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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0605.PDF
Flight, June 21, 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. N«. 443. (No. 25, Vol. IX.) JUNE 21, 1917. rweekly, Price 3d.L Post Free, 4d. Flight. Editorial Office; 44, St. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C.i. Telegrams: Truditur, Weitraad, London, Telephone : Gerraid 1828. Annual Subscription Rates, Pott Free. United Kingdom .. 151. id. Abroad — .. .. 20s. ad. CONTENTS. „ Editorial Comment: • Air Raids and Reprisals Should London be Warned? .. Lord Northcliffe and th« Air Board Consolidating a Key Industry Constructional Details—XVIII (with scale drawings) National Physical Laboratory Report for 1916-17 .. Honours.. PACE 605 606 608 608 609 611 613 The Roll of Honour .. .. _ ,. .. 614 Royal Aero Club. Official Notices .. .. ' .. 615 American National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Report.. .. 615 Answers to Correspondents .. .. ..616 Airums from the Four Winds _ .. 617 Aviation in Parliament .. .. ... .. 622 Personals.. .. 625 " X " Aircraft Raids . 026 The British Air Services 627 Aircraft Work at the Front. Official Information .. .... .. 631 Imports and Exports, 19x6-1917 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 633 EDITORIAL COMMENT. N the pursuance of their dastardly policy of carrying out aerial raids on open towns and villages, the Germans have done at least one good thing for this country. They have at last created a volume of public opinion in favour of preventive reprisals which this or any other Government simply cannot—dare not—ignore. Until the raid on the Metropolis last week there was a distinct cleavage of opinion among the thinking classesas to tne JustiCe an<l advisability of Reprisals, carrying the air war into the enemy's country and bombing his open towns as he has not shrunk from "bombing our own. Now there are scarcely two views—the nation demands that reprisals should be undertaken at once and that they should be continued without ruth or pity unless or until the Huns agree to cease the attacking of defenceless civilians, women and children. The demand has received such definite expression in almost every quarter that the Government simply cannot ignore it, and we do not think they will. We have said there are no two opinions in the matter.. That is true, but only to a somewhat modified degree. By far the great majority of the people demand reprisals ; but there is still a very small, but by no means negligible, minority which is even now against treating the enemy to the same medicine he is so fond of employing against ourselves.s Their principal, objections are taken on the ground that the killing of German civilians is un-Christian, and that when the war is at an end we want to appear before the tribunal of the Neutrals with clean hands and as chivalrous fighters who have kept within the four corners of the conventions which are supposed to govern the conduct of war between civilised nations. Moreover, they argue that the Germans are so essentially brutalised by the military machine which governs them that any policy of re- prisals we are compelled to adopt, or which we choose to put into operation)_ would be utterly futile, since the military and the Government would not regard the killing off of a few thousands of civilians as of any importance, and would only accentuate their policy of frightfulness against ourselves. To begin with, war itself is un-Christian and cannot be reconciled with a single one of the teachings of Christianity. It can be argued, therefore, that we ought never to make war, even in defence of our most sacred rights and liberties. To be entirely logical, the people who base their opposition to reprisals on their un-Christian character should argue that, in August, 1914, we ought to have sent our soldiers and sailors home and sat down with folded hands to await in passivity the arrival of the invading " Hun. Before they are entitled to be listened to at all, they must first tell us quite clearly how far we may be allowed to go in the whole matter of war and defence, and with what weapons we are to be allowed to make war, supposing they concede we may make it at all. Let us take the illustration of the German use of poison gas. We did not want to use it, because it did not seem to us to be " playing the game." But the Hun had no such scruples and used it. He gave us thereby the choice of two alternatives—to sacrifice the lives of thousands of our men to the most horrible of all devices of war and to thereby lose the latter, or to copy his example and go one better. We know the choice that was made, and rightly made. We also know the result, and that our choice of alterna- tives was thoroughly justified''by them. The use of poison gas is a dirty game anyway. We certainly did not want to adopt it, and should not have done had the Germans played the decent game. So with several other dirty devices : we have been compelled to use them in order to save the lives of our own men * s 2
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