«THEN CHINA - MAIL – THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER.
As our air power (not all of it!) goes on show to the world
a man who
knows says...
Britain still leads in the air
TOP
LEPY TO BOTTOM RIGHT ( HUNTER, VICTOR. SRITANNIA
JAVELIN YISCOUNT.
SWIFT
-BUT DON'T BE TOO SMUG!
W
HAT a fine prelude which has been inadequately 're-,
to the Farn- cognised here in Britain,
The engine borough Air Show
WBS
are sold
195
* DON IDDON'S
DIARY *
Britain and France Under Heavy Fire
T
his
rolo' in the..." spectacular
New York, Tuesday. sprinkles.") But since I Maybe this basal meta- At least he got away with THE first person I saw have got back here we have bolism (How's yours?) only light slaps on the wrist for in Grand Central had a deluge, a big wind, affects politics too. Since I McCarthy versuß the Army clr- Station when I got and humid, steamy days got back I have been in- cus carlier in the year. off the Commodore Vander- which have frayed New formed by some ferocious - bilt was an Associated Press Yorkers' thin nerves.
| photographer I've known for
years. He said: "Going on ·
been on one, two months,
a trip?" I said: "I've just
Different look
+
friend that the French are The long holiday Labour Day finished, that Britain is week-end has helped the enters tained business, which hasn't second-rate Power playing had a very good summer Russia Ching off against
the United States, that Two British Bims, “High and
British
but West about 10,000 THE city looked different. Clement Attlee and Nye pappers, have received glow- milea altogether." The
Fifty-first Street be- Bevan are either dolts or ing reviews and have drawn photographer grinned and
scoundrels or both, and that the crowds. said: "We haven't missed where I work, and
tween Rockefeller Plaza,
Sixth only Spain and Turkey are you."
to be relied upon. Avenue is being torn apart. New Yorkers are a
won- The. sidewalk cafes such as I have raid: "Is that:so? A derful people. You can go
"The Little Cottage" and most balanced, moderate view, old-fashioned, I am sure," and have longed for away for a year and your "Moriarty's," next-door neighbour in the dim-lit saloons and bars the comparativo sanity of Holly apartment house won't know where newspapermen and wood and Beverly Hills. whether you've been to radio people have hung out China or just slipped out for years, are being de to take the dog for A molished to make way for
yet another towering groy the other night, and almost publicity, stone Rockefeller bulld-
**
Red in face
WAS with a group of people I am finding New York ing. pretty hard to take after
everyone was getting red in the face about Red China, but only the vast spaces · of Cali-
thrue out
a dozen of about The city says it is pro- people could spell Premier Chou fornia and Nevada. The gress, but I say it is a sad En-lal's name weather is unpleasant. For business. two months I had not seen
They use our engines in their undisputed lead. This is, in the own aircraft. They build them production of privately-owned which ultomises in their own factories, under small aircraft. our current schievement was on ilcence, And re-christen them They have a vast domestic walk. the news show at Farnborough for the with American numbers.
market. Thousands about the Comet,
irst time. It is the Rolls-Royce' In air transport our record every year. For Farnborough is the Sour, a small turbo-jet engine has been chequered. Wo put But in the civil feki as a whole
which has been called "an vur faith
the prop-jel Britain holds
a strong position occasion for national and, W
Viscount and Britannia, with the today, engineering miracle.” Indeed, international e- Although weighing only pure Jet Comet. And the Comet And the true measure of our clamation of British aircraft. 2671b., it gives 1,800 of thrust met a revere initial reverse. growing technical superiority is
power-weight ratio The Viscount, however, is and their designers, to greater
than anything that has been already an established success. Americo is buying our turbo- gother with a modest degree bulli before.
