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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0110.PDF
I/OGHT] " novelties " which will, without doubt, shock the nerves and frame of Mr. Vested Interest in a variety of directions. The desirability in the meantime of obtaining a single man for the control of air affairs is becoming more urgent than ever, and although we are not in accord with much of the 'detail of the Press campaign, which seeks to achieve this object, there is a very great substratum of sound common sense in the agitation, taken as a whole, to com mand the serious attention of the Government as repre senting the will of the people. Let the writing on the wall be read in its broad meaning, before it is once again "too late." In all the column-miles of Press "airism " being at present thrust upon the community, we are glad to see that the Times is keeping its head, whilst backing up the general demand. By way of contrast to the hopeless tactics and articles in many other directions, the moderately worded Times leader on Tuesday last is a very helpful contribution to the Air Minister campaign. In this the more insistant pros and cons, which have been so often pointed out and referred to in FLIGHT, are quietly emphasised, and for that reason carry a conviction of sincerity with them which miles of irresponsible frothing could never achieve. The following extract from this editorial contribution, which is headed " Responsibility for Construction," is, we think, sufficiently germane to the raison d'etre of FLIGHT as to justify our quoting it. Thus the Times:— " There is a certain risk that the new and very healthy public interest in our air Services, and especially the demand for a man to take charge of them, may tend to concentrate too narrowly upon the defence of these islands, or even of London, from enemy raids. Home d> fence, however important it must loom after a raid like that of last week, is only a part of the great problem of mastery of the air. There will be plenty of time, for instance, to talk about ' reptisals'—not in the ' women and children' sense, but in that of effective measures to stop air raids at their source—when we are in a position to wage war on the enemy instead of letting him wage war on us. We are not in this position at present, and the question is how most rapidly to increase our means of offence. We believe that one vital measure of organisation, though it is seldom mentioned in this connection, is to put (he control of the production of aircraft under a single head. At present there is no centralised policy in the matter. Every one who kn >ws anything about it knows that the ' generous rivalry' between the Services in the construction of aeroplanes, of which Mr. Balfour spoke on November nth, has not, in practice, amounted to more than a deplorable and expensive competition for machines and men, together with a wasteful lack of co-ordination in technical results. A machine designed by the Army authorities is apt to be contemned by the Navy, which ltkes to ' do things its own way,' simply becau-e it is »n Army machine, and vice versa. But the air is common to both Services, although the conditions in which machines are to be employed by the one or the other may render necessary certain differences in constructive detail. If an Air Minister is to be appointed, he will have to suppress with a firm hand the internal struggles, whether be ween the Services themselves, between them and the technical experts, or between all of these and the financial authorities, which have hitherto greatly retarded progress. In order to do this—and it is a task to try the highest qualities of brain and character—he must be assisted by advisers representing all the interests concerned, including the private firms, and, having heard what they have to say and made up his mind,what to do, he must stand or fall by the result. In this way the country would have some one to answer for our provision of aircraft, who really knew what he was talking about and had resolved on a policy to such an extent as the rapid development of aircraft permits." Continuing, the Times refers to a list of well-known quotations which it publishes from "A Member of Parliament," which illustrate the attitude of Ministers on this all-important subject. These, the Times states, FEBRUARY IO, 1916. "reveal a pitiful lack of large ideas, coupled with a strenuous determination to defend, first and foremost, their Departmental advisers, and at all costs to discourage criticism. But the public is never told the truth, and mistakes are never brought home to those responsible for them. We have, even now, no reason for confidence that the Government realifes the seriousness of the situation or is ' thinking ahead ' on the lines of a large policy." Let us hope, however, that the Government, like the country, have at last woken up, and will take in hand the " Air Service " upon such advanced lines that its possi bilities may be fully brought into being, as viewed from the broadest possible standpoint, bringing in incidentally the provision of a really efficient anti-aircraft organisa tion—although we hope the " scrapping " of Sir Percy Scott may not be an earnest of their intentions in this direction—and providing, in due course, for reprisals. But these latter should be of a character which would not seek the infliction of punishment upon women and children, but would rather set out to bring about really serious material damage of a military character. The Germans would then have all their work cut out to defend their centres of activity, and would be less inclined to waste their efforts in bringing about the deaths of British mothers and their babes, just by way of venting their insatiable lust for "strafing England." There is one form of "reprisal," however, which we think would be highly effective if its essence, and our intention of enforcing it, could only be brought clearly before those in the enemy country who have real knowledge of what the probabilities are of an "honourable peace" a VAUemagne ever being brought about. The formiof reprisal which we suggest is, that for every air-raid, other than of a legitimate military character, a certain period shall be set, after the war, during which no Germanic mercantile shipping should be allowed on the seas of the world. For each raid— and this might be made retrospective, if further raiding took place—a " sentence" of one year's suspension from sea-trading would, we think, be found sufficient to check a lot of the "Zeppelin Joy Days" which are made so much of in the Central Empires. The Huns know we have the power to enforce our " sentence," and just think of it, what it would mean to the Germans as a nation, and on the other hand to Great Britain and the rest of the world, if the competition of these past-masters in the art of commerce were debarred from trafficking against the rest of the commercial world for five or more years ! Why tariffs, however drastic, could not hold a candle to such a method of retaliation. And it should be remem bered we are already up to "X raid No. 17"! So let the ultimatum go forth, and if nothing else will bring these barbarians to reason, the touching of their trading propensities by this means would, we venture to think, have a very salutary effect. At the re-opening of Parliament next week some lively times may be confidently looked for over the ah- muddle, and we imagine it will be difficult for the Government to smother with the customary care fully-worded explanations for very much longer the un doubted disposition of the people to have the Air Service of the country treated as not only of prime, but of the primest importance to the Nation's welfare. no
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