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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0263.PDF
Flight, March 22, 1917. First Aero Weekly in the Wbrld. Founder and Editor: STANLEY SPOONER. A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice and Progress ol Aerial Looomotion and Transport. OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. M*. 430. (No. 12, Vol. IX.)] MARCH 22, 1917. rWeakly, Prlea lfl.L Post PrM, 3d. FligS&t. Editorial Office: 44, St. MARTINS LANE, LONDON, W.C. Telegrams: Truditor, Weitrand, London. Telephone : Gerard 1818. CONTENTS. Editorial Comment: + The British and French Air Services .. .. 263 '"A Trade Union Scandal" .. .. .. . 264 The Russian Revolution .. .. .. .. .. * .. .. 264 The N.P.L. and the Industry .. .. 266 The Wright-Martin Model " V " Reconnaissance Biplane .. .. .. 267 The Royal Aero Club. Official Notices .. .. 370 The Roll of Honour .. .. „ 271 Airisms from the Four Winds .. .. .. .. »72 The Screw Propeller in Air. By M. A. S. Riach . 274 Aviation in Parliamen t .. .. .. .. .. 276 Methods of Measuring Aircraft Performances. By Captain H. T. Tizard, R.F.C J79 The British Air Services .. .. .. .. .. 282 "X" Aircraft Raids . .. .. .. ,. .. 183 Personals .. ., 284 Company Doings .. .. .. .. .. ., 286 Imports and Exports, 1916-1917 .. .. ... .. .. .. .. 286 EDITORIAL COMMENT. ' E do not appear to have a monopoly of "air crises" in England. Following on a recent debate in the French Chamber on the administration of the air service, the Minister of War, General Lyautey, whose appointment is of but recent date, found it necessary to tender his resignation to the Premier. The exact grounds upon which he was forced to take this grave and French decision nave not emerged in the sum- Air Services. maries which have been printed in the English newspapers. As a matter of fact, the real cause of his resignation arose during a secret session of the Chamber, during which he apparently refused to give certain information, on the ground that it might endanger the national defence. It is not, however, a matter of any great, importance for us to know the details. It is amply clear that there is a not inconsiderable volume of opinion in France which holds that all is not well with the air service. We know that that service has been subjected to frequent reorganisation since the outbreak of war, and that these reorganisations have not always made for greater efficiency. We also have had our troubles in the same direction, and if we knew the truth it is quite possible that the enemy has been in no better case. It is inevitable that a service which is in a constant state of what we may call constructional flux should be subject to these periodic crises. As we have pointed out many times, there must be periods during which we hold the mastery of the air, and again others during which the positions are reversed and the ascendancy has passed to the enemy. It is not as though thejaero- plane had reached anything approaching finality in its design. If that were the case, then the mastery of the air would as a natural consequence pass permanently to the Power possessed of the greater capacity for manufacture. As it is not so, that greater manufacturing capacity may quite con- ceivably operate to the temporary disadvantage of the country possessing it, since that country is obviously able to make wider plans for construction, with a consequent disability when new developments lead to modifications of design. We have seen how the pendulum swings first in our favour and then to the side of the enemy as new inventions and new designs come along, and we have also seen the effects of which we have spoken in the reluctance of our authorities to scrap long series of machines under construction when they have become obsolete. That seems to lie at the root of our own air service troubles, and to form the text of the questions which Mr. Pemberton Billing has developed such a fondness for addressing to the Under-Secretary for War. We are in complete sympathy with his efforts to secure greater efficiency, both of construction and adminis- tration, but we do most severely deprecate his references to " murder " and his presonal attacks on Sir David Henderson, the one naturally arising out of the other. It is no part of our intention to embark upon a defence of an officer whose record of service to the country is fully sufficient and distinguished to render that entirely superfluous. Mr. Pemberton Billing would be much more likely to achieve some- thing like a permanent effect for good if he would keep his questions within the bounds of decency and proper feeling. He certainly has a good case up to a point. We know that all is not well with the air service. The tale of losses at the Front, and the stories that filter through regarding the superiority of the best German machines to those we are in the main using js sufficient earnest of that, and he is only performing a public duty in drawing attention to our shortcomings and in pressing for better administration all round, but when he allows the appearance of personal animus to display itself, he discounts his case almost beyond measure. D
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