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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0842.PDF
AUGUST 16, 1917- NEUTRAL countries—there are few that now remain out of the world's strife—are evidently looking ahead none the less, with the result that the very large orders which have been for some little time showered upon America for aeroplanes have at last had to be vetoed except under licence. It is good hearing to know that the U.S-. Government have taken this step without too much delay, so as to conserve the entire American output for themselves and the Allies, You never quite know how frequently neutral aeroplane pilots may find it necessary to make forced landings over frontier boundaries and then not trouble to get them back home'again. ACCORDING to the Tagliche Rundschau, a summary of German war booty shows that in the war up to July 26th the Huns have secured 2,298 aeroplanes, 186 balloons and three airships. It's as well to note that these figures include those machines immediately re-employed in action. The Rundschau does not give the dissected figures as to the nationalities of the aerial booty claimed. BY way of another view of the departmental delay in hurry- ing on full capacity aeroplane construction, referred to in a leader this week, an interesting story of !a visit to an aero- plane " village " which appeared in the Star last week, con- cludes after a live description of a journey through the " village " and the factory, as follows :— " And this is Aeroplane Village, a little town that has grown up around a single works. A village where nine-tenths of the inhabitants disappear within those factory gates every morning at 7 o'clock and work or until 8 in the evening. And what does it all amount to ? One machine a day. True, there are hundreds of these factories dotted about in England, but with automatic machinery everywhere in operation, and, as in this case, some 700 hands working, one machine a day is absurd. " This war is to be finished in the air, we are all agreed upon that. The output of machines is to be doubled, so they say. Three machines a day could be made.in such a factory as that described. WTiy are they not ? " The matter is that there is a hoodoo that sits on the roof of every such factory in England. A hoodoo, who sees to it, that there is a shortage of timber when there is plenty of steel and a shortage of steel when there is plenty of timber, and a ' waiting for engines ' when there is plenty of both. A hoodoo who will not allow a manufacturer to ring up the original designing firm on the 'phone when an inaccuracy is noticed, but makes him communicate through the hoodoo's palace and wait perhaps weeks for the corrected figures. I wonder would the Great I Am Hoodoo like to visit Aeroplane Village? I should like to show him round." , • . • ;. MOST things have happened per aeroplane, and it only remained for a " desertion " to be accomplished by that means to about fill therbill. This item has now been added, according to a communication from Amsterdam, a German soldier having on August 5th descended in Holland, near Oostburg, in an aeroplane, he being promptly interned. The sequel came later when it was discovered that he had deliberately alighted on neutral soil, this being his method of " deserting." It appears he was attached to an aviation camp at Knocke, his section assisting in the sending off and homecoming of aviators. Having a knowledge of flying, he waited for a favourable moment, and then mounted an aero- plane when nobody was near, rose safely, and, as stated, made a safe descent into Dutch territory. WITH little doubt the noxious poison shells which are the latest invention of the Huns, will be under sample for Londoners, as it is a very sure thing there will be plenty of these distributed upon the next Gotha excursion to the metropolis. It would be as well to remember that near , where they fall cellars may be far from safe funk holes, as it is the nature of the heavy poisonous fumes which emanate from these abominations to descend and they are capable of penetrating any reasonable depth otf space into cellars, &c. One or two finding their way to the bottom of a tube lift shaft might render the tube sanctuary anything but a healthy spot. ~- As smoking is said to be somewhat of an antidote to their ill-effects the female cigarette smoker ought to score. BANKS, generally, have decided to suspend business for the time being when an air-raid is imminent. Somewhat of a"-* wise precaution, should there be a rescue scramble amongst the debris to save all the thousands of fair damsels who now • occupy the stools of the one-time 9 to 4 bank clerks. Nobody, of course, would be looking for stray cash. ~" IT seems there is no exact officially recognised routine to be followed, but for the guidance of the public the arrange- ment is understood to be as follows :—As soon as warning has been given of the possibility of an air raid, the public transaction of business by the banks is liable to be suspended until the " all clear " signal is received. If the " all clear " is given not later than 2 p.m. (or, on Saturdays, noon), the closing time for the banks will be as usual ; if it is not received by 4 p.m. (or on Saturdays by 2 p.m.) they will not reopen that day at all; but if it comes at any time between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. (or on Saturdays between noon and 2 p.m.) the banks will remain open to the public for a whole hour after- wards. This emergency Bank legislation may prove pretty awkward in regard to straightening out certain financial obligations, but no doubt an antidote on both sides will be found for_t such exceptional conditions. THERE is little doubt that the Royal Flying Corps is in a large measure to thank for the -submission by the Mahsuds to the Government terms, >and their submission to the oath of peace. This fact is generously recognised by Sir Charles Monro in his report upon the results, Sir Charles stating that the tribesman have for the first time felt the power of the R.F.C. THAT our R.F.C. pilots have got uncomfortably near to the All Highest's sacred person emerges without much, reservation in the course of Mr. James W. Gerard's " Four Years in Germany," now appearing in the Daily Telegraph* In Chapter X., the late United States Ambassador in Berlin, writing of his visit to the Kaiser's Headquarters on May 1st, 1916, says :—" The Great General Headquarters of the Kaiser for the Western front is in the town of Charleville- Mezieres, situated on the Meuse, in the Department of the Ardennes. . . . The Emperor had been occupying a large villa in the town of Charleville until a few days before our arrival. After the engineer of his private, train had been killed in the railway "Station by a bomb dropped from a French airplane, and after another bomb had been dropped •within a hundred yards of the villa occupied by the Kaiser, he moved to a red-br(ick chateau situated on a hill outside Charleville, known as either the Chateau Bellevue or Bellaire." " AN official notice in the British Museum Library states that readers will incur little risk during air-raids, ' except from a bomb that bursts in the room.' It is the ability to think out things like this which raises the official mind so high above the ordinary."—Charivari. Women for the R.F.C. THE War Office instruction giving details of the formation of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps announces that among the main categories of employment in which the substitution of women at home and at the base and on the lines of com- munication overseas has been approved is (g) Technical women (employed with the R.F.C. and A.S.C. Motor Transport). A New Aircraft Factory for America. * A MESSAGE from Washington states that Mr. Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, has arranged for the construction of a new aircraft factory at the Navy Yard of Philadelphia at a cost of $1,000,000 (^200,000). The factory, which is to be completed in 100 days, will employ 2,000 workers, and^pro- duce a thousand small aeroplanes annually. 842
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