounge again and spend a little while there . . . and now at last Rome lies ahead. It is nearly time to touch down.

The Argonaut begins to lose height. Passengers return to their proper seats. The lighted notices go on again telling passengers to fasten their safety-belts and put out cigarettes. The airliner drops down and down. The Captain is turning the craft in a huge circle to get into line with the runway. You don’t know it, but the landing wheels, which have been tucked up in the wings since we were airborne after leaving London, are coming down. The nose-wheel comes down, too, and the flaps, which are used fully on landing to check speed—and also on take-off, though then only a little, to give lift.

By now the ground and the runway are quite close. Nearer and nearer comes the ground . . . you feel the lightest of bumps and the ship has touched down.

Almost at once the engines give a great roar, but instead of the liner gathering speed and tearing along the runway even faster, as you would expect, it feels as though brakes have been applied—which is more or less what has really happened, as you shall find out very soon.

The Argonaut pulls up and comes to a halt on the runway. The first stage of the flight to Nairobi is over. For us, though, the whole flight has ended, for if we are to learn all about the Captain’s job and how he brought the airliner so safely and surely from London, we must alight here. Never mind, there is still the trip back to London to come. Only this won’t be quite so exciting because you are used to air travel by now. It is the very first flight which is the most thrilling.

Well, now, it was fun, wasn’t it? To you as an ordinary passenger it was exciting as being your first trip, but once the thrill of climbing into the sky had worn off, there wasn’t all that much to it, was there? It was wonderful, of course, to fly at such speeds and reach Rome so quickly after leaving London, but it was almost as though you were riding in a super coach or train.

Yes, but from the Captain’s point of view there is a great deal more in it. This applies, too, to all those who have any hand in putting the liner into the air and keeping her there, not to mention bringing her down safely at her proper destination and on time.

The Captain of Aircraft, like the Captain of a ship at sea, is responsible for everything that happens on board while he is in command. He is responsible, too, for much that happens before the aircraft takes off. Many other people help, but he is the man in charge.

Let’s find out what he does and how he is trained to do it. At the same time we shall learn a great deal about other people’s jobs, too.

  
  




A B.O.A.C. crew being ‘briefed’ in the Meteorological Office at London Airport
Navigation training in a B.O.A.C. Dove aircraft 






CHAPTER 2

The Team

The Captain of a B.O.A.C. airliner wears a dark blue uniform, as indeed do the rest of the operating crew. Round the bottom of each sleeve are gold rings similar to those worn by sea captains. On the left breast are the gold-embroidered wings which tell everyone that he is a pilot.

The number of rings varies according to the grade of Captain. There are altogether three grades of these—Senior Captain 1st Class, Senior Captain 2nd Class and Captain.

The Senior Captain 1st Class wears four rows of ½-inch gold rings. The 2nd Class Senior Captain wears three rows of ½-inch gold rings plus one ring ¼-inch wide above. The Captain wears three ½-inch-wide gold rings. Promotion depends on ability and experience. From being a Captain a man can rise to Senior Captain 2nd Class and finally to Senior Captain 1st Class. This last, however, doesn’t come until he is very experienced and has many years’ flying to his credit.

Many years can mean a million miles or even two million! You probably have never stopped to realize that of all the jobs in the world that of Captain of an airliner covers the most miles. Over 200,000 miles a year are frequently flown by a B.O.A.C. Captain.

Have you ever noticed that men in any particular job tend to look alike and be of the same type? Often this is so; and Captains of Aircraft all have certain things in common. They are always alert and look it, always very fit and quick in summing up a situation. The professional pilot is nearly always the quick, alert type. When you travel in an airliner you have only to look at the Captain to feel sure that you will be quite safe in his hands.

B.O.A.C. lays down certain definite rules concerning a Captain’s duties. We will have a look at some of these now.

The Captain must be able to command his crew and get the best out of them. Also he must know all about the official rules and regulations regarding flying, including the instructions laid down by the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, which are concerned with safe flying.

Those are general requirements. The other B.O.A.C. rules deal with the Captain’s duties before a flight starts, during the flight itself and thirdly after an aircraft has landed.

Fig. 1. The design and structure of an Argonaut

Fig. 2. The rings and badges of B.O.A.C. flying personnel


Before the flight starts, he must attend to the following:
 * Obtain a weather report covering the route his aircraft will take.
 * Approve a flight plan submitted to him.
 * Decide whether a flight shall take place at all. It is entirely up to him to make this decision. If the weather conditions are too bad, for example, he must call off the flight.
 * Ensure that the proper amount of fuel has been taken on board.
 * Receive into his own charge any precious cargo, documents, etc.
 * Have the Certificate for Safety for Flight signed by properly qualified ground engineers.
 * Have passengers briefed on the use of safety-belts.
 * Receive reports that all doors and hatches are closed and secured and that the aircraft is loaded properly.

Anyone who thought that the Captain’s job didn’t start until the airliner was in the air can now think again! The Captain is responsible for all the matters above and if any are overlooked it is his responsibility and only his.

During flight he must make sure that the passengers are comfortable and his crew happy. He is responsible for the safety of the aircraft and he must follow the flight plan as closely as he can. If there is illness on board he has to report this to the next stop by signal and must also report at regular intervals the aircraft’s position. He himself or his co-pilot must always be at the controls. He must see that proper entries are made in the log, which is similar to the log carried by a ship at sea. This will later serve as a full report on the flight.

His duties are not at an end when the liner has landed. He must attend to the following:
 * Ensure that the log books are completed.
 * Ensure that all maps, codes, etc., drawn for the trip are returned.
 * Instruct that refuelling is undertaken.
 * Check crew reports and supply a complete trip report to the company.

These, then, are his main duties before, during and after a flight. By now you will surely realize even more than you did before how important is his job and that he is indeed in sole charge. When you took that first flight to Rome you didn’t have any idea of any of this. You realized, I dare say, that the Captain was in charge during the flight itself, but not that he had already attended to many tasks before or that he hadn’t finished when the plane landed.

Your fellow passengers didn’t understand any of this either, but now you at least do know. Later you shall learn a great deal more about the Captain’s many tasks and duties.

Quite apart from training in flying huge aircraft, obviously the Captain has to know so much else, and bear so much responsibility, that other training is also necessary. Something about the training will be explained later in this book.

He is not alone, of course, for he has a crew under him. The number of crew varies according to the type of airliner being flown. The maximum number, including the Captain himself, is ten. Six members of such a crew are operating crew; there are also three stewards and a stewardess. There are always women and children amongst the passengers and so obviously a stewardess is necessary. The stewards and the stewardess look after the comfort of the passengers, serve the meals and so on. They are, of course, important members of the crew.

It must be made clear here that the Argonaut does not carry ten crew but seven—four operating crew, plus two stewards and a stewardess. But here we will deal with the maximum number so that you may learn about the duties of Engineer Officers. Two are carried on the Stratocruisers operating on the Atlantic routes; but none is used on the Argonaut. The Captain and his First Officer attend to the duties the Engineer Officers would undertake if they were on board.

The First Officer is next in rank to the Captain. He is often called the Co-Pilot. When there are six operating crew, there is as well a Navigating Officer, a Radio Officer and the two Engineer Officers mentioned above.

There are two grades of First Officer—Senior First Officer and simply First Officer. The Senior First Officer wears two rows of ½-inch gold rings with a row of ¼-inch gold in between. The First Officer wears just the two rows of ½-inch gold. Both wear the flying wings, like the Captain. The other officers wear special wings which show what job they do.

The First Officer is qualified to fly the plane and he acts as deputy pilot. When the Captain is not at the flying controls, the Co-Pilot must be. He always sits on the right of the cockpit, looking forward, the starboard side. The Captain sits on the port side.

The First Officer takes over the flying of the airliner when the Captain asks him. He also helps the Captain in various other ways, particularly during take-off and landing.



A B.O.A.C. Navigating Officer with his computer in the Operations Room at London Airport


There are two grades of Navigating Officer—First and Second. First Navigating Officer wears two rows of ½-inch gold round the bottom of each sleeve, Second wears one row. Both wear a gold-embroidered Navigator wing, which consists of one wing only, branching from a circle containing the capital letter N. You can always tell a Navigating Officer by this and won’t confuse a First Navigating Officer with a First Officer, even though both wear the same rings.