It is being built in large numbers prop transports in ever-increas-
ing numbers,
Finally 1 furn
to our military aircraft.
of
self-satisfaction on the
part of the aircraft manu- facturers,
by
Air Commodore
this:-
A. V.HARVEY, C.B.E., M.P..
DEPUTY CHAIRMAN, HANOLKY „PADE LTD.
creased economy on long-range aircraft.
the ... Yet recently mosphere has been different, A mood of doubt has crept in. People have been asking: Has Britain lost her lend in the air to the United States? My answer to that is No. Though I must admit there is some danger of America drawing up on us.
What are the reasons for my "super-charged turbo-prop" with confidence about our
prenent a fuel consumption so low that The critics, supremacy 7
with competes
the diesel believe, talk only of the weak- engine.
NCSBC9 in Britain's position, when they ought to look at our aircraft programme as a whow.
And recently the Bristol Com- pany hos announced
ብ new
Two
fighters
wo of our now in production -- the Hunter and the Bwift - can hold their own with anything likely to be put up against them.
are a
Then there ir the Conway, for international use. There are In the Javelin we have one of
designed a turbo-jet
for In- now over 150 on order.
the world's outstanding all- class And the Britannia should be weather interceptors, a In demand soon. Airlines all rapidly gaining in importance as over the world are interested in the threat of the atoin-bomber th, both for its performance and looms larger. operational economy, It was one
As for our of the stare at Farnborough.
ability to strike, the V-bombers
revolu- Many other transport aircraft tionary and courageous break-
production. are in
previous designs. In fact, away from Britain
American bombors, like their can offer a raze ok With them. of course, are airliners covering every possible airliners, represent the logical and highly-efficient development the mighty
requirement. Sapphire and Olympus engines for both
we are not of a well-tried basic type. In this respect foolishly "jet-happy." nighters and bomber.
When a But no nation could
achieve the performance needed
First, the engines, They govern everything. Without the best engines
the supreme fribute to build the best aircraft,
British leadership in the field Here we can claim a record of of jet and turbo-jet engines is outstanding distinction, and one paid by the Americans.
piston engine does a job better than a jet we use it.'
Only in one sphere of civil aviation does America, hold an
Would your watch have kept
time on the sea-bed?
WEARING a Rolex Oyster Perpetual, a profesor of Milan University went for a swim off Capri. But the strap-buckle war loose, and his watch broke from his wrist, and sank to the botiam. Without much hope, the profesor asked some dirers, working nearby, to keep an eye open for his watch. Surprisingly, seven days later, they actually found it, and it was still keeping perfect time.
It is not really so incredible. For this superb watch, completely protected from water and sand by the famous Oyster waterproof case, is automatically wound by the Ferpetual "rotor" mechanism➡ - another Rolex invention.
It is in their ability to stay accurate, under such incredible tests of endurance that Rolex watches prove their immunity from the more normal ills that beset an ordinary watch.
After seven days beneath the sea, a Rolex Ogier Perpetual, brought up by divers, was found to be still shaving the right time! (The priginal letter of Profeuer Cuisis can be Inspected at the Rolex officei, 18 rue du Marche,
Gixera.)
This Rolex Oyiar Perpetual is similar »
the marya - Permanently
ROLEX
In the history of Time mannrey
But how much longer can they
today?
Exacting
Their current bombers have severe operational limitations. They
require longer runways than our own V-bombers, Their. thin swept wings cannot enclose the undercarriage, which takes up useful space in the fuselage, A special lending technique is noedad: the aircraft must be landed within very narrow speed limita dependent upon its weight at the time.
For the rough and tumble of wartime operation this exacting requirement contrasts sharply with the handling characteris- tics of the British V-bombers and, in particular, the self- capabilities of the
Soon the Americans must bring
into servico aircraft designed on entirely new Unes, We have already done so.
In fact we hold the lead. A
convincing lead.
If the British aircraft industry
is criticised, in spite of all its
are more
them,
ment.
when I asked
gentle
irent.
a drop of rain. (In Lox All over mid-town build- It is often fashionable In Angeles it nover "rains." inga which looked spanking some circles to blame the There is merely "heavy new to me two months ago British, but compared to what dow or light moisture are being rent apart and the French are being called we
big
stoné slabs of
and are getting the chromium going up in their place.
