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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0736.PDF
NOVEMBER 20, 1909. \FEGUARDING SPORT AND COMPETITION. infirmiti on were needed from abroad in support of it actions taken by the Aero Club of the United 'dom, or of the policy that has been advocated so .i-itently by FLIGHT in the various leaders we have n 01 this subject, there is no mistaking the fact that confirmation has been forthco ning fr >m the resolu- s whic'i have been passed by the Commission ienne Mute in France at their sitting of about a week This Commission, as most of our readers know, is joint biiy wnich rep-esents all the chief institu- ns in France, for it not only includes the Aero lb de France, the Chambre syndicate, and tie Ligue tionale, but also the Automobile Clu > da France, while is itself represented in the International Federation iugh the Aero Club of France. No question can, before, be raised as to its essentially representative tracer, and we need hardly add thit tm Aero Club of s c >untrv, with its Associates, the Aeronautical Society 1 the Aerial L:ag»e, hive the full moral b-iclcing d co-operative support of this powerful French com- lition. The line wnich has now b.jen a lopted by > IG^rnmission in as definite a manner as is •"-'^^ly possible is, on the one haid, that means ; to be available for checking any tendencies that mignt otherwise betovards the making of unreason- demands on the part of any aviator when about to : a demonstration or to take part in any sort of per- nince, whereas on the other hand, the promotion of lat we in FLIGHT have called mere "circuses" i.e., id for demonstration flights) cann )t possibly be con- tent with the strict control of competitive or other iuts, nor be compatible with umssailible methods of ance. Similarly, too, the Com nission, rightly, as we ik, deem it their duty to g-iard against dangerous , i >itions or those which can do no good for the cause, i who'e upshot being that, as far as France is con- rned. they have now positively de :reed against profit- .ung aviation meetings of any kind, and also against ticipation by any individuals wao are not bound djwn espectCA.M. rules. Briefly stated, dis (unification n participation in any further official events in future immediately follow upon the holding any meetings in France thit are unlicensed by C.A.M., and an authority will only be issued to mising institutions or groups that can strictly be rued "societies of enco irigenent," inasmuch as any oceods there m ly be in excess of expenditure is to go re:t to the immediate or some other prize fund, or is at y rate to be devoted in some direct manner for the ancement of aviation. Simultaneously the present jlutions render it incumbent, after January 1st next, every participant in any co npeation or meeting to /ide himself with an Aero Clu J licence. 'lie actual resolutions passed by the Commission are plementary to and were expr-ssly recognised as being iir.ct accord ince with the decisions arrived at by the ;rnatio ul Federation in their Conference at Zurich, ;n a strict rule was adopted guarding against the entry npetitors in events for which they were unable y to take part Of course, the fresh rules go very 'further still, as alreidy suggested above, for njt Oes tue Commission reserve the right to suspend revoke the licence of a iy aviator who acts in opposi- ,i to its rulings, but (1) It stipulates for the full counts of any meeting that it m iy approve being sub- juently submitted to it for perusal; (2) it stipulates that the money must be available beforehand for liqui- dating all such obligations as prizes and so forth, and (3) it even goes so far as to threaten disqualification of orgmisers and co npjtitors alike, if contracts other than those set out in the programme for a meeting are not specially communicated to the Commission. Apart from the significance and importance of this move that has been ta<en in France, and for what it fore- shadows in the United Kingdom, there is something extremely significant about it that all who are interested in flight in Great Britain would do well to bear in mind. Coming as it does after all the pother there has been over the Doncaster Meeting, and the utterly unjustifiible attacks which have been made on the Aero Club of the United Kingdom in connection with that meeting, a>iy partly convinced or uncon- vinced reader of FLIGHT wh) may not hitherto have seen altogether eye to eye with us in this matter, will observe that in France at least all the leading spirits in the aeronautic world are inclined to give the r unhesitat- ing orricial backing to every known m jve thit has been taken by the A.CU.K. in connection with Doncaster. It is fortunate indeed for any doubters or waverers that the Aero Club letter, which has thrown a good deal of retrospective light on the Doncaster business, should have just made its appearance in the Press (we give it elsewhere this week) at the same time that this French attitude has been made plain. It had even been sugges ed by some that the refusal of the Aero Cluo to sanction the Doncaster meeting was likely to be repudiated by the International Federation, in whose name they acted; and that the parent British club had put itself out of sympathy with the movement as a whole. But nuw the whole weight of French opinion, from those best qualified to form sound views of what is needed and what is not, goes unmistakably to confirm the wisdom of the Aero Club in all its dealings with the Doncaster promoters ; and goes so much further, indeed, that we are glad to think the. "circus business" is practi- cally doomed already, after its relatively very short run. We are glad to think that an altogether brighter out- look looms ahead, and that at Doncaster, after ail, a very much better stroke of work was done for the advance- ment of tne cause than was intentionally embodied in the plans by its originators. The warning note raised by it may confidently be expected to have drawn the attention of thousands ot people in this country to the real situa- tion, and to the hollowness of the pretences that are always apt to bs put forth in the early days of any move- ment by self-seekers after notoriety or advancement, Tnose who are the real supporters of the rapidly-growing movement will realise that there is a vast am .mnt of work to be done by thi representative institutions of the land. They will also see that it is by no means all talk and glamour that is need.-d for their national bodies ; while most important of all, it will dawn on some that the name given to the parent institution is immaterial, since, in any case, the controlling body must itself be con- trolled l>y tne joint authorities of the majority of owners, users, makers or advocates of aerial locomotion. There must, for instance, be a thrashing out of full details in readiness to enable this country to ace in conformity with and contemporaneously with other members of the International Federation as regards the issue b jth of licences and of the Biitish declaration of policy towards competitive meetings and those who take part in them. -- 738
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