Northeast suburbs of Paris, France
The French air controllers on duty this Sunday morning in the control tower of the Le Bourget Airport were particularly excited with anticipation as the prototype of the mysterious Hiller TRAN-SONIC supersonic airliner was due to arrive soon, in order to participate in the 47th Le Bourget Airshow. The Hiller Corporation had been unusually secretive about the development and testing of its new TRAN-SONIC, going as far as conducting all of its test flights from Port Angeles at night and without prior notice. While a few enterprising professional photographers specializing in aeronautical news had managed to take some pictures of the Hiller TRAN-SONIC with cameras equipped with night vision lenses, very little was publicly known about its performances, as its nocturnal test flights had been conducted over the waters of the Pacific, away from preying eyes.
The one thing that Hiller had divulged about its new airliner was that it was a supersonic aircraft with very long range, just enough information to make those interested in anything aeronautical water at the mouth. The fact that Hiller had chosen to fly its TRAN-SONIC in Le Bourget on the first day of the airshow, when commercial and government customers would be flocking to it, indicated that Hiller’s timing was definitely meant to attract the maximum of publicity for its new and very anticipated airliner.
Francine Vadeboncoeur, one of the air controllers on duty this morning, felt her heart jump when a new radar transponder signal appeared on the edge of her radar, coming from the West at subsonic speed.
‘’Heads up, guys! I now have the transponder signal of the Hiller TRAN-SONIC
on our radar. It is now 248 nautical miles from us at Heading 261 and flying at 405 knots at an altitude of 35,000 feet.’
‘’I’ll watch for it.’ announced her shift supervisor, Pierre Ricard, who then grabbed a pair of binoculars and posted himself next to a West-facing side window of the
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control tower. Some twenty minutes later, Francine Vadeboncoeur announced that the Hiller TRAN-SONIC was now less than twenty kilometers from the airport and was starting a wide turn to line up with Runway 03. Raising his binoculars to his eyes, Ricard searched the sky for a moment before speaking up.
‘’I have it! However, it is still too far to distinguish it in detail... I can now see some details of it. It has two huge turbofan engines located under its wings, a classic ‘T’
tail and a long, slender fuselage. Up to now, a fairly classic aircraft architecture, I would say.’
‘’Don’t speak too quickly, Pierre.’ warned his assistant supervisor, Robert Lemieux. ‘’Ingrid Dows and Hiller have a habit of hiding surprises in their aircraft designs. Remember their Hiller 24 SHARK: it proved to have some incredible range and also had a surprising choice of armament.’
‘’True! We will soon see if this TRAN-SONIC has something really special to it.’
‘’Well, Pierre, it is a supersonic airliner. Isn’t that special enough for you?’
‘’It is but the real question then is: will it prove to be a commercially viable supersonic airliner? Remember the American Convair 5000 of the 1950s: it was never profitable and was a money-loser as an airliner, although its original bomber variant was a complete success.’
On the static aircraft display area of the airshow grounds, hundreds of airline company representatives, aircraft and avionics manufacturers, government officials and specialized reporters and photographers were now watching the Hiller TRAN-SONIC as it approached the airport, many of them pointing cameras or binoculars at the incoming airliner. One of these spectators, a Boeing engineer who worked at the main Boeing aircraft plant near Seattle, was watching the Hiller TRAN-SONIC with particular interest: he had been trying for over two years now to learn what he could about its design and performances, as it could well hurt badly the Boeing business in the category of long-range airliners. Already, the Hiller SKYTRUCK, which was extremely popular around the World in the air freight business due to its VTOL capabilities, impressive cargo capacity and incredible versatility, had drastically cut the part Boeing held in the air cargo market.
‘’When I think that I spent all that time trying to learn about this plane being built next door to Seattle, only to finally see it here, in Paris.’
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Another commercial representative standing next to the Boeing man, an executive of the famous Pan Am Airlines company, reacted with much more glee to the sight of the approaching TRAN-SONIC.
‘’At last: a supersonic long-range airliner with true potential. This could help revive the trans-Pacific passenger routes, which took a serious hit after the loss of Hawaii years ago to a North Korean nuclear bomb.’
Hearing that, the Boeing man gave a dubious look at the Pan Am man.
‘’And what makes you think that this new Hiller aircraft will be successful, mister?
