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Aviation History
1913
1913 - 0533.PDF
Flight, May 24, 1913. ^r? y K. First Aero Weekly in the World. Founder and Editor : STANLEY SPOONER. A Journal devoted to the Interest*, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport. OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. No. 280. (No. 21, Vol. V.)] MAY 24, 1913. ["Registered st the G.P.O.l rWeeklj, Price 3d. L ss s Newspaper. PostF ree, Sid. FligHt. Editorial Office: 44, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. Telegrams: Truditur, Westrand, London. Telephone: Gerrard i8a8. Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free. United Kingdom ... IJ». od. Abroad sar. od. CONTENTS. •— Editorial Comment: PAGE The First Aerial Prosecution 555 The Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture 556 Men of Moment in the World of Flight: Mr. Coanda 557 Summer Meeting, Hendon 558 Morane-Saulnier Monoplane (with scale drawings) 561 Armchair Reflections. By The Dreamer 565 Royal Aero Club. Official Notices 567 From the British Flying Grounds 5*8 British Notes of the Week 57° Foreign Aviation News 1 Scientific Instruments. By Horace Darwin 373 Models. Edited by V. E. Johnson, M.A 576 Correspondence 57^ EDITORIAL, COMMENT. In entering a prosecution against M. Brinde- T1)f ^fSt Jonc ^es M°uuna's' f°r contravening the Prosecution Aerial Navigation Acts by failing to send notice to the Home Office that he proposed to fly overseas to this country, and for flying over pro hibited areas, the authorities only did what they are com pelled in law to do. We can fully understand that their view is that it is no use passing laws and making Orders under the Acts applying to the navigation of the air above these islands unless proper steps are taken to enforce them. As it happened, the offence committed by M. des Moulinais was harmless enough in itself, but it nevertheless constituted a breach of the Acts, and for the sake of demonstrating that these laws are not made for the pure moral effect of the thing it was quite neces sary that action of some sort should be taken. The coming of the aeroplane has set up an entirely new condition of things. Even to-day, when aircraft have still very far to go before they can be said to have even approached perfection, it is hardly going too far to say that they have eliminated frontiers as we have understood the term hitherto, and have thus rendered the problem of guarding the marches vastly more complex than it has been. So long as an arrival contents himself with coming by terra firma it is easy enough to deal with him, but when he elects to come by the air it is a different matter altogether. In the one case he can be stopped, and, if necessary, sent back to whence he came. Customs formalities are easy enough in their incidence, and the vigilance of the authorities can generally be trusted to see that the laws of the realm, regarding the entry of people who might conceivably be objectionable shall be carried out reasonably well. It is far otherwise, however, where the arrival by air is concerned. Short of bringing down tin- aviator by means of a gun, there is no possible method of restricting his entry into any country, and the only possible thing that can be done is to deal with him after his landing. It is absolutely essential, therefore, that there should be laws governing the entry by air, and, further, that these laws should be strictly administered. There cannot be any slackness in their administration, either, else they would rapidly become a dead letter. To the average person it seems, perhaps, a little hard that an aviator who has made a magnificent flight—as M. Brindejonc des Moulinais indeed had done—should receive the cold welcome of a summons to appear before a court of justice; but for ourselves we can see no other way out. It is all very well to view the matter with the romantic eye, but this will not do beyond a certain point. We cannot allow our appreciation of pluck and skill to obscure the necessities of the case. Though we are entirely at one with the authorities in bringing this case and thus drawing early attention to the state of the law, we are still more in accord with them in the lenient view they took of it. A warning of what will happen if the law is persistently disregarded was all that was needful, and it pleases us much that this was exactly the view taken by the authorities concerned. In his speech for the prosecution Mr. Muskett was singularly happy in the manner he outlined the case, liven more happy was the magistrate, Mr. Dickinson, in binding over M. des Moulinais to come up for judgment if called upon. Wewere, he said, glad towelcomeabraveand clever airman. On the other hand, the regulations that had been made for the safety and defence of the realm must be observed. Those regulations had only been in force for a short time and he could quite believe that M. des Moulinais had not had an opportunity of studying them. In those circum stances the Government were only too glad to make an exception in his case, but it would be absolutely necessary to observe these rules in future. With all of which we are in the most entire agreement. B 2
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