The work of navigating an aircraft—that is, working out what course the plane must follow from where it takes off to its destination, is very skilled and difficult. It isn’t a matter of following the right road, as a coach driver does, because there aren’t any roads. The air is a big place! At night the Navigating Officer usually can’t see anything at all, and even during the day the liner will usually fly so high that the earth will often be obscured by clouds for hours at a time. So he can’t rely on finding his way by recognizing landmarks down below.

He will bring the aircraft safely and without a mistake to its destination, however, by the shortest route—in the air, because there are no roads, a straight line can be followed between, say, London and Rome or London and Prestwick, the first stopping-place on the London-New York route. Every Navigating Officer tries to follow the straight line.

How does he do it? This needs quite a lot of explanation. Later you shall learn at least something about how he sets to work. For the moment all you need to understand is that his job is very important. In fact it is even more than that—an airliner can’t manage without expert navigation.



The Radio Officer at his post in a B.O.A.C. Argonaut


The Radio Officer’s work is important, too. If you ever see a man wearing the blue uniform of B.O.A.C. with three rows of ¼-inch wavy gold rings on the sleeves of his jacket and a single wing on his breast coming from a circle carrying the capital letter R, you will know he is a Radio Officer Class A. If there are only two rows of wavy gold rings, then he is a Radio Officer Class B. Wavy rings are used, of course, to imitate the wireless waves.

You may have thought that only one type of radio set is used in airliners, but this is quite wrong. There are two types, first the radio telephone and second a set which sends out and receives Morse code. The radio telephone, as you might imagine from its name, transmits the voice and doesn’t use the dots and dashes of the Morse code.

The radio telephone is known as the R/T set, for short. Nowadays it has been so developed that it can be used over very long distances. It is mostly used, however, when taking off, landing, and over short distances. By using it the Captain or the Co-Pilot can talk to control officers on the ground at the airport direct from the cockpit.

The other type of radio set is called the W/T, short for wireless telegraphic; and this uses the Morse code. The Radio Officer uses this set. He can also use the other if necessary, of course, but as no special knowledge is required to operate the R/T, all the other members of the crew can use it, too.

The Radio Officer’s job is to keep in contact with the ground by means of radio. There are all sorts of reasons why contact should be maintained. Weather reports come in and these are passed on to the Captain so that he knows, for example, that weather conditions have changed ahead of him since he took the airliner up from the last airport. Messages have to be sent out from the airliner—an emergency might arise in the plane or, much more likely, passengers may want to send off a telegram. This can be done, the Radio Officer sending out the message, which is picked up by a ground station and forwarded through the Post Office.

Much more important, though, is the need to keep in touch with the various Air Traffic Centres which control the movements of all aircraft. Each of these Centres controls a certain part of the route. As the airliner passes from one part or section to another, the next Centre takes over.

Communication between each Centre and the aircraft is by means of radio. The Radio Officer is in contact with the various Centres all the time, giving the position of the airliner, which he receives from the Navigating Officer and possibly asking for information from the Centre. It may happen that a Centre will contact the aircraft with urgent information which demands action by the Captain. The Radio Officer passes on the messages to the Captain and his reply to the Centre.

By using his radio equipment in special ways, the Radio Officer can also assist the Navigating Officer in his work, helping him to pin-point the airliner’s exact position and so check that it is on course. How this is done will be explained later in the book.

It can be seen that the Radio Offlicer is the man who forms an important link between the plane and the ground. He is the Captain’s mouth and also his ears.

An Engineer Officer Class A wears two ½-inch gold rings with a purple stripe between them. He also carries a single wing on the breast of his tunic, with a capital letter E in a circle. He is sometimes known as a Flight Engineer, by the way. A Class B Engineer Officer wears one row of ½-inch gold with the purple stripe above.

The task of the Engineer Officer, or of both if two are carried, is to be responsible for the running of the engines during a flight. The Captain relies upon him to ensure that the engines are running properly and that no faults developing unexpectedly are overlooked. If a fault does develop, then the Engineer Officer takes the proper action.

A special panel of instruments in the cockpit is a guide to the behaviour of the engines. One or other of the Engineer Officers watches the dials on this panel throughout a flight. If any one of the engines develops a fault the instruments will show which engine and what sort of fault it is. Two Engineers are carried on long flights because one man could not concentrate on the job all the time without some rest.

The Engineer Officer has a second set of engine controls so that he can take action at once if a fault does develop. He may, for example, need to stop one engine altogether, or perhaps reduce the number of its revolutions per minute.

Another task is to watch the fuel consumption. Exactly how much is on board at any moment is known by means of instruments. The Engineer Officer will adjust the engine speed so that not too much fuel is used.

This, then, is the maximum team carried by any B.O.A.C. airliner. There is now, however, a tendency to reduce the number of operating crew below this maximum number of six. As we said before, the Argonaut carries only four, the Captain, the First Officer, Navigating Officer and Radio Officer.

Remember, though, that whatever the size of the crew, the Captain is in charge. The others are skilled and know all about their difficult and expert tasks, but the final word and the final responsibility lies with the Captain.


CHAPTER 3

Getting Ready

The Captain’s job, as you know by now, doesn’t start when he takes over the controls of the aircraft and the plane leaves the ground. It begins a long time before that. He has many tasks to attend to before he ever enters the airliner’s control cabin.

The first and perhaps the most important duty is to decide which route to follow to his destination. The air being a big place there are obviously plenty of routes he could use, more even than if he were driving a coach or a car on the ground. G. K. Chesterton wrote a poem called The Rolling English Road in which he talked about ‘The night we went to Newcastle by way of Beachy Head.’ Well, the Captain of an airliner can travel by routes nearly as indirect if he needs to, although the best will always be that which is the most direct.

This isn’t always possible, however. There are many reasons why sometimes he is forced to use a longer route, even if not quite so long as Chesterton’s.

B.O.A.C., and indeed any other commercial airline, flies planes in order to make them pay. It follows, then, that the more paying passengers and freight and mail carried on any particular flight, the more profit will be made. Passengers, mail and freight together make up what is known as the pay-load . . . in other words the load which pays for itself plus, it is to be hoped, a profit to the company.

The plane itself, which of course is of tremendous weight, the crew, the fuel and any other load which has to be carried but which doesn’t pay, is called the dead-load.

Now an aircraft of any particular engine power can only lift a certain maximum weight, including itself, and fly it a certain distance on a given quantity of fuel. The less dead-load the more pay-load can be carried.

One important item of the dead-load is fuel. This weighs a great deal; on long-distance flights as much as twenty tons. It follows, therefore, that the less fuel carried the more pay-load can be taken aboard.

The amount of fuel in the tanks, however, affects the distance the plane can fly without taking more aboard. This distance must obviously affect the route chosen by the Captain.

The matter, therefore, becomes quite simple to understand. Knowing how much pay-load he must carry, the Captain also knows what weight of fuel can be taken aboard and as a result the total distance the liner can cover between stops, allowing for the safety margin which is always allowed. This margin is necessary in case the Captain has to make diversions due to bad weather conditions or perhaps because he has to circle an airport for some time before he can land.

If the Captain is warned that he will be flying into strong winds all or part of the way to his destination, he will know that more fuel than usual will be needed, more than if there were no head winds. The winds, blowing very strongly, perhaps 80 m.p.h. or even more, will reduce the speed over the ground and so more petrol will be used to travel a certain distance.

If, on the other hand, there is no wind anywhere along the route or only along short sections of it, extra petrol will not be needed. If there are to be following winds, helping to increase the plane’s speed instead of the other way round, less petrol will be used . . . or paraffin if the airliner is a jet, of course.

What it comes down to is that the Captain, in deciding what route to follow and what stops to make for taking on new fuel, has to consider the weight of the pay-load plus the weight of the dead-load, and as well how the weather, particularly the winds, will affect speed and therefore the amount of fuel used. He balances one factor against another and makes up his mind which route he will follow.

In making his decision his prime consideration will be the safety of his aircraft. He is the one who makes this decision. Nobody else can make it for him. Advice and information is given to him, but he and he alone is in charge.

The weather conditions to be expected along the route being so important, good forecasts are needed. These are much more detailed than those given over the radio or on television. The forecasts will deal not only with the weather along the route when the plane is in the air, but also with the conditions to be expected at each of the airports where the airliner is to touch down. It may be, for example, that fog is blanketing a particular airport or is expected before the airliner reaches it. Such information will influence the Captain’s decision on what route to follow. Don’t forget, too, that if conditions ahead of him change during the actual flight, he will be informed by radio and then may have to change his route.