I feel particularly sorry for tho French correspondents. Manhattan 18 plagued They walk the corridors, dangling from their with a feverish restlessness cigarettes
in the French which makes the West, with lips.
wrapped in gloom.. the possible exception of Los Angeles, seem solid and calm.
WITH LABY LITTLEHAMPTON!
* THE MIDOLE EAST — I
POCKET CARTOON by OSBERT LANCASTER
"But of course I remember you perfectly!!"
P
Basic reason
manner,
Gr
The most discussed personality, just now is Joon Greenwood, the articulate atom, who is to co-star with Stewart Granger in "Moonfleet." Miss Greenwood, whose voleo is as husky as Tallulah Bankhead's,
has spoken up in
criticism American vegetables (no flavour) and tea-bags, and in praise of American coffee and New York Taxi-drivers, and gained herself useful columna of
Granger and his wife, Jean Simmons, gave me dinner just before I left the West Coast. Granger cooked, the 'steaks and made the salad himself. Both were excellent. › '
Granger said he'd much rather be a doctor than an actor, and
Jean said she'd sooner have a three-roomed flat pad walk in Tain in London that the glitter of Hollywood,
the
Farewell drink
MREER
all
GARSON invited ... for a farewell drink in her Bel Air home, which has fist had a new v
wing and in elevator odded. Her husband, Buddy
One thing I've noticed since tretur,ut not yet fall, of Fogckon, who is an you make decline, Senator Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy hos got fat and Bustered. So long the accuses he is now the accused, and ho
has squirmed as a special com- mittee of Senators has
id: don't your headquarters in Holly- wood?" I would, if I had one his all wells,
I also met Grear's mother, taken who talked about the time when
Greer got £10 a week in Birm Ingham. Now she commands £60,000 a pistarrer party to tak
PERHAPS it is something to do with the climate. My doctor tells me solemn- evidence on whether he should
be censured, ly: "There is a higher hasal metabolism here than any- The hearings have not been where clac, That's why televised or broadcast, and even
Moura Lympany, a wonderful we are always jumping and smoking has been banned in the pianist and ambassador
Robbed of the Britain, called to say goodbye. dithering, can't keep still, grandstand,
Caucus Room
McCarthy hos suffer from Insomnia and rushed to the microphone and Several American producers outside are bidding for Jack Hylton's the shakes, and rush about the television cameras from one place to the other the Caucus Room and let loose "Salad Days," which they are blasts against his erities. So convinced would be a big hit without any good reason." " for his impact has been small, here,
Now Errol Flynn's father
is used to the fuss
ROFESSOR THEO-
DORE THOMSON FLYNN is I dis- tinguished zoologist. A lean, bronzed, successes, I believe it is mainly a 11,
gentle- because we
secret-mannered and modest Aus- tive than most countries about tralian, who has specialised our achievements. For security in marsupial embryology, a and subject that rarely reaches our the headlines. of: guided
cur
aircraft
30
reasons we say very little about
supersonic rocket developments, fearsome Amoury wespons.
America believes in a judicious lifting of the security vell. For the most part, we do not..
But, for all my confidence, 1 am still ter from happy about some of the planning
aspects of our defence programme.
Russia hides many socrets.
Cut Navy
The ex-Professor, who has achieved a share of fame in his own line, remembers the horror of the 'day his son decided to be an actor. "But, we couldn't have had a
nicer boy,” he adds. ;
by HUGH CLELAND
Belfast.
"swashbuckling" as a convenient word for the Errol Flynn way of life, "I don't think I ever did any swashbuckling when I was younger," said the professor. "Never had much leisure for that sort of thing. I always had to work."
In 1948, the professor resigned reached from the university. "I'd have had to sign uċme time," he explains. "I just anticipated the date a bit, because. Errol had bought some estates in Jamaica.
