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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0312.PDF
1/05HT] APRIL 5, 1917. taining aerial supremacy ? We are not among those who hold and profess an overpowering admiration for German methods of organisation, but we dare venture the opinion that nothing quite so apparently fatuous would emanate from the direction of the German air service as this latest effort of Whitehall Place. On the contrary, it is reasonable to suppose that the enemy is encouraging by every means in his power the development and improvement of his aerial services. That he has gone to the length of prac- tically prohibiting improvement we should utterly refuse to believe. Admittedly, we are in the dark as to the official construction of the reasons which lie behind the Order, and are thus driven to place our own construction upon its terms. It may be a wholly beneficent measure, but it certainly does not bear that aspect. If there is something behind it which supplies good and valid reason for what appears a most arbitrary and uncalled for action, then let the Ministry say what it is. We are all getting more than a little tired of " dictation " and " control," with no reason given—these bureaucratic methods are getting on our nerves. It is surely time that a Committee was Aircraft appointed to enquire into the reasons at8HomeS for the Present rate of wastage in the and Abroad. RF.C, not only at the Front but in England. A certain proportion of loss is inevitable, and much as we must deplore the death of the gallant men who form the personnel of our Flying Services, we have to take our account with the risks of both war and peace flying. It is evident from a study of the communiques that we are suffer- ing heavier losses than the enemy, and it is^equally evident that we cannot go on in this way without at least endeavouring to get at the root cause and to evolve a remedy, if it is at all possible. It is due to the men who risk their lives, and it is due also to the Air Board itself and the administration of the R.F.C. that such an enquiry should be instituted without a moment's delay. It is the more necessary because of the statements that are being made, both in and out of Parliament, relative to the causes of the high mortality rate. It is insisted upon that our men are given machines to fly that are hopelessly inferior to those of the enemy, both in speed and climbing capacity, when much superior machines might be available. Clearly that is either the case or it is not. If the former, then someone, whoever he or they may be, ought to be branded for it. If the latter, then the sooner the mischievous canard is put to rest the better for all concerned. Again, it is alleged once more that our most up-to-date machines are being flown at the Front by comparatively inexperienced pilots, while the men who have been fighting in the air for many months are left to fly the older and slower machines. If that is so, it certainly argues faulty administra- tion somewhere, and reorganisation is urgently needed. Whatever the causes and whoever is to blame for them—assuming that they do not arise out of circumstances beyond human control—it is very evident that there is a real cause for enquiry. Public opinion is becoming gravely disquieted on account of the appalling tale of losses in the Flying Services, and the public desires to know the truth. Such an enquiry as we suggest would not only have the effect of laying bare the reasons for the tremendous jump in the percentage of aerial losses, with the consequent inevitable improvement that would follow, but it ought, once and for all, to put an end to the often obscure and unfounded charges that are brought against the administrative heads of the Air Services. The opportunity would be given for the accusers to come forward and either substantiate those charges —in which case there would be a ruthless " comb- out "—or else thereafter to hold their peace. At any rate, we might get to know the truth. It is to be hoped that Mr. WinstonChurchill 's Committee which has been Army. appointed to consider the question of promotion in the army will lose no time in getting to work, for the manner in which the promo- tion of officers is being worked under the entirely obso- lete regulations affecting it, is becoming something very much akin to a serious injustice. Generally speaking, the sure and certain way for an officer to miss promo- tion is to be sent abroad on active service. He may go out in January, for example, as a second lieutenant and return home in December still with the same rank. When he reports to his dep&t he will find that men whom he left a year before junior to himself and who have never been out of the country will have become captains in the meantime. He may, for efficient service in the field, have been made acting captain and have commanded a company in the trenches, but the moment he leaves his battalion at the front he must revert to his army rank of second lieutenant and pass under the command of men actually junior in the service to himself and who have never seen a day's active service. It scarcely needs pointing out that this is a manifest injustice, which for the good of the service itself must be removed without a moment's more delay than can be helped. The whole system of promotion and relative rank wants overhauling drastically and bringing into line with mtodern needs and conditions. The system which worked very well in the times of piping peace is obviously unsuited to the conditions of a great war. Apart from the gross injustice which is entailed, it is clearly against the best interests of the service that officers should be left to labour under a sense of in- justice which so admittedly rests on a real basis. It is with the utmost Satisfaction that.Reprisals we regarci ^e announcement that Outrage, measures of reprisal are to be taken against the Gernians for the sinking of the hospital ship " Asturias." That satisfaction is tempered, however, with a feeling of disappointment that nothing has been allowed to be known as yet what form the reprisals are to take. We sincerely trust that the Government does not intend to adopt the short-sighted policy which has been advocated of placing prisoners of war of high rank on board hospital ships. That would simply defeat its own object, because the commanders of German submarines would merely have to board these vessels, take off their own people and then sink them at their leisure. To our way of thinking there is only one method of reprisal that is likely to piove at all effective, and that is a policj' of air raids on German towns—not spasmodic, as they have been hitherto, but heavy and regular until the Hun has been brought to see 312
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