The men who forecast the weather are called Meteorologists. They make their forecasts, which they carry on to special weather maps, after receiving information from observers. These observers are stationed at various places and send in regular reports of weather conditions. The Meteorological Officers make up their reports and weather maps from these reports.

The observers are not merely on the ground. There are special weather ships carrying trained observers; and also meteorological balloons are sent up so that it may be discovered what weather conditions there are at high altitudes.

These reports flow into the Meteorological Office at London Airport and indeed into other airports. Weather maps are drawn up and the Captain of any airliner uses them when deciding his route. Having made up his mind as a result of knowing what load he has to carry and what weather can be expected, he checks to make sure that weather conditions haven’t changed since the map was compiled. Sometimes the weather changes very quickly and he must always have up-to-date information.

There is one other point you should note. If the weather is so bad that a flight would be or could be dangerous, or for any other reason which seems good to the Captain, he may cancel the flight altogether or delay take-off. This also is his sole responsibility.



Fig. 3. An example of a Flight Plan


If the flight is to take place, a Flight Plan is worked out. This is a detailed plan of the entire flight from start to finish.

Every important detail is noted down. It includes the time of take-off from the airport at London, or whichever airport is being used, the time of landing at the next stopping-place along the route, the cruising height to be maintained, the amount of fuel to be pumped into the tanks and the amount which ought to be used. What sorts of winds are expected, including direction and strength, as reported by the Met. Officers, are also noted in the Flight Plan.

One copy of the Flight Plan remains at the airport. Another goes on board the airliner. During the flight itself the Navigating Officer uses the copy on board to check that everything is in order and the plan is being followed. The other copy, at the airport, is used for the same purpose. The Radio Officer on board the airliner will from time to time send back information about the course being followed and so on. At the airport these messages enable a ground check to be kept that no alterations have been made in the Flight Plan as originally prepared.

Sometimes alterations have to be made because the weather ahead may suddenly change. In that case the Captain may be compelled to alter certain details of the Flight Plan. He may have to by-pass a scheduled airport on the route because fog has come down unexpectedly, or possibly for some other reason. Then he may decide to land somewhere else as near as possible to the affected airport, either because he has passengers or freight to set down or because he needs to refuel. On the other hand, he may continue to the next stopping-place, provided that he has suflicient fuel left in the tanks.

Alterations to the Flight Plan are radioed to the next airport so that there it is known from minute to minute where the airliner is along its route and what height it is flying at.

Deciding what route to follow, taking into account all the factors mentioned above, is one of the most important jobs the Captain has to attend to before take-off. There are others as well, though, as you will remember from the previous chapter. There is no need to talk about all of them, but some you should know about.

Everything and everyone to be taken aboard the airliner is recorded on a list. The names of all passengers and crew are on the list as well as details of freight and fuel. This record, part of what are called Ship’s Papers, is examined by the Captain before take-off. As well, the Ship’s Papers include details of how any cargo, including mails, probably, has been placed in the holds and secured.

The ground staff who load the aircraft have a copy of the plan of the airliner. The places where each piece of cargo is to be stored are clearly shown on the plan. The loaders follow the plan and the result is that the plane is neither tail-heavy nor nose-heavy. If you have ever flown model aircraft you will know what a difference it makes whether the craft is heavy at the nose or the tail. Model-makers try to make sure of perfect trim, as it is called. So, too, must a real aircraft have this perfect trim.

A copy of this plan is amongst the Ship’s Papers. From it the Captain can satisfy himself that the load of cargo is properly spread over the holds and safely secured. Having done so, he signs the papers to certify that everything is correct.

The routine of actions carried out before, during and immediately after take-off, and also before, during and immediately after landing, is known as Flight Deck Drill or sometimes Cockpit Drill. This Drill includes all the operations needed to take off and land the aircraft. It includes the many tests which have to be carried out before take-off.

The object is always safety. To ensure safety, every vital part of the great airliner is checked, all the controls and the instruments.

Usually the First Officer is in charge of these tests. He reads out every item to be checked from a long list. As every item is read out necessary adjustments are carried out at once if they are needed.

The Radio Officer tests his equipment and the Navigating Officer makes sure he has all his maps and charts. He checks over the instruments he will need for navigating the airliner.

The Captain receives the reports from his officers that all is O.K. Everything is well with the aircraft. He must then check that all control locks are off, that the controls move freely, that the petrol supply is switched on and finally that George is in really good working order.

George now, who is he? He hasn’t been mentioned before, but in fact he is an extra member of the operating crew, although he is not alive!

He is a wonderful, complicated instrument—the Automatic Pilot, always called George. He will keep the airliner flying on a level, straight course, on the course it was flying when he took over, thus allowing the Captain and the First Officer to relax a little. By using George they need not concentrate during the whole trip on the controls. But the rule is that one or other of them must always be in his seat when George is on the job.

When the checks have all been made, the aircraft is ready to move; not yet to take off, for you will remember the long run on the ground before the Nairobi flight started. But the airliner is ready to taxi to the point from which it will take off.





CHAPTER 4

Take-Off

With the pre-flight checks we talked about in the last chapter completed, the engines are started, and according to B.O.A.C. regulations, revved up and the way they operate checked. If there are Engineer Officers on board they attend to these engine checks. If not, the Captain and/or the First Officer take over this duty.

The engines are checked for such things as revs. per minute and induction manifold pressure. Instruments indicate whether the performance of the engine is correct or not.

If you look at the drawing below you will gain an idea of the lay-out of a typical airliner’s control cabin or cockpit. The lay-out varies a little from one type of airliner to another, but the main controls and the instruments will be found in them all.



Fig. 4. The lay-out of the cockpit


If you went aboard a modern airliner and through the communicating door into the control cabin, you would be amazed at how complicated it all looks, there are so many instruments and controls. Most of them you need not bother with very much. Only the trained operating crew can possibly understand them and what they are used for. The main lay-out, however, can quickly be explained.

One point you should understand right from the beginning. The main flying controls, those which are used to take the plane up from the ground, alter its height and its direction while in the air and bring it down to land again, are exactly the same in principle in any aircraft, whether it be large or very small. These controls operate the same way in an airliner as in a small two-seater private plane.

We will come to these a little later. Right now, have a look at the drawing of the cockpit.

In the front are windows, curving right round like a huge windscreen in a car. The two chairs facing this are used by the Captain and the First Officer, who is, you will remember, also the Co-Pilot.

In front of each chair is a control column, which as you will learn later is used to make the aircraft rise, dive or bank.

The rudder is set vertically to the tail-plane and is moved by means of foot-pedals on the floor close to the control columns. When in the air the rudder and the control column are both used at the same time to bring a plane round, as will be explained fully later.

The instrument panel is set in front of the pilots’ chairs. It is massed with dials, all of which mean a great deal to those who fly the plane, but not to us. This doesn’t matter so long as the pilots know what they mean!

Between the two pilots’ chairs are the throttle levers which control the speed of the engines and therefore the speed of the aircraft. On a car the throttle is controlled by a foot-pedal and sometimes by a hand-lever as well, but always by a foot-pedal. There is no throttle foot-pedal in an aircraft.

George, the Automatic Pilot, is also usually between the pilots. Nearby are the undercarriage controls. When the airliner is in the air the wheels fold back into the wings when this control is operated. They are retracted, as it is called.

High in front of the pilots’ chairs is the magnetic compass. To the left of the Captain’s chair, on the port side, is the steering-wheel which controls the nose-wheel. This is used for steering the airliner while it is still on the ground.

There are still other instruments above the windscreen windows.

Usually the place behind the Captain is occupied by the Radio Officer and all his equipment, easily reached. He has a table in front of him.

So has the Navigating Officer, who sometimes sits with his back to the front of the aircraft. He uses the table to spread out his maps and charts.

Finally, if an Engineer Officer or Officers are members of the crew of a particular aircraft, there are a seat and table which are usually immediately behind the two pilots. An Engineer Officer has to compile reports on the behaviour of the engines and so also needs a desk. He faces instrument panels which glisten with dials. These indicate at a glance how each engine is behaving, how much fuel is being consumed and so on. There is also a separate set of throttle levers with which to vary the speed of the engines. If an airliner, like the Argonaut, does not carry an Engineer Officer, there is no separate set of throttle levers—and as was said before, the Captain and/or the First Officer attend to his duties.

