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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0366.PDF
APEIL 19, 1917, ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE U.K. OFFICIAL NOTICES TO MEMBERS.HOUSE COMMITTEE. A MEETING of the House Committee was held on Wednesday, the 1 ith inst., when there were present :—Mr. J. H. Nichol- son, in the Chair, Capt. R. L. Charteris, R.F.C., Mr. C. G. Greenhill, Mr. Henry Knox, Mr. J. Stewart Mallam, Mr. J. H. Spottiswoode, and the Assistant Secretary. Chairman.—On the motion of Mr. Mallam, seconded by Mr. Spottiswoode, Mr. J. H. -Nicholson was appointed Chair- man of the Committee. House Accounts. —A Profit and Loss Account for the month of March was submitted by Mr. Mallam, which showed that the house finances were very satisfactory. Bedrooms.—It was decided that for the present the price of bedrooms should be 5s. each per night, _ Hours of Opening.—It was decided that the Club should be open each day from 8 a.m. to 12 midnight. By-laws.-—The revised Club By-Laws were approved for submission to the Committee. .Club House. The following prices have been fixed for the present by the Committee :— Bedroom (including Bath) .. 5s. each per night. Breakfast .. .. .. .. 2s. 6d. House Luncheon .. .. 2s. 6d. House Dinner .. .. .. 3s. 6d. Billiard Room. It is hoped that the Billiard Room will be ready in the course of next week. Flying Services Fund. The Countess of Drogheda has very kindly handed to the Club for the Flying Services Fund a cheque for £400, being half of the profits of the Aircraft Exhibition held at the Grosvenor Galleries. Library. Mr. Claude Grahame-White has presented to the Club a copy of his new book entitled " Air Power." . Flying Services Fund. Boxes for collecting subscriptions for the Fljing Services Fund are now available, and anyone wishing to have a box can obtain the same on application to the Secretary. THE FLYING SERVICES FUND administered by THE ROYAL AERO CLUB. THE Flying Services Fund has been instituted by the Royal Aero Club for the benefit of officers and men of the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps who are incapacitated on active service, and for the widowi and dependants of those who are killed. The fund is intended for the benefit of all ranks, but especially for petty officers, non-commissioned officers and men. Forms of application for assistance can be obtained from the Royal Aero Club, 3, Clifford Street, New Bond Street, London, W. 1. Subscriptions. £ s. d. Total subscriptions received to April 1 oth, 1917 11,232 9 9 Countess of Drogheda: Half of the profits of the Aircraft Exhibition held at the Gros- venor Galleries .. .. .. .. 400 o o Royal Naval Air Station, Dunkirk: Profit realised by sale of Christmas Cards Total, April 18 th, 1917 97 9 o 11,729 9 9. B. STEVENSON, Assistant Secretory. Clifford Street, New Bond Street, W. Sir Robert Borden's Tribute to the Flying Services. SPEAKING at Edinburgh on April nth, when he was presented with the freedom of the city, Sir Robert L. Borden, Prime Minister of Canada, said :— " In no part of the vast and complex organisation requisite for modern warfare was there greater need for foresight, un- ceasing effort, mechanical genius, and industrial achievement of the highest order than in the organisation and equipment of the air service. Canadians have joined that service in large numbers, and I am proud to know that they have been found daring, resourceful and efficient. Any criticism of its organ- isation and mangement arouses, therefore, my deepest interest. In the Imperial War Cabinet we have recently had a full statement of conditions in the flying service as they were a year ago and as they are to-day. The intormation thus afforded was very reassuring. The greater extent of t he work carried out by our air service, as compared with that of the enemy, the higher artillery efficiency thus attained, the resulting diminution of our casualties in the trenches, and the increased loss inflicted upon the Germans through information obtained by air observation and reconnaissance—all these considerations must be taken into account. Given a machine of equal efficiency our men may be relied on to do their full part. " There never has been any question that in personnel our Flying Service is superior to that of the enemy and stands Second to none. The position disclosed to the Imperial War Cabinet may be briefly stated as follows: The machines which we are turning out to-day are equal if not superior to any that the Germans have hitherto produced, and they are being produced at a rapidly increasing rate, the details of which it would be unwise to give. The average efficiency of our machines now in use is equal to the average of the German machines. The average of casualties on the machine which has been most severely criticised is less than the general average on all our machines. But a most important fact to realise and to remember is this—the British Air Service is undertaking extensive duties of vital importance to operations in the field, duties which are not being carried on and never have been attempted—at least to anything like the same extent-—by the German air service. A more extensive service in the air thus carried on for essential purposes must inevitably be attended with increased losses ; and the real question is as to the value of the information thus obtained When compared with the loss sustained in acquiring it. On this question the military authorities entertain no doubt. " The casualties among officers are necessarily great because the proportion of officers in the Air Service is very much larger than in the other services, I take leave to put forward these considerations because unfounded rumour or criticism, tending to discourage the spirit of British airmen, is detrimental and should not be continued. If doubt arises as to the facts, it would be well, through an informal gathering of members or by means of a secret Session, to disclose]to Parliament the information already afforded to the Imperial War Cabinet." «* General Smuts' View. ON the same occasion, as the above, General Smuts, who was also given the freedom of Edinburgh, speaking of his- recent visit to the Western front, said :— " During the days I was at the front we were making enormous preparations for the attack, accumulating men and material, yet I did not see a single enemy aeroplane watching what we were doing. Why not ? Because our own airmen were fighting there, 10, 15 and 20 miles behind their fronts. No doubt our casualties in the air were heavy, but you do not count casualties when you are fighting victoriously. I am sorry sometimes when I see all the carping criticisms. Remember that our airmen are not grown men, but boys taken fresh from school, and when these brave souls see that their branch of the Service is a continual subject of attack it does take the heart out of them. There was no part of the Services of which they might be more proud." Sir D. Henderson on the Air Services. OPENING Lady Drogheda's exhibition at Birmingham on April 12th, Lieut .-General Sir David Henderson, D.S.O.,, Director-General of Military Aeronautics, said :— " They had all heard during the last two-and-a-half years that the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service were at the point of death, that everything -was wrong, that the Germans were ahead of us, that we could not stop Zeppelins, and that we could not do our work at the front. It was only reasonable to suppose that after all this talk they might think there was something in it, but he would advise them not to believe it. So far as his corps were concerned, every time there had been anything going on at the front, from the first battle at Ypres down to the last one on the Somme, when the bell rang they had been there. Of course, it was not possible to keep it up all the time. A good many things interfered with keeping what people were foolish, enough to call command of the air, which had never existed— neither command nor mastery. All we could hope was to be a little superior at the right time, and if they asked people who had been out they would find that on those occasions, we had not been troubled very much by German aeroplanes. He did not want to prophesy, but they would find there was, another important time going on just now, and he should, advise them to see if the same thing did not happen again." 366
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