A case of human sacrifice
LETTERS
From: Richard Wiggs, Peter J. Smith, Neil Usher, S. H. Leslie, Dr E. J. Mishan, John Biggs-Davison, MP, M. J. G. Field.
Sir: May I offer Mr Hurren (Letters, 31 May) a few 'shreds of factual information' about the prospects for sonic bangs over Britain?
The ministers concerned have repeatedly (in the House of Commons and in correspondence) declined to give an assurance that supersonic overflying will not be permitted. The carrying out of sonic bang tests last July indicated that supersonic overflying was being considered (indeed this was stated).
Representatives of BAC have repeatedly said that Concordes flying from London to New York will `go supersonic' over Lundy Island. This will inflict sonic bangs on much of Devon and Cornwall and possibly on South Wales. These same spokesmen have said that planes on the Frankfurt-New York route will cross Britain supersonically unless this is prohibited. Air France has stated its intention of flying out from Paris supersonically across Normandy, and the Channel Islands: to the alarm of Sir Giles Guthrie, of BOAC, who lives in Jersey— but who proposes evening trips by Concorde to Beirut (largely overland).
The Concorde project was commenced with- out adequate consideration of the sonic bang problem—indeed with the assumption that the bangs could and would be imposed upon people on the ground in the same way that ever- increasing take-off and landing noise has been inflicted upon people living near airports.
The trans-polar route to Australia, referred to by Mr Hurren, is irrelevant to Concorde (range 4,000 miles). The route proposed in BAC-Sud's handbook is via Beirut, Bombay, Madras and Singapore—which, whether on Mercator or on a globe, is largely overland. (And no one has answered B. K. 0. Lundberg's question: 'Why assume that people in ships can accept booms many times greater than the level acceptable to people on land?') If the sonic bang does not 'invade' us this will be because determined action has been taken to stop it.
We are grateful to Michael Reynish for his letter (10 May) referring to our advertisement in The Times (15 January) which stated the case against supersonic civil aviation in some detail. We shall be glad to send copies to those readers who share our concern.
Richard Wiggs Convener, The Anti-Concord Project, 70 Lytton Avenue, Letchworth, Hertfordshire
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