When an airliner is ready to move after pre-flight checks have been made, the engines are started one after the other—by an Engineer Officer if there is one on board—and then, when permission has been obtained from Aerodrome Control via the R/T set, the plane taxis to the end of the runway ready for take-off.

Obviously, with so many planes taking off or landing at any particular airport throughout any day or night, there must be proper airport control or there would be terrible accidents. There are two types of control—Approach Control and Aerodrome Control.

Aerodrome Control governs the movements of planes before take-off. Approach Control then takes over. Approach Control also governs planes before landing, handing them on to Aerodrome Control. Communication between both Controls and aircraft is of course by radio.

You will remember that one of the Radio Officer’s most important tasks is to keep in touch with Air Traffic Control Centres when the airliner is airborne. These Centres are quite different from Approach Control and Aerodrome Control. An incoming airliner is passed on to Approach Control from the last Air Traffic Control Centre when it draws towards the airport. Approach Control governs its movements right up to the airport and then Aerodrome Control takes over. Aerodrome Control then gives instructions for the actual landing.

When an airliner takes off, the routine is exactly round the other way. Aerodrome Control passes the airliner on to Approach Control, which then a little later passes it on to Air Traffic Control.

An airliner waiting to commence its flight therefore comes under Aerodrome Control and permission must be obtained from this Control for every move. Word is first given that the airliner may taxi along to the runway.

Arriving at the proper point, the plane being steered by means of the steering-wheel controlling the nose-wheel, a halt is made, at right angles to the take-off path. Now the engines are again run-up and tested as a final check. The Captain also checks that all the controls are correctly set.

There must be no take-off until word comes from Aerodrome Control and permission granted. Permission is given over R/T or a green light from Control is switched on from the Control Tower. There may be both a green light and R/T permission by voice at the same time.

When permission is given, the Captain orders the crew to ‘Stand by for take-off.’ The Captain informs the crew that the airliner is taking off and then gradually he opens up the throttles to the maximum take-off power.

The airliner moves down the runway faster and faster as the throttles are opened. For a little while steering is done by means of the nose-wheel, but when the speed has reached a certain point, the Captain uses the rudder instead. This operates just like a boat’s rudder, turning right or left as the control pedals are pressed. The difference is that instead of the rudder pressing against water, it presses against air. The result, however, is the same. The plane can be steered by means of it when in the air and also while still on the ground provided there is enough speed. In the air, however, the rudder is used with the ailerons, as will be explained shortly.

When the right speed is reached, the Captain moves the control column back, towards him. This causes the plane to rise from the ground. Why is this? It is because the column, when pulled back, raises the elevators set in the rear or trailing edges of the tail-plane.



Fig. 5. Showing how the rudder, elevators and ailerons are operated by the control column


There are three control surfaces, as they are known—the elevators mentioned above, the ailerons and the rudder.

The elevators cause the plane to rise or dive, according to whether they are raised or lowered. The elevators are hinged to the trailing edges of the tail-plane and when the control column is pulled back it raises the elevators. The pressure of the air against them forces the tail down and therefore the nose up. The plane then climbs. On the other hand, when the control column is pushed forward, the elevators drop, the tail comes up, the nose down and the plane dives. The dive will be shallow or steep according to how far the column has been pushed forward.



Fig. 6. How the elevators and ailerons make the aircraft turn or climb or dive


The ailerons are hinged like the elevators, but to the trailing edges of the main wings. They are also operated by the control column, which if moved to the right, sideways, raises the aileron on the right wing and at the same time causes the aileron on the left wing to drop. This causes the right wing to drop, owing to the pressure of the air, and the left wing to rise, just as the raised elevator caused the tail of the plane to come down and the dropped elevator forced the tail to come up.

In conjunction with the ailerons the rudder is used. The rudder is operated by pedals; according to which one is pressed, the rudder moves, right or left. This rudder action turns the plane just as a boat rudder will turn a boat, but when flying a plane it is vital to use the ailerons as well, so that the plane banks. If only the rudder were used the plane would turn on a level keel and skid round. Rudder movement is therefore always used together with the ailerons and never by itself.

There is just one small difference, by the way, between the control-column operation in an airliner and in a small plane. In a small plane the column or joystick, as it used to be called, can be pushed sideways, but in an airliner, which has a much larger and heavier control column, a wheel or half wheel is at the top of the column. The pilot turns this to right or left to put on bank, but the column itself does not move to either side.

Elevators, ailerons and rudder are the principal control surfaces. The hundreds of instruments on board do not in any way affect movement through the air—rising, diving or banking. The instruments are there to tell the crew how the engines are behaving, what height the airliner is above the ground, the air speed of the plane and so on.

Once the plane is in the air the Captain will give the order to retract the undercarriage and the nose-wheel.

Instructions will have been given as to what height should be maintained—it may be 10,000 feet, even higher, or perhaps a little lower, say 8,000 feet. You will remember that Air Traffic Control Centres govern the movements of planes once they are away from the airport and out of the control of both Aerodrome Control and Approach Control. The aircraft is then passed on from one Centre to the next.

Ranging across the country are what are called Airways, strips of air having length, width and thickness, so to speak, unlike a road, which has only length and width. These Airways are some miles in width and thousands of feet thick. Almost always airliners fly along these Airways while over Britain.

During the climb necessary to reach the height which any particular airliner has been instructed to attain, checks are made at certain points. Thus the first check-point may be at 2,500 feet, a second when the plane is at 4,000 feet.

When the first point is reached, permission will be given by Control, in contact by radio, to continue to climb to the second check-point, where once again permission is obtained to carry on. At no time is the airliner out of touch with the ground while flying over the United Kingdom.

While an airliner is over the United Kingdom and following a definite Airway, under the control of those on the ground all the time, the Navigating Officer’s task is not so difficult as it will be when the Airway has been left behind. It would be difficult for us, of course, indeed quite impossible, but it isn’t for him. Later, however, when Air Trafiic Control has been left far behind and there is no Airway to follow, it is for him to navigate the aircraft safely and surely along the route selected previously by the Captain.

His task is very complicated and requires long training and experience. Can you imagine yourself sitting at his desk in an airliner, perhaps at night, unable to see anything outside the plane—although even if you could it wouldn’t help very much—and trying to find your way through the vast, empty spaces of the sky to a destination which is perhaps many thousands of miles away?

It sounds like a nightmare, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t seem that way to the skilled Navigating Officer. He knows exactly how to set about the job.

You will find it very interesting to learn how he does this.





CHAPTER 5

On Course

If you do geometry at school you will know that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. If you don’t do geometry all you need to prove this for yourself is a piece of paper, a pencil and a ruler. Make two dots some inches apart on the paper and then draw a straight line between them. Measure it. Now try and draw another line, however you like, which is shorter . . . you will fail!

So a straight line is the shortest distance between two points; whether they are inches apart or thousands of miles, it makes no difference. It is this fact which is the basis of all air navigation. The ideal course for an airplane to travel will be a straight line between any two points. It is ideal because being the shortest it should take less time and consume less fuel. This last is important because of the pay-load, which we discussed earlier.

There is one point here which should be made clear, by the way. We have talked about a straight line, but of course in the air a plane must actually follow curved line, owing to the fact that the surface of the earth curves and the plane must follow this curvature. However, so long as this is understood, we can continue to call it a straight line for the sake of simplicity.

The ideal course is not necessarily a straight line between starting-point and final destination, as from London to Nairobi, for example; or rather the ideal may not be possible, which is often the way in this world.

There will usually be plenty of reasons why a plane has to make detours . . . to land at certain airports to put down and pick up passengers and freight, to refuel and so on.

Thus the ideal course cannot be followed between starting-point and final destination on a long-distance trip. But it can be followed between any two points along the route. The Navigating Officer’s object is to follow this ideal course between one airport and the next.

The line drawn on the map between any two such points is the ideal course. It is called, however, the track—the Required Track. If everything goes well the aircraft will follow this track over the ground.

The track which the aircraft does in fact follow is called the Track Made Good. At the end of any particular flight, the Track Made Good should be exactly the same as the Required Track plotted in advance. The two lines on the map should coincide. If they do, then the Navigating Officer has done his work as well as it can be done.

There are many instruments used in navigation, as we shall see shortly, but the most important of all is the compass. For many centuries the compass has been used on ships, as you know. Nowadays it is also used on aircraft, even though there are other aids to navigation which our ancestors never dreamed of—radio and radar in particular. Just the same, the compass is still an essential.

