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Aviation History
1914
1914 - 0256.PDF
preparing for the Military Trials to devote time and attention to engines for exhibition purposes just now, and we sincerely hope that herein lies the explanation of the apparent want of attention manifested in this direction. Of engines of foreign design, manufactured or intended to be manufactured in this country, there are several, but we must say that we should be better pleased if the Show demonstrated that more of the undoubted genius for design possessed by British engineers had been con centrated upon this department of flight engineering. On the whole, however, it is possibly as well not to seem hypercritical. We have not done badly during the year that has elapsed since the last Show, and the future holds out promise of our doing even far better. So far as regards the question of public support of the Show, and therefore of its paying its way, we cannot speculate at the moment. As a matter of fact, we are hopeful that the increased interest in aviation taken by the man in the street wil! operate to bring the public to Olympia in numbers sufficient to ensure its financial success. The point, however, is doubtful in the light of past experience, so that all the more congratulation is due to the S.M.M.T. which has again come forward in a public spirited manner to take the risk. Also, the thanks of the industry are due to the Royal Aero Club, without whose interest and influence it is more than probable there would be no Show at all. The Need for Landing Places. One of the most notable points in the notable speech of Mr. Winston Churchill, at the dinner of the Royal Aero Club last week, was the passage in which he referred to the need for more landing places for aircraft. If, he suggested, the public were coming to assist the movement, whether by way of subscription of money or otherwise, the most acceptable form of assistance would be in the provision of places where aviators could land in safety and with com parative comfort. . This is one of the points upon which we have insisted ever since this journal was in its infancy. We have always recognised that the first essential to the full development of aviation must be the provision of suitable places for landing and taking off—even as essential, if possible, as that the machine itself should be developed. In saying this we do not want to be misunderstood. What we have in mind is this: supposing that we were content to accept the machine of to-day as final in type and development, we can still go on flying as we do to-day, taking our short distance jumps from Hendon to Brooklands and back, with an occasional essay into a long distance cross country flight with one of the more remote aerodromes as the objective. But supposing the country to be sown with landing places at, say, twenty miles' intervals, along what must eventually be the main aerial routes, is it not conceivable that aviation, even with the aid of the present-day machine, would develop enormously ? Un doubtedly we should see many more private individuals taking up flying as a sport. On the other hand, is there any reason to think that even if the machine were developed to the point of perfection that the movement would progress in con sonance unless we have provided in advance a sufficient number of landing places ? The answer, we think, is most distinctly in the negative. Naturally, some progress would be made, if only because of the natural law that prevents stagnation—nothing stands still, for it either progresses or dies. But the progress made would be infinitesimal in relation to what it would if we had only begun at the right end and provided what we have described as the first essential to success. Efforts have been made in the past to bring home this elementary truth to those who are interested in aviation and its development, but in general those efforts were rather in advance of their time, with the result that we are com paratively little better off than we were three or four years ago. Something will have to be done, as Mr. Churchill insisted. How and by whom it is difficult to say at the moment, but we trust that the Royal Aero Club and others concerned in the movement will take to heart the First Lord's remarks on this most pressing subject. world', record. In fhe SS^^^^.SZ^^J^^Z^ ^ W *** * 256
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