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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0882.PDF
a device, and apparently with success, establishes a case for enquiry, and, within limits, of experiment, but we should scarcely like to go so far as to say that instruction in the use of the parachute should as yet form a part of the ordinary course of training of aviators. TheFuture of Aviation. Not the least significant sign of the times is the matter-of-course way in which it has become accepted that aerial transport will play a great part in the future development of the world's intercourse. We constantly are impelled to hark back for a decade and, at the risk of becoming hackneyed, to recall how little faith anyone but the very few enthusiasts, who believed in the future of aerial navigation, had in the possibility of a practical solution of the problem of dynamic flight. Then, as we have often recalled, no inventor could have raised a hundred pounds on the potentialities of anything that purported to be a flying machine. Now everybody accepts as a commonplace that AUGUST 30, 1917. take the trouble to think ahead. We sometimes hear doubts expressed of whether there is indeed any future for aerial navigation, outside the purposes of war. There is, we know, a very circumscribed school of thought which affects to believe that at the end of the present war there will be a terrific slump in the aircraft industry. All Government contracts, they aver, will be stopped, and the men who at present constitute the personnel of our flying services will be so " fed-up " with flying that they will almost automatically drop back into less active pursuits, while the dreams of those who see the earth girdled by postal and commercial air services are mere chimerae of the imagination. Perhaps it is as well that we do not all think in identical terms, else there would be a danger that progress would stop. There is no incentive to the latter like the disbelief in one's ideals of the man across the street, whereas in the thing upon which all are agreed there is too often a tendency to let others get on with the work. Therefore, it is to the good that the minority of which we have spoken exists, since it supplies the aerial transport is an accomplished fact and that it incentive to the believers to make good their faith. will, as a matter of course, prove to be a dominating factor in commerce and inter-communication between the far-flung communities of the earth. In a letter to the Times, Sir Francis Younghusband as it were unconsciously voices the faith of the multitude in the future of aviation. In writing on the " Development of India from Within," he says, quite by the way and as though the matter admitted of no question—as indeed it does not—-that "the advent of the aeroplane will make it easier to get there, and science will make it pleasanter to live there." Then, later on, he says : " India will also send representatives—chosen by itself—to the Council of the whole Empire ; and British Indians—and probably Indians of high position also—will send their children to be educated in England, and will That they will so make good does not, to our way of thinking, admit of the slightest argument. It is ill work indulging in prophecy, but were we inclined that way we should say that all the ideals which have been laid down by enthusiasts like Mr. Holt Thomas and Lord Montagu of Beaulieu fall far short of what will be actually achieved in the very near future. As a matter of fact, we do not know—no one knows —the real measure of progress that has resulted from the war. *AU we do know is that tremendous advances have been made both in the construction of the aeroplane and in t&e aero-motor,, but the uses to which these vastly improved machines have been put in the actual work of the war have been so relatively restricted that we do not know their actual capabilities under peace conditions. If that is so. by speedy air service yearly visit England, spending as we believe is the case, we may look forward at•••--• - ~- — - the end of the war to performances in the air which are even at this moment quite beyond our ideas of what may possibly come to pass within a measur- able period. Certainly the Atlantic will be flown, and we think without particular difficulty. Then, undoubtedly, one of the very first things that will be undertaken will be the flight to India—and after that anything may happen. the winter in India and the summer in England. The tie with England will always be preserved." It would be possible to elaborate the subject almost indefinitely were it necessary so to do in order to point the moral. There, is, however, no need for that, and we have only taken the letter of Sir Francis as a case in point of how absolutely the future of aviation is taken for granted by all who <3> <$> The Control of Flax. THE Minister of Munitions has issued an Order, .dated August 25th, under the Defence of the Realm Regulations, by which he takes possession of:—J (a) All flax of the 1917 crop grown in the United Kingdom as and when harvested. (b) All flax grown in the United Kingdom at any time, and not at the date hereof in the possession of a flax-spinner for the purpose of his business. (c) All other flax, except Russian flax, now or hereafter situated in the United Kingdom. The flax referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) will be divided, under the directions of the Controller of Aeronautical Supplies, into six grades, according to its quality, handling and cleaning, and the Minister will pay for il the following prices per stone, delivered at the appointed centre :—Special grade, 35s. first grade, 32s. 6d. ; second grade, 30s. ; third grade, 27s. 6d. fourth grade, 26s. 3d. ; fifth grade, 25s. Flax inferior in quality to that of the fifth grade will be paid for upon terms which will be afterwards communicated to the various owners. If, after this notice and Order, any person having control of any flax of which the Minister has taken possession here- under sells, removes, or secretes such flax without the consent of the Minister, he will be guilty of an offence against the Defence of the Realm Regulations. No person shall, as from the date hereof until further notice, purchase, sell, offer to purchase or sell, or, except for the purpose of carrying out a contract in writing existing prior to the date hereof for the purchase of such flax, enter into any transaction or negotiation in relation to the sale or purchase of any flax situated outside the United Kingdom. Further directions with regard to the delivery of flax of which possession is taken will shortly be issued on behalf of the Minister by the Controller of Aeronautical Supplies. All communications upon the subject should be for the present addressed to the Controller of Aeronautical Supplies, and marked Flax Supplies, Dept. S (m.A.) 1, Air Board Office, Strand, London, W.C.2. The Minister of Munitions has also made the following Order dealing with wet spun yarn made of flax line :— (1) No person shall, on or after September 1st, 1917, until further notice, spin or manufacture any wet spun yarn made of flax line except under and in accordance with the terms of a licence issued under the authority of the Minister of Munitions. (2) No person shall as from the date hereof until further notice, purchase or take delivery of any wet spun yarn made of flax line except under and in accordance with the terms of a licence issued under the authority of the Minister of Munitions, or sell, supply, or deliver any such wet spun yarn to any person other than the holder of such a licence as last aforesaid. (3) All applications for a licence in connection with this. Order shall be addressed to the Controller of Aeronautical Supplies, Department S. (m.A.) 1, Air Board Office, Strand, W.C.2. 882
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