To understand how a compass is used you must know how an angle is measured. Those who do geometry will know that angles are measured by degrees. For those who don’t do this subject, this must be explained.

If you look at the illustration below you will see a large circle with North at the top, South at the bottom, East to the right and West to the left. This represents the face of the compass.



Fig. 7. Simplified diagram of a compass


When North and South are joined by a straight line and East and West by another, four right angles are formed where the two lines cross. Each of these right angles contains what are called ninety degrees. That is, ninety angles can be drawn in each right angle, each measuring one degree.

A degree has a special sign so that the word need not be written out fully each time. An inch, as you know, has for its sign ", a foot '. A degree is indicated by a tiny circle to the right of its number and just above it. Ninety degrees are therefore shown as 90°, forty-five degrees as 45°, ten degrees as 10°, one degree as 1° and so on.

It is necessary to know how angles are measured if you are to understand how the compass is used in navigation.

The number of degrees in the whole circle, starting from North and ending at North, is 90 X 4 = 360. In the first right angle, formed by the vertical line dropping from the North and the horizontal line from East to West, we have put in a few other angles, each of 1°. There should of course really be 90 of these and another 90 in the next right angle and so on right round the circle; but there isn’t room to put them all in and so you must imagine the others.

The important thing is that there should be 360 of these angles, running clockwise round the circle, left to right, from North back to North.

The compass needle always points to the North—in fact to the Magnetic North, which is a little different from the True North, but this doesn’t matter. The vital thing is that it always points in the same direction. The Navigating Officer works out that to keep on course the nose of the airliner must be kept pointing a certain number of degrees from the North—say 20°. He tells the pilot what the angle should be and then the nose is kept pointing this number of degrees from the North.

From all this you might think that the Navigating Officer has only to measure on his map the difference in angle between the Magnetic North and his destination. But there is more to it than that because of the winds.

Winds vary in strength and direction and obviously must affect a plane. A head wind blowing from in front can reduce the speed of an aircraft over the ground; a tail wind from behind can increase this speed. A beam wind from either side will cause a plane to drift one way or the other according to the direction from which the beam wind is blowing.

Let us take a simple example to show this. A plane’s Required Track is as shown in the illustration below, the North being shown. The plane is travelling at 200 m.p.h., and there is a beam wind from the east of 40 m.p.h.



Fig. 8. An unfavourable wind may cause a considerable difference between the Required Track and the Track Made Good


If the Navigating Officer made no allowance for this wind, at the end of an hour the plane would be forty miles West of the point where it would have been had there been no wind at all. The Track Made Good would not coincide with the Required Track, as shown in the drawing.

The Navigating Officer therefore takes into account the force of this beam wind from the East. The Required Track remains the same, of course, but he works out that the nose of the plane must be pointed a certain number of degrees to the East to offset the strength of the wind blowing from that direction. If he works out this number of degrees exactly right, then the beam wind will carry the plane to the West just enough to bring it on to the Required Track.

The Navigating Officer therefore has to rely very greatly on weather forecasts. He uses the forecast the Captain received before take-off, studying the force and direction of the winds. He then makes his calculations accordingly.

Weather, however, can change very suddenly. However expert the forecasters are, conditions may change unexpectedly after a plane is airborne. The Navigator realizes this and is always ready to make necessary adjustments.

If the weather does change after take-off, in the case we are considering, if the wind changes, dropping, blowing more fiercely and/or changing direction, course must be altered accordingly.

The up-to-date weather information received on board via the radio helps the Navigator a great deal in this. But more than anything he relies on certan methods of proving the exact position of the aircraft at any given moment. When he has proved it, or fixed it as it is called, he can then see whether the plane is in the position it should be according to his calculations or in some other position. If so, then he must adjust course and report to the Captain that the compass course given earlier must be altered.

There are several ways in which the position of an aircraft can be fixed. In daylight it is possible that landmarks can be seen and identified. At night he can perhaps use not landmarks but what we can call skymarks—the moon and the stars. These can be used during the day, too, as far as the sun is concerned and sometimes the moon, too. The Navigator can discover the exact direction of any landmark by using a special compass which he points at the mark. He then reads off the number of degrees and by taking this bearing fixes the position of the aircraft in relation to the marks. By using a different method, he can fix the position in relation to skymarks, too.



Fig. 9. How an aircraft may fix its position


To do this he takes a bearing on at least two marks. If one mark is North-West and the other North-East, as in Figure 9 he draws two lines, as shown, on his map and where they cross he knows that is the exact position of the aircraft. Three lines, bearings being taken on three marks instead of two, will fix the position of the aircraft even more accurately.

There are, however, better ways of fixing the position. Earlier we said that the Radio Officer can help in this work. One way of doing this is by using the wireless aerial which is on top of the fuselage outside.

The aerial is in the form of a loop. It can be turned right round in a complete circle from inside the control cabin. When it is at right angles to the direction of a transmitting station, whatever is being transmitted by that station is received at its faintest. As the aerial is turned more, the signals become louder and louder, only to fade again as it once more comes to the right-angle position. If you have a portable radio set at home you can prove this for yourself by turning the set slowly round and noticing how the programme fades, becomes stronger and then fades again.

Inside the cockpit of an airliner there is a special instrument to which the loop aerial is connected. As the aerial is turned a pointer moves round a dial. This dial is marked off in degrees. When the aerial is at right angles to the transmitting station the pointer turns in that direction. The bearing is then read off.

If two or three transmitting stations are used in this way, the Navigating Officer can fix the position of the aircraft by drawing lines on his map as he would if taking bearings on landmarks or skymarks.

This loop aerial is by no means the only radio aid to navigation. It is indeed the simplest of them all. There are many others and every day scientists are working to improve radio aids.

In the United Kingdom there are special wireless stations on the ground along all the Airways. These stations transmit certain signals and these are picked up by special compasses on board the aircraft—radio compasses as they are known. These compasses show the direction of each of these stations, beacons they are called, from the aircraft. The airliner’s position is therefore automatically fixed by the radio compasses operating as the signals are received from the beacons.

There are other aids, too; many of them. First, there is the aid known as CONSOL. This is a very-long-range, highly-powered transmitter on the ground and is used for navigation outside the United Kingdom. Over the ocean, for example, there are no Airways and therefore none of the beacons we talked about just now. CONSOL helps a great deal.

It sends out signals in dots and dashes. The number of dots as compared with the number of dashes varies according to the direction of the transmitter from the aircraft. When two transmitters can be heard on board an airliner, the usual lines are drawn on the Navigator’s map and the aircraft’s position thus fixed.

Second, there is LORAN. Radar impulses are sent out by what are called ‘master’ stations. There are also other stations known as ‘slaves’. It is too complicated to explain exactly how ‘masters’ and ‘slaves’ operate, but the main point is that there is a time difference between the impulses sent out by each type of station. Special equipment on board an airliner measures these time differences. The differences give the aircraft’s position lines and so provide fixes. The range of the stations is about 8oo miles during the day and 1,400 miles at night.

‘Masters’ and ‘slaves’ are situated on the coasts of North America, Newfoundland, Greenland, Iceland and the Hebrides. There are some areas in the Pacific which are served in the same way as well.

On the North Atlantic routes, too, the Navigator can fix the position of his aircraft by taking radio bearings on the weather ships, which cruise about over an area of a few square miles. Having radio on board to transmit weather reports, and always being somewhere in a very small area of the ocean, bearings can be taken on these ships.

Airliners on the routes to Australia, the Far East, South Africa and South America, are fitted with radar apparatus and screens, equipment called Rebecca. On the ground is more equipment, beacons called Eureka.

Radar impulses are sent out by Rebecca, on the aircraft, and these start Eureka working. Eureka then sends back its own radar impulses, which are picked up by the plane, on the Rebecca screen. They are usually two letters in Morse, dots and longer dashes. Knowing the code letters of each Eureka beacon, the Radio Officer on board the airliner can identify each. On the screen there is a scale which shows the distance from the Eureka beacon. The direction of the beacon is shown by ‘blips’ of light which appear on the screen to the right or left or in the centre. If they remain in the centre, then the aircraft must be heading straight for the beacon.

The most important point about the Rebecca—Eureka system is that Eureka doesn’t start to operate until a plane with Rebecca on board comes within range, which is usually a maximum of 120 miles. It is automatic, Eureka being ‘triggered’ by Rebecca. Once an aircraft is within range, Eureka must start operating.

