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Aviation History
1913
1913 - 1289.PDF
Flight, December 6, 1913. fuQHT ^^fl First Aero Weekly in the World. Founder and Editor: STANLEY SPOONER. A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress t.f Aerial Locomotion and Transport. OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. No. 253. (No. 49, Vol. V.)] DECEMBER 6, 1913. (-Registered at the G.P.O.T VWeekly, Prloe 8d. L as a Newspaper. J I Poat Free, 8|d. FMgph.1 Editorial Office: 44, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. Telegrams : Truditur, Westrand, London. Telephone : Gerrard 182S. Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free. United Kingdom ... 15.S. od. Abroad 20s. od. CONTENTS Editorial Comment: The First Lord as Pilot Sign-Posting Aerial Highways The Kite and Model Aeroplane Association Men of Moment in the World of Flight: M. P. Marty Flying at Hendon The 80 h.p. Avro Biplane (with scale drawings) The Royal Aero Club : Official Notices From the British Flying Grounds British Notes of the Week Armchair Reflections. By the Dreamer The Lewis Air-cooled Machine Gun The Coming Airship. By Capt. C. M. Waterlow, Foreign Aviation News Models. Edited by V. E. Johnson, M.A. Olympia Show (Model Section) Correspondence R.E. PAGE *3"? IS'6 1316 1317 1318 1322 1326 1327 1330 1331 1332 1333 J 336 1.337 '339 1340 EDITORIAL COMMENT. Mr. Churchill's keenness to enter into all The the details of the Service of which he is as^PUot. the titular head> has taken him a steP farther, and he may now claim to be the first of all Cabinet Ministers to actually assume control of an aeroplane in flight. His flight was accomplished on a Short biplane, on which he ascended from Eastchurch with the late Capt. Wildman Lushington. When the machine had reached an altitude of about 500 ft., Mr. Churchill took over the dual control and flew the machine quite successfully for three-quarters of an hour, during which time he traversed a distance of nearly forty miles. Naturally, the First Lord's flight has given rise to a great deal of comment and discussion. The Westminster Gazette takes him severely to task for his temerity, and says :— *' Mr. Churchill on Saturday went for three separate aeroplane flights as a passenger, and in the third flight (lasting nearly an hour) ' it is understood ' that Mr. Churchill personally took control of the machine. Col. Seely is also a Minister who has flown on more than one occasion, if we remember aright. We feel bound to say that we think these Ministerial flights are thoroughly ill-advised and mischievous. They serve no sort of useful object, as it seems to us, and there is something more than that, since from at least one point ot view they are decidedly harmful. In the early days of the submarine Lord Fisher made it a strict rule that no one in the Navy should go down in a submarine unless il was pirt of his duty to take the risk. The adventurotn admiral was not allowed to dive, and it would be well if a similar veto were placed on Ministerial flights. If Ministers fly there is a practical compulsion on other people to do the same, on the pain of some reflection of their courage. Every branch of the Services ought to run its own risks, and no one can assert that it is part of a Minister's duty to do what is no doubt in itself exciting and adventurous. We hope we shall have ns more of these unnecessary risks run for no sort of useful purpose." The Pall Mall Gazette, on the other hand, comments thus:— " It is a new departure in Ministerial life which we applaud, so long as the caution proper to a member of the Cabinet be mingled with the daring expected of the soldier. Whatever fault may be found with the administration either of Mr. Churchill or Col. Seely, th's much must be said for them : that they have shown more sympathy and understanding of the daily life of the Services they control than any of their predecessors." Of the two, we rather prefer the tone of the Pall Mall's comment, for that of the Westminster seems to us to carry rather too much of the panic feeling with it. Unfortu nately, however, the death of Capt. Wildman Lushington coming so very shortly after Mr. Churchill's flight with him certainly drives home the conviction to the ordinary person that in making these flights our Ministers are assuredly taking some measure of risk. We would point out, however, that Capt. Lushington's death at this par ticular moment is simply one of those fortuitous circum stances which have a habit of happening, if we may be allowed to use the term in so sad a case, at the wrong time. Had even a month elapsed, we venture to say that no particular moral would have been drawn from it. As a matter of fact, while we should be the last to contend that there is no danger in flying, we do say that it has now become so safe a pursuit that, ordinarily speaking, the risks have become negligible. There is really no more risk—or very little more—in flying than there is in crossing a crowded London street. Indeed, if we are to take literally many of the things we hear said about traffic risks in London, then flying is immeasurably safer than crossing the road. We do not think much of the Westminster's argument that when Cabinet Ministers fly they make it practically a point of honour for the higher officers of both Services to follow the example—that is what we take it our contemporary means. Surely, every responsible officer B 2
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