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Aviation History
1910
1910 - 0768.PDF
l/ycm] SEPTEMBER 24, 1910. THE, NEW ARM. DURING the comparatively short time that has elapsed since flight in the heavier-than-air machine became a, really practical every-day proposition, it has—even to the man in the street—progressed in its development in a manner which the most sanguine enthusiast of the new science could hardly have anticipated. But even those who have closely followed the movement and who know practically all there is to be known of aviation as at present understood have been astonished at the demonstra tion of practical utility which the aeroplane has given during recent military manoeuvres abroad, particularly in France. The object lesson that has been received is of the utmost value, for many reasons. It has been the fashion, even among those who should have known better, to hold that the aeroplane could never become anything more than an interesting toy. It could never develop into a prac tical, passenger-carrying vehicle; and, above all, it could never be used except on the calmest of days and under the most favourable conditions. If the recent army manoeuvres have done nothing else, they have at least given the lie to such pessimistic opinions as those in question. Generally, the conclusions to be drawn from what the aeroplane has accomplished are that it is most emphatically not a toy; that even in its present relatively crude state it is a practical man-carrying machine; and that it is essentially destined to become an all-weather vehicle. It has not, it is true, been demonstrated that it can be used effectively in a hurricane, but taking an average through the weather that prevailed during the manoeuvres it is safe to say that the aeroplane did demonstrate that it is possible to make useful nights on the great majority of days in the year. And this is very satisfactory indeed to those who have any deep interest in its development, considering the infancy of the science. So much for the general aspects of the question. Proceeding for a moment from the general to the particular, one of the main facts brought to light by the doings of the past fortnight is that the improvement in the reliability of the aeroplane has been far greater than most people imagine. That has been amply shown by some of the individual feats of flying that have been accomplished by French military aviators. Let us quote from Mr. Holt Thomas' letter to the Daily Mail of last Monday, in which he describes some of his own observa tions during the manoeuvres. He says :— " I followed Caille, Paulhan's pupil, from St. Cyr to the camp at Grandvilliers. This flight was simply to avoid the bother and cost of transit. Caille left in a Farman machine at 5.30 on Saturday evening (10th inst.) and came down at Pont St. Maxence at about 6.30. On Sunday he resumed his flight at about 5 a.m., alighted at Beauvais to look at his ignition and inquire the way, restarted the machine with the aid of some men out shooting, and arrived at the Pare d'Aviation, coming down opposite the hangar arranged for his reception. As he flew, to avoid the environs of Paris, the distance was about 275 kiloms., practically a London-Manchester flight. I was driving Paulhan in his auto, as he had broken his wrist, and both of us would have been surprised if Caille had not arrived safely, notwithstanding the fact that it was only the eighth time he had left the ground, and his first cross-country flight. His flight expresses the progress made in aviation between April (date of winning your London to Manchester prize) and September." The record of progress, even in a short six months as set forth in this letter, is simply marvellous, and should give pause even to the most careless of thinking people. Now we come to another aspect of what has been demonstrated during these autumn manoeuvres. It is generally agreed by many who are well qualified to express an opinion, that the aeroplane, even at its present stage of development, has already resulted in an urgent need for the entire revision of all accepted schemes of tactics in warfare. Trials abroad have shown that the presence of the reconnoitring aviator renders all a commander's dispositions as plain and open to his opponent as though that opponent were in possession of all his plans of attack or defence. Not a detail of his dispositions can escape the eye of the observer, moving swiftly above the enemy's position, hundreds of feet in the air, and travelling at a speed which renders him virtually immune from gun-fire, except with the intervention of sheer bad fortune. In this last connection it is well to admit that this immunity is simply hypothesis, though it is hypothesis based upon the dicta of military experts who should know of what they speak. It is one thing to make observations of an opposing force in peace time, when there are no bullets in the rifles and no shells in the guns, but may well be an entirely different matter when not only is the hostile aeroplane the mark of every rifle and every gun within range, but when it may expect to encounter the attacks of the enemy's air-craft, whose mission it is to prevent the aviator from obtaining that very information that has proved so valuable to the commanders on either side in the recently-ended mimic war on the other side of the Channel. However, it is hardly within our province to elaborate any purely technical aspects of the use of aeroplanes in warfare. That must be left for the military authorities themselves to discuss and work out to their own satisfac tion. What we, who are rather concerned with the commercial development of the science, are rejoiced to see in the upshot of recent doings abroad is the one salient fact that aviation has now reached a stage when the State simply cannot afford to continue to stand aside and leave further development to the private capitalist. We have before emphasised the fact that though the aeroplane can be and will be used as an instrument of war, yet its real future lies far more in its adaptability for commercial purposes, just as has been the case with the railway train, the motor car, and the steam turbine, in contradistinction to the big gun, the torpedo, and the submarine. Therefore, we welcome whole-heartedly the successful application of the heavier- than-air machine to military operations, because it is now incumbent upon the Governments of the civilised world, and particularly upon our own—who have been lamentably apathetic during the manoeuvres now in progress—to assist with men and money in its development. That is the line we have taken all along, even before it was so dramatically demonstrated that in the aeroplane existed a factor that bids fair entirely to revolutionise the conduct of warlike operations. At the moment of writing our own manoeuvres have done nothing whatever to emphasise the lessons learned by the French Army, although the authorities cannot long ignore what has taken place across the Channel and must speedily be forced to embark upon the subject in a much more serious manner than they have hitherto shown signs of doing. If only they consent to follow the dictates of ordinary common sense, we confidently predict that this country will before long assume her rightful place at the head of the nations. Fortunately the contrast between France and England as regards enterprise displayed in recent manoeuvres is not being allowed to pass unnoticed in the Press of this country. 766
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