There is next to nothing known about it, thanks to Hiller’s secrecy.’
‘’Well, for one, this will be our chance to learn about it, Mister Boeing.’ replied the Pan Am executive, who had spotted the Boeing pin on the engineer’s suit lapel. ‘’Also, have you ever heard about an aircraft design by Ingrid Dows that proved to be anything but a resounding success? That girl is a true genius when it comes to aircraft design.’
The Boeing engineer had to concede that point and resumed his observation of the approaching airliner. Something then started bothering him as he watched the TRANSONIC slow down to land.
‘’Hey, he is slowing too much in my opinion: he could be in danger of stalling.’
The Pan Am executive, who had also noticed the slow approach speed of the Hiller airliner, didn’t reply to that but watched it even more attentively. Murmurs and worried exclamations started to go around the crowd of onlookers as the Hiller TRAN-SONIC
slowed down to a landing speed more akin to that of a small private aircraft than that of a large airliner. The Pan Am man then understood what was up when he saw whirlwinds of hot gases form on the runway’s surface under the airliner.
‘’It is using thrust vectoring to slow down for landing. THIS IS A STOL15
AIRCRAFT!’
‘’WHAT?!’ shouted the shocked Boeing engineer. If that proved to be true, then the effect on the portion of the long-range airliner market held by Boeing could be downright disastrous. The Pan Am man, a wide grin on his face, then looked at him.
‘’Of course! Hiller is presently the king of vertical flight with its AIRCARs, PELICANs and SKYTRUCKs. I should have expected this.’
‘’But, how?’ said the flabbergasted Boeing engineer. ‘’This is supposed to be a supersonic airliner, not a simple subsonic cargo aircraft.’
15 STOL: Short Take Off and Landing.
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‘’I don’t know about the how but, if anyone could succeed in designing such an aircraft, it is Ingrid Dows. I... WHAT?!’
The Hiller TRAN-SONIC, which was now overflying the runway with its landing legs extended, had slowed to an impossibly slow speed of about no more than maybe sixty kilometers per hour and was now turning to follow a taxiway leading to the aircraft exposition area...while flying some twenty meters above the ground! The Boeing man then understood the whole truth about the Hiller airliner.
‘’IT’S...IT’S A STOVL16 OR VTOL17 TRANSPORT!’
In response, the Pan Am executive shouted out in triumph while pumping his left fist up and down.
‘’YES! THIS COULD SERVICE DIRECTLY EVERY ISLAND IN THE PACIFIC.
BORA BORA18, HERE WE COME!’
The heart of the Boeing engineer sank as he watched the Hiller TRAN-SONIC land smoothly at the vertical on the surface of the taxiway before continuing by rolling on the ground.
‘’Shit! Our goose is cooked!’
By the time that the Hiller TRAN-SONIC stopped in its assigned spot in the aircraft ground display area, Elliot Goulding, Hiller’s Vice-President for Marketing and Sales, was already being assaulted with questions from dozens of excited commercial airline executives and government representatives. In response, he started distributing the information pamphlets on the TRAN-SONIC which he had been hiding and holding on to...until now. Those pamphlets were grabbed in record times, forcing him to open his reserve boxes of pamphlets and distribute their contents. However, he did keep aside three of his reserve boxes for the next few days, while promising himself to have more pamphlets delivered from Port Angeles by express air freight. He was having a large display board showing the characteristics and performances of the TRAN-SONIC
set up to help him answer the questions of the visitors when an American major general 16 STOVL: Short Take Off and Vertical Landing.
17 VTOL: Vertical Take Off and Landing.
18 Bora Bora: small island which is part of the French Polynesia territories in the South Pacific and is a popular tourist destination. Its sole, 1,505-meter-long runway is considered too short for most large airliners.
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wearing the uniform of the U.S. Air Force and the wings of a transport pilot came to him, his expression most serious.
‘’Mister Goulding, could you tell me if Hiller is planning to make a military transport variant of your TRAN-SONIC? This plane would be perfect to ferry troops and cargo on an emergency basis to a hot spot overseas.’
‘Bingo!’ thought Elliot,
repressing a big smile with
difficulty.
17:58 (Paris Time)
Hôtel Izmir – Café du Nord
126, Avenue du 8 Mars
Le Blanc-Mesnil District
