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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0409.PDF
Flight, May 3, 1917. First Aero Weekly in the World. Founder and Editor : STANLEY SPOONER. A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport. OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. No. 436. (No. 18, Vol. IX ) MAY 3, 1917. rweekly, Price 3dL Post FI-M, 4d. FligHt. Editorial Offict; 44, St. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, Telegram* : Truditur, Weitrand, London. Telephone : Gerrard iBa8. Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free. United Kingdom .. i??. 2d. Abroad „ .. ... 20s. ad. CONTENTS. Editorial Comment: + The Air Debate in the House.. .. ,. .. ,. ,. .. Prodnctionanditslncrea.se .. .. .. .. ., \'."' The Mastery of the Air The R.A.F. and Manufacture.. .. .. .. The Need for a Separate Air Service .". .. Commercial Aviation After the War •..--'.. Helping on Commercial Aviation , .. Tell Our American Allies! .. ,, .. • ~'r .. • •-. •-.. Identification of German Aeroplanes . .• .. .. .. .. *•'".. The " Totally Enclosed" Aeroplane Honours for tbe R.F.C The Royal Aero Club. Official Notices The Roll of Honour Airisms from the Four Winds ,,_ .. • .. Personals , Aviation in Parliament The Use and Abuse of Steel. By Lt.-Col. R. K. Bagnall-Wild and Lieut. E. W. Birch The British Air Services .. .. ^. Aircraft Work at the Front. Official Information Imports and Exports, 1916-1917 PACK 409 410 411 411 411 412 412 415 416 4V 4.8 419 420 421 42Z 432 435 437 43? EDITORIAL COMMENT. NDOUBTEDLY the debate on Thurs- day of last week on the Air Services was timelv, and, to a very great extent, assisted to clear 'up many of the points upon which information has been urgently and legitimately demanded by the public. Naturally, all was not said that might have been without in the least degree militating against the national interest, but there is this much to be thankful for, that it did clear the air to a very appreciable extent and disposed of several of the points upon which criti- cism has been hung in the past. Furthermore, in the light of the official statements that were made we are justified in the hope that the last has been heard of the hopeless muddles which have been so grave a feature of the administra- tion of the flying services in times gone by. There are many points in the debate, a very full report of which we produce in another "part of this issue of " FLIGHT," which are well worth while pondering. To begin with, Major Baird told the The Air Debate in the House. House that at last everything in connection with the Air Board and its relations with the fighting services and the Ministry of Munitions is harmonious and everything that it should be. We are more than delighted with the assurance, for if there is one thing more than another that has kept back the develop- ment of the service it has been the spirit of depart- mentalism, which while it may be natural where two or more services are each looking out to serve its own interests—and often properly so—must of necessity be very gravely to the detriment of progress over the whole. If the new Board had done nothing more than to eliminate the ruinous competition and the departmental jealousy that subsisted in the air services for two years of the war it might be held to have justified its existence. Over and above the mere assertion that at last methods and relations have been properly co-ordinated, Major Baird took the House through a most interesting explanation of how this has been achieved, and showed how the grouping of all departments of the Air Services under a single roof has tended towards much greater efficiency, and, we must admit, thoroughly justified the policy which led up to the new system of centralisation. Not only has a great deal been done, but more is in process of being carried out in order to introduce even more smoothness and efficiency into the vital task of keeping our designs well abreast of every development in aircraft and engines, and the speedy appearance in active use of the newest and _ best types of machines. A new department is in process of creation for the purpose of dealing with inventions, with the aid of officers who have been employed in the Inventions branches of the Navy, Army and the Ministry of Munitions, in so far as aircraft inventions are concerned. That is an excel- lent move, but it certainly gives point to a great deal of the criticisms of delay that have been directed against those responsible for the efficiency of our aircraft service that it has required nearly three years of desperate war to convince them that it was necessary to create a special branch, in close relation with those who direct our aerial policy, to examine and report upon inventions. True, the information secured by the inventions branches of the three departments concerned has doubtless been available to all—in time. But where time is the essence of the contract, every system that tends to its waste ought to be ruthlessly scrapped at once, and this roundabout method of doing things would have been scrapped, and something more efficient substituted for it in
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