REAR-ENGINED JETS

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29722, 16 January 1962, Page 13

REAR-ENGINED JETS

“Could Interest N.Z. Airlines”

The production of rearengined jet aircraft had brought a considerable change in the outlook of airline companies, said Mr R. S. Plater, the representative of the British Aircraft Corporation in Australia, yesterday.

Mr Plater said that when the managing director of the corporation (Sir George Edwards) visited Australia and New Zealand this year two aircraft were likely to bear heavily in the discussions with airline officials. These aircraft were the B.A.C. One-Eleven, the fulljet replacement for the Viscount. and the VC-10. a 600 mile-an-hour jet, ordered already by the British Overseas Airways Corporation and a possible replacement for the Electras. Mr Plater said that rearengined jet aircraft were regarded as the second generation of jet aircraft. They had the approval of flight engineers because the fuel tanks were well away from the passengers and they had shorter take-off and landing distances than the present jets. Mr Plater said that the B.A.C. One-Eleven and the. VC-10 .'ould be of interest to New Zealand airlines when the present aircraft had to be replaced.

“The British aircraft industry has taken on a new lease of life with its development of the rear-engined jet, and now has a lead on the rest of the world,” he said.