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Aviation History
1910
1910 - 1026.PDF
THE NEE] FOR A LETTER we have received from one prominent in the world of aviation is well calculated to give all readers ol FLIGHT furiously to think. " Cannot you do something " we are asked, " to obtain greater assistance for English flying men and all-English flying machines ? Just at the moment we are well off, and the result is there are half-a- dozen men making a good show, but what is going to be the state of things next year ? . . . There is absolutely nothing for the all-English machine though there is ^10,000 which everybody isanticipatingwill be taken out of the country. . . We want ;£i 00,000 to get into the pockets of the flying men during the next twelve months, and then you will see that English brains are as good as foreign, and we will lead the French instead of following behind them. We want a very large number of moderate sized prizes, open for various competitions, so that there is a good chance of the money being spread about pretty evenly amongst the flying men, and we want them arranged so that the competitions will be extended throughout the whole year and interest kept continually alive." With these sentiments we associate ourselves whole heartedly. Admittedly, of course, we hold a brief for the science and industry of aviation, particularly British aviation; but it is not for the comparatively narrow reason that would be implied in this confession that we find our selves in accord with the views of our correspondent. Except in the case of the fanatically conservative, it would be hard to find anyone to dispute that British aviation is—or should be—a national movement and that it should be encouraged as- such. It may not be of the urgent importance of naval construction, though neither we nor anyone else dare pretend to prophesy with any claim to certainty what the near future may bring forth ; but what is certain is that this country can no more afford to be left behind in the race of nations than it can in the development of warships. How is an advance to be made and the proper place assured in the forefront of progress ? The whole answer to this question is contained in the suggestion of our correspondent. What is urgently wanted is money—money to be devoted wholly and solely to the British flying machine, and British flying man. In order that the British movement should be given the best opportunity to develop itself, it is first of all necessary that the attention of the whole world should be concentrated upon this country as the most important centre of aviation. We have seen how this can be done, in the interest that was excited by the competition for the Daily Mail prize; and already the same international prominence has been guaranteed for next year by the further prize of like amount that has been promised— not to mention the further fortunate fact that the Gordon-Bennett contest is also due to be competed for in the United Kingdom. But outside of the British Michelin Cup, our correspondent is quite right when he says that there is nothing exclusively British pro mised for 1911 in this country and, so far as the portents tell us, there is not likely to be in spite of the fact that, being Coronation year, there ought to be every thing doing. With the flying meeting a discredited form of popular entertainment, owing to the huge financial losses sustained by the promoters, it is hardly likely that 1911 will see them revived, and we are therefore forced back upon some other method of exciting public interest. For that we cannot express any deep sorrow, for we have DECEMBER 17* 1910. i ^ENCOURAGEMENT/9 never held the opinion that the "circus performance" flying meeting does any permanent good to the movement. To our way of thinking, one Daily Mail competition does more real and lasting good than a dozen " meetings" such as have proved such financial failures ; and after all there are a thousand minor ways wherein similar perform ances could be inaugurated throughout the country. Now, we have always given the Daily Mail the very fullest credit for its public spirit and far-sightedness in providing two such magnificent prizes as those which its proprietors have put up. But there is another and a busi ness side to this question. The advertisement which the Daily Alail has secured for itself and its enterprise has probably been worth all and more than the sum- it paid for it. We do not say this in any spirit of criticism—far from it—but it is necessary for us to put it that way in order to point the moral we have in mind. Up to the present, the Daily Mail has paid ;£io,ooo for one of the finest advertisements that ever fell to the lot of a business concern, and we are confident that its owners would admit that it was worth the money. Thereby two things have been achieved—the one already named ; the other is that British aviation received a fillip which was of incalculable' benefit to it, so that everyone concerned should be satis fied. Now the point is that if it is worth the while of one wealthy concern to provide money for what we feel quite justified in describing as a dual purpose, surely there must be others who would benefit themselves and the move ment by doing somewhat likewise. But, having agreed that money should be found for providing a number of small prizes, there always remains the question of who is to provide the wherewithal ? Both the Royal Aero Club and the Aeronautical Society have well performed their exclusively allotted parts in conducting contests, and in furthering knowledge respectively. But in this connection we would ask : What has become of the Aerial League ? This body was instituted as a "patriotic" association, whose avowed purpose it was to see that the ^° *|ment was encouraged with the wider public in such a way .bat this country should not Vc\ei't behind by her rivals ; but we confess, reluctantly, the difficulty of seeing what national service it has yet performed to encourage British aviation. Here is a chance for it. The municipalities of the country should be canvassed to a man and asked to put up prizes (they need not be large in amount) for local performances—say ^100 for the first British airman on a British machine to reach a predetermined spot in the locality from a distance of a hundred miles without an intermediate stop during a specified week. And the semi-selfish side of the advertising value accruing for, let us say, the Moonbeam Soap ,£1,000 prize should be driven home to the interested parties until they can see that they would be doing a public service and would also be getting -value of their own for it. As things are there is too much of a disposition to look upon flying as being in the stage that motoring was in 1896 and to think that history will repeat itself in that the movement will develop itself from within at the expense of the private owner. The case is much more analogous to the state of affairs existing in the thirties, when the pioneers of self-propelled traffic were forced after a gallant fight against terrific odds to give up the attempt to bring the movement to practical account. Let it be seen to that history does not repeat itself in this particular. I024
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