This, then, is how the Navigating Officer finds his way about the sky. It makes no difference to him whether it is night or day. Very rarely will he use landmarks. Radio waves and radar travel during the hours of darkness as well as during daylight. The Navigating Officer relies upon these far more than upon landmarks. The development of radar has more than anything contributed to the art of air navigation.


CHAPTER 6

Touch-Down


We have seen how important is the work of the various officers carried on an airliner and learned something of what their duties are. It is the Captain, however, who is the most important man on board.

In football or cricket, the captain of a team doesn’t try to take over everybody else’s job. In cricket he doesn’t bowl and keep wicket at the same time, nor in football play in more than one position simultaneously! He relies upon the rest of the team to do their proper work. In the same way the Captain of Aircraft relies upon his team.

Just the same, he is skipper and like the captain of any sort of team, welds it together. He is the man who is finally responsible for everything that happens. He is in control.

It must never be forgotten that he is the boss. If anything goes wrong he is responsible. The safety of the aircraft and all who fly in her, whether crew or passengers, is in the final count his affair. He gives the orders, knows everything that is going on, and is always on the alert.

The First Officer acts as his deputy, but his work is not of course so responsible unless for some reason the Captain became incapable of carrying on. In such a case the First Officer would take his place and assume his authority. If the Captain fell gravely ill during a flight, for example, which is not impossible, the First Officer would become the Captain for the time being. Otherwise he acts as Vice-Captain, helping the Captain in his work of supervising everything that happens on board.

The two most important periods of any flight are during take-off and touch-down. It is then that the Captain’s responsibility is at its highest. Almost always, unless circumstances are exceptional, he takes personal control of the aircraft. During flight the First Officer often takes over the controls on the Captain’s orders, or George, the Automatic Pilot, is put in charge. During take-off and touch-down, however, the Captain will be at the controls.

Landing can either be simple or difficult according to weather conditions. On a clear, fine day or night, when visibility is perfect, there is no difficulty in landing an airliner. During the day the runway can be seen clearly. At night, in such conditions, the runway lights show up. In either case all the Captain has to do is to line up the nose of the aircraft with the runway which Control has instructed him to use and bring the plane down. In bad weather, though, it is a very different story.

There may be mist or fog, not bad enough to make landing impossible but thick enough to obscure proper vision of the runway. Or perhaps there is rain, which can have the same result. In such a case the Captain can’t rely merely on his eyes. He must make use of one of the special scientific aids to safe landing which have been developed during the search for ever-greater safety.

The first of these systems is called the Instrument Landing System, I.L.S. for short. When using this system, the Captain doesn’t rely on seeing the runway or the runway lights until the airliner is low enough and near enough to the runway for it to be visible. Quite often visibility is very poor high up but much better lower down. It is then that the I.L.S. may be used, to bring the plane down safely to a point over the runway from which the Captain can see well enough to land by sight.

In the control cabin, one of the many instruments which earlier we didn’t describe, is a dial with crossed needles. One needle automatically records whether the aircraft is aiming for the centre of the runway or whether it is making for one side or the other. The other needle gives the correct angle of glide.

This is all done by radio. From the ground radio beams are sent up which are received by the instrument in the control cabin. The needles operate as a result.

There are three beacons on the ground, radio beacons, situated along the approach to the runway. The first of these radio beacons is 4½ miles from the touch-down point, the second 3,500 feet away and the third only 250 feet away. As the airliner passes over each, a note is put out which the Captain hears through his earphones. Each beacon has its own note, so that he knows which one he is passing. He also knows the exact distance of each from the touch-down point. As a result, even though he can’t see, he knows at any moment exactly where he is in relation to the runway.

He is really getting a fix every time he passes over a beacon, just as the plane’s position was fixed during the flight. As the signals are received from the beacons, lights go up on the instrument panel, just to make sure that the Captain receives the signals. He could suddenly go deaf and not hear the signals through his earphones . . . but he isn’t likely to go blind and deaf at the same time!

The aircraft is led down through the mist, the rain or perhaps thick cloud, until the Captain can see the runway or, if at night, the runway lights. He then lands in the usual way, as he did at Rome after your flight on the Nairobi route.

Then, however, you didn’t know how this was done. You only realized that the airliner was safely down. In fact there is a definite routine, part of the Flight Deck Drill we talked about earlier when taking off.

Before take-off certain checks were carried out, you remember. Just before touch-down, checks are again made. There is a list of these checks just as there was for the pre-flight checks. The First Officer reads them out and the Captain and Engineer Officer attend to the various items, repeating each as a double check.

The Captain tells the crew that he is about to land, just as he told them earlier that he was going to take off. He then gives the order for the undercarriage to be lowered and the huge wheels are brought out from their hiding-places in the wings of the plane. The procedure is really the exact reverse of take-off routine.

The airliner is centred on the runway. The Captain has pushed the control column forward—instead of back as when taking off—while the Engineer Officer controls the speed of the engines by using the throttle levers. Then, as the plane comes down, the control column is edged back a little and the wheels touch the runway.



Approach and runway lights at London Airport



Fig. 10. On the approach for landing


At Rome, if you remember, the plane stopped much more quickly than you expected once it was on the runway. This is done by making special use of two of the four propellers.

In the usual way, when the aircraft is flying, the propellers cause it to move forward through the air. They can be adjusted, however, to push it back instead. It would be too complicated to explain why this happens when the angle at which the props are set is changed, but that is the effect. On receiving an order from the Captain, the Engineer Officer makes the necessary adjustment, using a special control in the cockpit, and the propellers push back instead of pulling forward. The aircraft then comes very quickly to a halt. Only two of the propellers are adjusted to do this, however. The other two continue to pull forward.

The Instrument Landing System is used to bring aircraft safely to a point when the runway can be seen by the pilot. It isn’t the only system, however. There is another, called Ground Controlled Approach, shortened usually to G.C.A. This also guides the pilot down, in this case by radar.

Radar impulses, each separated from the next so that they are like bullets, will bounce back from any solid object. Do you remember that some time ago scientists fired radar bullets at the moon, the impulses bouncing back and being received by special apparatus? Knowing that the impulses travel at 186,000 miles a second, which is the speed of light, by timing the impulses the distance of the moon from the earth was proved—not for the first time, of course, for this distance had been worked out by other means long ago.

The important point is, however, that radar bullets do travel at the speed of light. This is the basis of the Ground Controlled System. Radar bullets are fired at an approaching aircraft. They bounce back and are received on screens like television screens. They show as flashes of light on the screen and the Controller on the ground can thus see exactly where the plane is from moment to moment. He also knows from what direction it is approaching.

On the screen is a plan of the area round the airport. As the flashes of light appear on the screen, the position and the height of the plane is revealed.



The Southern Air Traffic Control Centre at London Airport. On the right is the Radar Scanner



A B.O.A.C. Stratocruiser coming in to land at London Airport. In the foreground is the Ground Control Approach installation


The Controller talks to the Captain over the Radio Telephone. Knowing exactly where the plane is from moment to moment, he can give instructions as to the line of approach to the runway, invisible to the Captain, and the angle of glide necessary to make a perfect landing. Because the Controller talks to the Captain in this way, the system is sometimes called the ‘talk-down’ system.

When visibility is poor only one aircraft is allowed to land at a time, however many runways there may be. It might well happen, though, and often does, that several airliners are approaching an airport to land at the same time. In such a case they have to take turns, not queueing up but ‘circling up’ as we can call it. Obviously aircraft can’t form a long line like passengers waiting for a bus. Instead each circles near the airport over an exact position; each flies at a different height, which is given to the Captains by Approach Control, using R/T.

The first to land is the aircraft circling nearest to the ground. Then the one immediately above, in the next layer, is given permission to touch down and so on. At least 1,000 feet is maintained between each circling plane.


CHAPTER 7

Training


Would you one day like to become a Captain of Aircraft with B.O.A.C.? Does the idea of commanding one of their great airliners thrill you? Probably quite a few of you feel that there could be no better job when you are men. You’re quite right, there is no better job, if you are the sort that wants responsibility and never-ending interest; if you want to travel and do something worthwhile at the same time. It is worthwhile, you know, to be part of an industry in which Britain leads the world.

If you want to become a Captain, at the very top of the tree, you will need to know something about the training given. From the start you should understand that there is no easy or quick short-cut to the seat on the port side of the control cabin where the Captain sits. It takes time, hard work and experience before a man is promoted to take command. It takes all three, too, for qualification as First Officer, Navigating Officer, Radio Officer or Engineer Officer. If a job is worth doing, though, it is worth doing well. You will not grudge the long training period if you are the right sort.

