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Aviation History
1914
1914 - 0587.PDF
Flight, June 5, 1914. fflffjjgwflU ^^7 First Aero Weekly in the World. Founder and Editor : STANLEY SPOONER. A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport. OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. No. 284. (No. 23. Vol. VI.)] JUNE S, IQI4. [R*™1*?*££V °] [Wp80%r%£ Flight. Editorial Office: 44, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. Telegrams: Truditur, Westrand, London. Telephone: Gerrard 1828. Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free. United Kingdom ... 15J. od. Abroad xos. ad. CONTENTS. -•- Editorial Comment: The Army Air Manas uvres Men of Moment in the World of Flight: Lord Carbery Flying at Hendon , The Aerial Derby Eddies. By " .Solus " From the British Flying Grounds Royal Aero Club Official Notices The Prince Henry Circuit, 1914 Factors of Safety desirable in Aeroplanes The Flying Machine from an Engineering Standpoint. By F. Foreign Aircraft News Models. Edited by V. E. Johnson, M.A Correspondence PAGE 587 589 59° 593 595 59S 599 602 606 W. Lanchester 607 609 611 ... 612 EB1TOM1AL, COMMENT. The present concentration of the Royal . TheA- Flying Corps at Netheravon should set at Manoeuvres rest tne minds of those who still will have it that we are doing nothing—or next to nothing—to bring our aerial defences into line with modern requirements. Seventy machines, over a hun dred flying officers, 150 transport vehicles, and a staff of 650 air-mechanics, makes a fairly respectable showing for a small army like our own. In fact, so far as the records are there to show, it is the largest concentration of aerial strength that has been seen in any army, large or small. On this much we are justified in priding ourselves, and the more so because we felt that our personnel is at least equal to, and probably better than, that of any other of the Great Powers. There is this reservation to be made, however, that we must not allow the present, magnificent as it may seem, to blind us to the needs of the future. It is always possible to misread these object-lessons unless one is particularly careful to view things in their true proportions. What we mean is this; by a process of exhaustive concentration, in which the Army authorities have called up for concentration the uttermost available unit, we are able to show to the world the greatest aerial force that has ever assembled in one place, and, on the face of it, the lesson might be taken to read that we have reached an absolutely unassailable position in the air. In fact, the unthinking might easily take it to mean the same as the enormous demonstrations of naval strength that Britain occasionally shows to a wondering world when our Government deems it necessary to give to some other Power a more or less friendly hint of the strength and preparedness of the British Navy. In the last case, indubitably the strength is there, and the whole world knows it is, so that the lesson is not lost. But in the case of our air forces, the world at large knows as well as we ourselves that it would tax our resources to the utmost to put another machine or man into the field, and the lesson is thus lost upon a possible rival. On the British public the impression might easily be something quite different. Here, they might say, is the most wonderful assemblage of aeroplanes the world has ever seen. Who said that the Government was neglecting the aerial branch of our national defences? And on the face of things there is only one answer to this query, but when we go deeper there may be quite another. We are not suggesting at all that this concen tration has been devised for merely spectacular effect, but it will possibly be as well if the observer will keep his mind perfectly clear in the matter, and will realise that this concentration is one of our uttermost man and machine. What France or Germany could do under similar circumstances we frankly do not know further than they could make a much better numerical showing, and one which would doubtless impress the world with a feeling that whichever had thought it worth while to carry out must be in a state of preponderating strength. Which might, or might not, be the case. The main point is that we do not want to allow the merely spectacular to blind us to the real state ;of things. A lot of progress has been made recently, but we still have a long way to go before we can rest assured that our position is absolutely a safe one, or even comparable to that of our rivals. It is not, however, our purpose to gird at the Govern ment. All we are concerned with at the moment is that the public shall not receive a false impression of things, but rather that they should remember that, wonderful as is the muster at Netheravon, it could easily be beaten abroad if only the leaders among the Great Powers chose to go out of their way to give a real demonstration of aerial strength. So far as concerns the manoeuvres themselves, the lessons that are being learned are mainly such as will appeal to the professional rather than the lay mind, and it would be somewhat out of place were we to attempt to dogmatise on them. In a general way, however, it may be said that they must have an enormous bearing on the future of war in the air, since it is apparent from what is allowed to transpire, that the tests through which the B a
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