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Aviation History
1912
1912 - 0050.PDF
[/UGHT] JANUARY 20, 1912. Quite an interesting correspondence has The j)Deen going on in The Times recently with esecra ion regar^ to Mr Wakefield's hydro-aeroplane Windermere, experiments in the neighbourhood of Windermere. Canon Rawnsley opened the ball, with a letter extending to half a column in length, in which he quotes Wordsworth's protest against the coming of the railway to Birthwaite, inveighs against the noise, the danger and the desecration of a beauty spot by the flying of the hydro-aeroplane, and complains that the erection of hangars at Bowness will spoil all the beauty of the place. Whatever Canon Rawnsley's outlook upon science and progress may be—and we are not inclined to pass judgment upon it—it must be admitted that he writes a charmingly poetic letter, with no small touch of pathos in it. We are content to accept his asseveration that he does not wish to be a spoilt-sport or to hinder science that may help the nation, but we do think he is needlessly alarmed. There are five square miles of water in the lake, while even in the summer the number of craft using it is scarcely sufficient to cause any grave misgivings on the score of possible accident. His point that flying in mountainous districts is admittedly dangerous, we are willing to concede up to a point, but it must be borne in mind that Mr. Wakefield's craft as it is, is largely the outcome of experiments conducted in the very region in which he has decided to make his permanent point d'appui and that he presumably knows what he is doing. Mr. Wakefield himself takes up the cudgels on his own behalf in a letter which he has sent to us, and which was published in The Times of the nth inst. In it he answers Canon Rawnsley's points seriatim, and we think, makes out a good case for himself. With what we may for the purposes of argument call the personal matters at issue between the disputants we are not much concerned, but on the broad issues of the case we cannot help thinking that even though it may offend the conservative susceptibilities of many, the balance of interest lies in allowing the freedom of the lake for such experiments as Mr. Wakefield's. As he himself points out, other nations are experimenting with hydro aeroplanes and for the sake of our national existence it behoves us to keep abreast of them in the knowledge and practice of the science. For the development of this type of craft large sheets of comparatively calm water are necessary in order that there may be something approaching continuity of experiment and unless we have the freedom of the larger lakes for the purpose we must inevitably fall behind. England is not particularly well blessed with land-locked waters which are suitable for such experiments as are necessary for the purposes under discussion and until such time, at least, as the hydro-aeroplane becomes a thoroughly air and seaworthy craft, it would be flying in the face of Providence to deny our inventors and experimenters every possible facility for working out the evolution of the machine. • * -• It is a significant indication of the progress AM-l?n that aviation is making, that the British Times anc* Colonial Aeroplane Co. has just had to increase its capital from ^50,000 to ;£ 100,000, and even more significant that it has had no difficulty in obtaining money from its existing share holders, without having had recourse to public subscription. Commercially, we are sometimes told, aviation has but few possibilities. Flying can never be anything but an amusement, so far as it relates to the civilian popula tion, and any future it may have lies entirely in its application to military purposes. Well, the prophets have more courage in their predictions than we claim to have—though this we will sayj that our articles of faith are not bounded by the canons we have outlined above. For ourselves, our faith in the future is of that unbounded kind that would impel us, were we not restrained by our innate caution, to go to the other extreme in prophesy. But it is of the present that we are speaking at the moment—the future is with itself. Surely aviation on its commercial side must have progressed somewhat, when we find a firm—and a British firm at that, compelled to raise its capital to a good round sum like a hundred thousand pounds. To us it seems a most encouraging feature of the rapid development of the science and an earnest that at last we are on the eve of seeing established a real industry in these islands, comparable at least to that which has been built up with the assistance of the State in France. And we must not forget that to the British and Colonial Aeroplane Co. our congratulations are due to Sir George White and his co-directors for the success achieved in the face of enormous difficulties. • •*••• On the initiative of our Paris contemporary _Ve-n? EAuto afar-reaching scheme of military Patriotism , , °, , , , . ' in France, aeroplane service has been evolved, which, if it matures, will have the effect of enormously increasing the nation's aerial forces. Briefly, the idea is that each of the eighty-six departments into which France is divided should voluntarily provide at least one aeroplane of approved type for the use of the army, each machine bearing the name of the department by which it is provided. The idea seems to have been received with enthusiasm and the probability is that it will result in a very considerable reinforcement of the existing military aeroplane resources. While the idea is a very excellent one and much to the credit of our contemporary, we doubt that the time is ripe for emulation in Great Britain. In France the Government has helped along the movement by every means in its power ; it has given the deepest attention to the possibilities of the aeroplane as an adjunct to national defence and it is spending a considerable amount of money in equipping the army with air-craft. Therefore, supposing the departments to fall into line with L'Auto's suggestion, there is nothing discernible but a patriotic desire to increase the country's defensive resources without throwing additional burdens on the public purse. The country is right in arguing that the State has done its duty up to the limit of its financial resources and that it is quite in accord with the fitness of things that private effort should supplement public enterprise. In England, unfortunately, things are different, and any movement of the sort would savour of something very like charity to the State, or at least an attempt to achieve out of the private resources of the citizens what the Government have failed to do out of the public funds. It is not our purpose to criticise, especially as we really believe the Government has at last awakened to the position, so that we shall, at the moment, do nothing more than record the opinion we have expressed above. 50
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