Many recruits to B.O.A.C. are ex-National Service men who with the R.A.F. have obtained some flying and navigational experience. Many of the Captains and First Officers now flying for B.O.A.C., in fact the vast majority, came to the Corporation from the war-time R.A.F. Nowadays the R.A.F. continues to supply B.O.A.C. with a large number of new entrants.

Another type of recruit may come from other airline companies or private charter firms, although this is rare. They will have experience of flying civil aircraft but usually smaller planes than those used by the Corporation.

The best way of obtaining some flying experience with a view to entering the service of B.O.A.C., is undoubtedly to join the R.A.F. and then afterwards apply to the Corporation. Entry, however, from some other airline is possible.

How about entry into the other airline, to gain experience of flying? Well, many keen young men have learned to fly by paying for lessons, determined to become commercial pilots. Having gained their licence, which permits them to fly for profit—a different licence and not so difficult to gain is necessary for ordinary private flying—they then apply to airlines for jobs. Many have the B.O.A.C. in mind as their final goal.

Flying clubs will teach you to fly and also give the ground instruction which is necessary for the commercial licence to be obtained. After this some are fortunate enough to find a job straight away as co-pilot with an airline.

On the whole the best method is to join the R.A.F., where training and experience are gained free of charge—more than that, the pay has now risen to something really worthwhile. You should stand a very good chance afterwards of securing a position with B.O.A.C.

The Corporation maintains a Central Training Unit at London Airport. Here, broadly speaking, two types of pilot training are given. The first is for recruits just entering the service with a certain amount of navigational and flying experience. The second is for experienced B.O.A.C. staff who need to be trained in the use of new equipment, instruments, methods or aircraft which until now they have not flown.

In order to be able to give such training, the instructors themselves are trained first in the use of new equipment by the manufacturers. This policy applies to all branches—engineering, radio and so on.

The job of the Central Training Unit is to prepare new crew and also keep efficient those officers already in the Corporation’s service.

The Training Manager in charge of the Unit is responsible to the Chief of Flight Operations for ensuring that all training courses are efficient. Teaching is undertaken in classrooms, by means of the Unit’s cinema, by using special equipment such as the Flight Trainers and the Simulators, which we will come to shortly, and also by correspondence courses where necessary.

The initial navigation course for pilots, which new entrants have to take, is the longest. It lasts 9-12 months. The Senior Navigational Instructor is in charge of this course, helped by no fewer than seventeen assistant instructors. All instructors are, of course, very experienced. Some fly with the pupils on instructional exercises and are entirely responsible for their progress.

This long course includes flying training and also ground work. A pilot’s job doesn’t begin when the plane is in the air but long before that, you will remember.

During the course the examination for the Flight Navigation Licence is taken, the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation’s examination.

B.O.A.C. insist that all pilots should be experienced in navigation. Apart from the above nine months’ course, there is also a shorter one, lasting sixteen weeks, for the Flight Navigator’s Licence. Existing pilots take this course. There is also a correspondence course for the same licence. This is used by staff who cannot be spared from operational duties to attend the full-time course.

After the nine months’ course, the new entrants are required to gain practical experience in the airliners. They are sent to the fleets first as probationer Navigators and then as sole Navigators.

Something more than a year is spent on this work, gaining experience in actual flying conditions. Then they will return to the Training Unit, to be trained as Co-pilots, having proved that they can navigate aircraft.

The Training Flight uses three Doves as training aircraft. Also, and very important they are, Flight Trainers are used, as mentioned before. Some of these are called Link Trainers.

These Link Trainers allow a pupil to ‘fly’ without actually leaving the ground. There are nine altogether, in the charge of the Senior Link Instructor.

Using the Link Trainers, pilots practise instrument approaches. The instrument panels are laid out like those on the various types of aircraft used by B.O.A.C. for carrying passengers. Some of the Flight Trainers are also used by pilots who are to change from one type of aircraft to another. In this way they can learn about new instruments and new lay-outs.

Instruction is also given in using the radio telephone. Pilots are taught how to pass air traffic control messages. Often these messages are registered on a recording machine and then played back to the pilot while the instructor discusses the way the messages were passed.

There are what are called Flight Simulators attached to the Training Unit. Special instructors use these for training pilots. The Simulators—the word ‘simulate’ means ‘to imitate’—are laid out exactly like the flight deck or control cabin of a real aircraft. Flight Engineers, or as we have called them in this book Engineer Officers, are also trained on these Simulators. Navigational exercises too are carried out on the Simulators.

These Simulators are wonderful pieces of equipment, for not only are they laid out exactly like the control cabin of a real aircraft, but special instruments imitate the feeling of flight. The pilot’s controls feel exactly as they do in real flight and the noise of the engines is reproduced, too. The various instruments will behave just as in actual flight—the Engineer’s instruments and the many others. The instructors can also arrange for ‘emergencies’ to arise from time to time so that trainees can be taught how to deal with them. One engine can be cut out, for example, or made to mis-fire. Bad-weather approaches can be made and the pupils instructed in the use of the various aids we have discussed in this book.

Eventually a man, having been posted as a Navigator for a year or more and then trained as a Co-pilot, will become a Second Officer. It must be understood, however, that this won’t happen until he has had suitable experience.

A word about Second Officer, a rank which hasn’t been mentioned before. The work is similar to that of First Officer but is one step below on the ladder which eventually ends at the rank of Senior Captain 1st Class. A Second Officer wears one ring of ½-inch gold and the gold-embroidered flying wings. After proper experience as Second Officer a man will become First Officer.

He will continue as First Officer and then as Senior First Officer, for quite a long time, learning all the while. Then, at last, the chance comes to qualify as Captain.

He takes a Command Course, as it is called, and when this has been satisfactorily completed, will be appointed to his first command. Later still he may be promoted to Senior Captain 2nd Class and finally to Senior Captain 1st Class.

All other crew are trained quite as thoroughly. Radio Officers and Engineer Officers receive specialized training; and so do all non-officer grades such as Radio Mechanics and Radio Engineers. Non-operational crew such as stewards and stewardesses also go to school to be trained in their various duties.

Crews are also kept up to date in new equipment and methods. Methods change from time to time and of course new equipment is constantly being developed.

Broadly speaking then, this is how B.O.A.C. trains the men who fly and operate the great airliners. Many details have been left out, of course, but you should now have a good idea of how the training is given—and also of the duties and responsibilities of a Captain of Aircraft. As well as those of the rest of the operational crew. Even if you didn’t realize before what a lot goes into the work of taking a giant airliner safely from one place to another, you should have some sort of notion now that it isn’t half so easy as the ordinary passenger might think, sitting snugly in the bright, warm, comfortable cabin.

One thing is certain . . . the work of an Airline Captain is full of interest and value, to the man himself and also to the community.


CHAPTER 8

Lords of the Air

It is time now to have a look at the aircraft in operation with B.O.A.C. and learn something about the great planes commanded by Captains of Aircraft.

You have flown in the Argonaut and explored it thoroughly. This is, however, only one of three types. At the time of writing there are in fact only three main types used—since the grounding of the Comets. You will remember that these gave trouble and were grounded so that engineers and designers could find out what was wrong with them. They have found out and have designed an entirely new Comet, which we will talk about later. When this is in service, and also other new types which we will describe later, the B.O.A.C. fleet will be greatly increased.

Stratocruisers are used extensively on the North Atlantic Routes to Canada, the U.S.A. and the Caribbean area in the West Indies. This plane is one of the largest and most luxurious now operating anywhere in the world.

The Stratocruiser is powered by four engines developing 14,000 h.p. and has a range of 4,400 miles, cruising easily at 325 m.p.h. Usually, however, a cruising speed of 275 m.p.h. is maintained, for this is much more economical of fuel.

The aircraft is air-conditioned and is pressurized. This means that as the aircraft climbs to really high altitudes, extra air is pumped in to make up for the fact that at great heights there is much less oxygen in the air. The whole aircraft is sealed so that the extra air pumped in cannot escape. The result is that even at 25,000 feet in the Stratocruiser, passengers and crew have no discomfort but can breathe as easily as though they were on the ground. The aircraft is heated, too, so that the cold of the upper atmosphere is not felt.