The
Everyone said we ought to feel "made" him. They proud. It was all very nice."
By that time (the early "We never said much about He has another claim to thirties) the professor was being related to him," said Mrs fame, which he is proud to already a big-man in his own Flynn, "but we had big parties
professor and his wife admit. He is the father of ne, with a string of letters after when the films oame
his name. He had reached
sailed off and settled into the Errol Flynn, the lean, Belfast by way of teaching in the situation
One person who did appreciate sprawling "Great House," on his bronzed, not always gentle high school and technical school
the Flynns son's estate. He took over the
then mannered
in his home State of New South daughter, Rosemary, over-modest or
management af 3,000 acres, whose schoolgiri, now the wife of an chief products are cattle,Coco Wales, work on the staff of the American colonel. Having a nuts, pimento and banane. He film actor, who hits the University of Tasmania, headlines frequently, often Hobart (where Errol Flynn was. Mim star for a brother her stock wrote regular reparte to his son. Wwent right Up," said the pro- "He's a good businessman, Errol, with some violence..
born in 1909), and far-flung fessor. She was thrilled. She reacts very 12search. He had been on an has the same kind of charm as about the estate," said the pro- quickly to reports "Antarctic expedition, and was an
Errol." authority on Tasmanian fläherles
fouror:
"Oh, those headlines.
They used to worry
a and on marsupials (mammals
And the whole technique of warfare la changing rapidly. The balance of the British Armed Forces is not being changed at great deal," sald the pro-- which, like the kangaroo, carry the same tempo.
fessor; and his wife, grey-haired, their young in a pouch), grey-eyed, smart and attractive,
Britain's supreme, need penco-is effective bomber. force.
2 tho, primo. shield of
an
sighed emphatic agreement."
Then we saw how to sift.
I belleve Britain should have what the reports from Holly
at least 160 jet bombers actually wood said, and work out what on the airfields. Not one is the truth probably was,” said
the professor,
No theories
Was
Errol Flynn 'married; three times. His
In his spare time the profesor parchis are phillo indulged his hobbies of golf, sophie. "What can you do about -that sort of thing?" Mrs Flynn
fishing cabinet madming
The world of dusty "There's aske, and answers, nothing you can do. But his professor found himself soma..
university dons réceded. Tha Patrice
wife now (notress
rumbustious, colourful world" of
Who's Who carries 22 Inches Wymore) is a very sweet girl where between that and the about the professor, nothing "Comes from a very healthy1 his, són, “ there
about his son. For purposes of sort of background in Kansas, And, of course, it is useless
comparison, a film Who's Who adds the professor. to have the bombers there unless "And Errol always wrote has 1 Inches on Errol Flynn; they have the weapons to carry. lotters, explaining," Mrs Flynn Encyclopaedia Britannica has After the war, "-Hollywood
Britaki should also, lo cutting added. down on the Navy and the Army Estimates, be ready oven to cut
4
The professor is visiting Lon-
would release inside his don to work on some lentile
tion, offort not
not only for the
bbrs""but also for the
apers...
missiles which will provide, the
most effective defence
country in the yours; the
Announcement
114 columns on marsupials.
father
writers seemed to settle · ́for
and.
Errol Flynn's theories about bringing up
children, ""I suppose we weren't stern enough with Errol," says -Mra Flyna "I ramamber 'when he was very small ho used very long words, and from very early
To sum up." I would say, that He was occupying the chair of en, he loved : de
2 dressing up and
Britain le silii, obaad of America, Our engines retain their res raser: Our airliners are replac of becoming a movie actor.
zookary" when his only son an- play-acting." nounced one day that he thought
ing American typez And our thiftery alternfi | are!, in: LINE
#1 wanted; flen
Not sorry
QITTING In the decorous house, in the decorous evenue
and
in Finchley, where he is staying, the professor talked presently produced somq photographs tross Jamaica
He thumbed photogra
limielt on his