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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0001.PDF
Flight, January 4. 1917. Firtt Aero Weekly in tk« World. Founder and Editor STANLEY SPOONER. A Journal d«rot«d to th« InUraiu, Practice and Progr*** of A«ri*l Locomotion and Transport. OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB *<©* THt UNITED KINGDOM. t^^^ . k-'^'i: Flight. " EditorialOfU*: »*, St. MARTINS LANK, ttWTJON, W.C. Telegrams : Tmdtmr, WeMrand, London. Telephone: Gemucl i8»8. Annual Sabtcripthm Rate*, r*oat Fim. United Kingdom . 6t.6V. Abroad m. <*/ CONTENTS. Kditorial Comment: » ; * * PAOK *'The Impossible''at Last = . .. -- •* .. *- .. i The Aiaertcan l*e»c« Note .. .. .. .. >• •• .. a .Sir U Haigatui tb« Need for "Ban" Machines ,. ., .. .. a Raiding tbe Enemy , * The Co-ordination of Aviation .. , 4 The Nrw Alliatroi Scooting Biplane j New Year Honour* , „,, .. .. .. 6 Royal Aero Club. Official Notice* ..- .. 7 Armchair Reflections, Hy the " Dnuw" •• t Ansvei'S to V-OT'tespondetits .. .. <•_ *. *• .. »• * .. p Airiams from the Kour Winds .. .. ... 13 Perwnal* .. ..14 r'inal Krport of the R.f.C. Knqmr^'Committee .. ,. .. . 1$ I'lw llriiith Air Services „ ., 10 Tht Roll of Honour .. .. , ,. ,. ., 33 Aircraft Work at the Front. Official Information .. ,.' .. „ tj JHe-WirKJ* .. .. ., ,. ,, ., ., ,, ,, ., at Company Matters ,. ,, .. .. to EDITORIAL tOMMENT. |T last the utterly impossible is to be achieved! After having for years been told by all sorts and conditions of men, and particularly the " Wait and See " party, that an Air Ministry was a counsel of perfection, excellent in theory, but impossible in practice, the new Government has been quick to make up its mind that such a Ministry is necessary to the proper conduct of the war ! "No time lias been lost by the Government in giving effect to its recent announcement that in future the care of our aerial interests „ should be placed in the hands of a competent body, with competent powers to insist upon the carrying out of its policy. The name of the new head of the Air Board will come as a surprise to most people. Lord Cowdray, who has been appointed to the Chairmanship— presumably this should be Presidentship—of the reorganised Board, is a man of outstanding business experience, and a great organiser. As Sir Weetrnan Pearson, senior partner in the great engineering hrm which bears hi> name he has been associated with some of the most noteworthy works of recent times. He will thus bring to his new duties experience probably unique in the business world and which cannot fail to be of capital value at the present juncture. From every point of view the appointment is an admirable one. The bare official announcement of Lord Cowdray's appointment leaves us rather in the dark as to tlw exact composition of the Board itself, though it is fairly safe to assume that it will follow the lines indicated by jthe Home Secretary in his speech in thr House a fortnight ago. As we understand it, tin primary duty of the Board will be to co-ordinate (IK* production of aircraft for the two fighting swrvkes. In future, all orders for machines for the Services will be transmitted from the Admiralty and the Wai Office to the Board, whose function it will be to place the necessary orders for construction and to we that the machines are deliwmi in the shortest possible time, consistent with efficiency. That, it is true, docs not go as far as we have advocated, but it is a long step in advance, if only for the reason that it marks the end of that unhealthy competition in tin- market between the Services which has been productive of so much friction and such a marked falling off in all- round efficiency. Mr. Percy Martin, managing director of the Daimler Co.—a born organiser for maximum output—has been put in charge of the production of engines for motor transport and for aeroplanes. Tli< whole responsibility for the supply of engines for the Army and Navy, motor transport services for Naval and Army aircraft, "tanks," and for agricultural machinery, will be centralised under the control of Mi, Martin. The output in the factories will be specialised, and the best use made of our productive machinery. . The supply of aircraft will be placed in the hands of Mr. William Weir, of Glasgow, who has given valuable help to the Ministry of Munitions in other directions. The Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps will lx* represented on the rcor ganised Board, and Major Baird will continue t<- .>< 1 a the Board's representative in the House of Commons, It will be seen that there has been a real ->H t ing of the house in order - it is an AIK BOARD th;it has been evolved and not the travesty which <-M-.I<-<1 under the late Government. Before we leave the subject, it would be ungracious if we refrained from paying tribute to the work done by Lord Curzon and fiK colleagues of the late Board. They worked hard and well, and that they did not succeed in evolving order out of rluios was no fault of their own. They were hop*-l«*ssly handi<:api>cd from the start by the faulty constitution of the Board itself and its lack of executive power Lesser men than they would have given up the fight tl.< iniuncnt they saw the utter futiliu of tin; task. I carried on, knowing that something had t<> "• '»'»!",
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