Lay-outs are changed from time to time. In one common arrangement, there are three main cabins, the aft cabin with 28 seats, the ’midships cabin with 24 seats and the forward cabin with 8 seats. There are also toilets, dressing-rooms for the use of passengers and a very interesting feature—a downstairs cocktail bar. The Stratocruiser has a lower deck and here is the bar, approached by a spiral staircase. To be able to move from the upper deck to the lower gives a feeling of great spaciousness.

At night bunks can be let down and some of the seats can be turned into bunks. The total weight when fully loaded is 60 tons.

At the time of writing, the other world routes, to the Middle East, Africa, the Far East and Australia, are operated by Constellations and Argonauts.

The Constellation measures just over 95 feet in length, with a wing span of 123 feet. There are four engines, Wright Double Cyclone, which give a cruising speed of about 300 m.p.h.

As with all B.O.A.C. airliners, the Constellation is pressurized for high flying, just like the Stratocruiser, and there is an air-conditioning plant on board which changes the entire air in the ship every few minutes.

The non-stop flying range is a maximum of 4,300 miles; the all-up weight is nearly 50 tons. It is a very comfortable aircraft, seating up to 60 passengers. Carry-cots are provided for babies and there are dressing-rooms and toilets.

Together with the Argonaut these are the three types of B.O.A.C. airliners now in operation—1956. To be added to them, however, are other aircraft already on order. Of these the Bristol Britannias should come into operation first, for two have already been delivered to B.O.A.C. They are not yet in service, for they have to be tested for months before they start carrying passengers; but by the time this book is printed they will probably be in service. They will be used first on the London—South Africa route. Later, Britannias will be flown from London to Australia, the Far East and Ceylon.

The Bristol Britannia Mark 102 is the first of these turbo-propeller planes. B.O.A.C. have ordered thirty- three Britannias in all, fifteen of which will be Mark 102s.

The Britannia Mark 102 is a turbo-propeller job with four engines each developing 3,900 horse-power. The cruising speed when fully loaded is in the region of 380 m.p.h. The length is 114 feet. More than 90 passengers can be carried in great comfort. The cruising range, carrying a full pay-load, will be somewhere around 3,780 miles, not taking into account any winds.

The tests which the first two Britannias are now undergoing include methods of control, management of fuel supply, the working out of flight plans suitable to the new type of plane and so on. All tests are designed to make the operational staff and ground staff thoroughly familiar with the Britannias. Not until everything has been checked and double-checked in actual service conditions will the new airliners begin to carry passengers. This also applies to all other new types of aircraft delivered to B.O.A.C.

Not only are Bristol Britannia turbo-prop aircraft to be taken into service, but also the new Comet mentioned earlier.

The new Comet, Mark IV, completely redesigned as a result of the trouble with the first series, will be powered by four Rolls-Royce engines which will give more power than the Comet I. B.O.A.C. have ordered nineteen to start with.

The cruising speed will be in the region of 500 m.p.h. and the planes will carry 58 passengers in very smooth comfort. 2,870 miles can be travelled in each hop with a head wind of 50 m.p.h.
This will mean, therefore, that the trip from London to Johannesburg in South Africa can be done with only two stops on the way. The Comet IV should also be able to fly direct from London to Gander in Newfoundland carrying full pay-load and proper fuel reserves.

It is expected that delivery will start in 1958, but before then a Mark II will be delivered for training and testing purposes. This Mark II will be powered by the same type of engines to be used in the Mark IV.

Finally, amongst new aircraft ordered by B.O.A.C. are some American piston-engined airliners, the Douglas Seven Seas. These have been ordered and should be delivered by about the end of 1956, to bridge the gap between now and the delivery of the Britannias and the new Comets. Although piston-engines do not develop the same power as the turbo-prop or the jet engines, nor give the same high cruising speeds, the Douglas aircraft are very comfortable and probably the best that can ever be made with piston-engines—which of course are the ordinary engines used everywhere before jets or turbo-props came along.

It is interesting to know that the Bristol Britannias are the first long-range turbo-prop airliners in the world.

Having had a look at the three present types of B.O.A.C. airliners, the Stratocruisers, the Constellations and the Argonauts, as well as the new craft on order, we can now learn something about how airliners are maintained—that is, looked after and serviced so that engines and all equipment are always in first-class condition.

Obviously it is far more important to make sure that nothing goes wrong with an aircraft than any other sort of vehicle. Very little in the way of repairs can be done in the air. The Ground Engineers maintain the aircraft and a very important job it is.

Every part of the engines, and indeed of the aircraft itself, is given a certain ‘life.’ This means that it has been found by keeping careful records—you remember, for example, how the Engineer Officer on duty during a flight keeps records all the time of the way the engines are behaving—that the various parts will work for a certain average time without giving any trouble. The parts will operate for a certain number of working hours—flying hours, in fact.

Now the important thing is this. After each part has operated for that number of hours it is removed from the aircraft altogether, even though it still seems to be in perfect order. That doesn’t matter. It is taken out, dismantled completely, overhauled and then rebuilt. After that it is given a second ‘life’ of the same number of flying hours as before.

In place of the part—it may be one of the engines—another is installed in the plane. This may be a brand new part or one which has come from another aircraft and been overhauled.

This is the basis of all B.O.A.C. maintenance work—to act before, not after, trouble has developed! Of course, overhaul or replacement doesn’t have to wait until the ‘life’ of a part is completed. If there is the slightest reason to suspect any kind of trouble before then, out comes the part and another replaces it at once.

There is another type of maintenance work necessary besides this overhauling and replacement. Your father’s car has to go to the garage every so often to be serviced—oiled and greased and generally checked over. Aircraft have to be serviced regularly, too.

Your father takes his car into the garage after it has travelled a certain number of miles. Aircraft checks are carried out after a certain number of flying hours. Each part is checked after a different number of hours, according to which part it is and how much work it has to do.

There are several different types of checks, each undertaken at certain specified times. The first is the simplest. Signs of wear are sought in all the moving parts of the controls, engines are inspected in case fuel is leaking and the aircraft is examined for minor troubles. Each subsequent check is more detailed, until finally the whole aircraft is most thoroughly examined all over.

The checks are quite different from the removal of parts after their flying ‘lives’ have been completed. The checks are made as well as the other overhauls. Maintenance services are organized to ensure that nothing which could have been avoided goes wrong with any aircraft. B.O.A.C. work on the principle that no trouble is too great. No airline-operating company in the world takes greater safety measures.

The aircraft, the ships of the sky, must be specially designed for the job they have to do, skilfully built from the finest materials and then carefully maintained. The airliners used now by B.O.A.C. and those new types shortly to come into service are all designed to give the greatest comfort to passengers and the smoothest, fastest flights all over the world.



 




LOW-FLYING ARGONAUT INCIDENT

My junior school was located under the approach to Heathrow’s runway 28L, about 5 miles distant, which meant that airliners passing overhead were flying approximately 1300 feet above ground level. Most of the children paid no attention to the machines droning over the school – they made little noise apart from the very occasional jet, such as the RAF’s Comet 2s (BOAC’s Mk 4s were not yet in service), Air France’s Caravelles on proving flights and Aeroflot’s Tu104s. The Boeing 707 had yet to roar through British skies.

We plane-spotters watched them all, noting down registrations of course. Even indoors we could identify aircraft types by the timbre of their engines. The crackle of Wright Turbo-Compounds was the signature of Super Connies or DC-7s, while Merlins meant Argonaut or York. Very common was the whine of Dart-engined BEA Viscounts.

One spring morning in 1958, during break, we spotters in the playground identified a distant approaching aircraft as either DC-4 or Argonaut (the airframes were virtually identical). Unusually it was flying much lower than normal. As it got closer the shape of its engine nacelles told us ‘Argonaut’ and soon the growl of Merlins confirmed the identity. By now, other children were taking interest. The noise of kids at play gradually subsided as one by one they stopped their games and stood rooted to the spot watching the BOAC aircraft roar past, the eyes of a couple of hundred temporarily silent and motionless children following its progress. The aircraft did not appear to be in trouble. All four props were turning and it was not descending. I noted the registration, of course, but sadly this snippet of data has since escaped my memory. We all watched as the aircraft sedately flew on towards Heathrow and gradually the other children lost interest and resumed their playground activities.

There was no subsequent reference to the incident in any of the media that I saw or heard and I wonder if perhaps the crew of the Argo were just having a bit of fun. In those days Captains had more latitude about how they flew their aircraft. A similar departure from standard operating procedures would not be tolerated these days.

J E

v9.2