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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0907.PDF
Flight, September 6, 1917. BMQINEEFL j 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. 454. (No. 36, Vol. IX.) SEPTEMBER 6, 1917. [-Weekly, Price 3d.L Port Free, 4d. Fligpfot ~ and the " Aircraft Engineer." Editorial Office: 44, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. 2. Telegrams : Truditur, Westrand, London. Telephone: Gerrard 1828. Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free. United Kingdom .. 151. id. Abroad.. .. .. 20.5. od. CONTENTS. Editorial Comment: •—— PAGE " Ten Years Ago" .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 907 Scientific and Industrial Research .. .. . 908 The New Political Party 908 The American Reply to the Pope .. .. .. .. .. .. 909 The Recruiting Difficulty .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 910 Honours .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..911 A " De Havilland " Single-seater Fighter .. .. .. .. .. 912 The Roll of Honour .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 914 The Royal Aero Club. Official Notices .. .. .. .. .. .. 915 Answers to Correspondents .. .. .. .. .. „ .. .. 916 Aircraft Engineering NoUs .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 917 Airisms from the Four Winds .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 919 Personals.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 923 The British Air Services .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..925 Aircraft Work at the Front .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 927 Sperry Charts for Aviators .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 918 The R.A.F. Sports 929 Models .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 931 Side-Winds .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 932 EDITORIAL COMMENT. AST week we reproduced under this regular heading a paragraph from our sister journal, the Auto., in which reference was made to questions asked in the House of Commons relative to aerial policy. Major Anstruther-Gray had asked the then Secretary of State for War whether, in view of the progress made by foreign Powers in the problems of aerial flight, the Secretary for War would consider the desirability of increasing4< Ten Years the grant for research on the subject. Ago." Mr. (now Lord) Haldane was at the time War Minister, and his reply reads ludicrously in the light of after events. His answer was : " The importance of this subject is recognised and experiments are in progress. It is not con- sidered necessary or desirable to increase the grant of money available this year for this subject. My advisers and I are fully aware of the nature of work that is being done elsewhere." And this was only seven years before the outbreak of the greatest war in history—a war, too, that will in all human prob- ability be decided by aerial supremacy. We have no intention of harking back to a criticism of the ostrich-like attitude of the War Office in those remote days—for remote they were in the history of the development of aerial navigation. In fact, now that it is possible to view that attitude in strict perspective, it is possible to find some small excuse for it, though we should not go so far as to endorse a plea of justification. It is only fair to recall that at the time aviation was very much in its infancy, and to visualise its ultimate development needed more imagination and a wider prevision than is given to the average politician to possess. Above the para- graph from which we have quoted, we find recorded the then extremely interesting fact that at the Issy aerodrome M. Bleriot had actually succeeded, during the previous week, in making several flights, the best of which seems to have been one of 143 metres! After all, it is hardly surprising that so pedantic a politician as Lord Haldane should have failed at the time to grasp the vast potentialities of what was then a very new science. Nor, perhaps, would it have been any more reasonable to expect his " expert " advisers to have been possessed of the imagination in which he himself was deficient. At that time the average War Office official of high rank was more or less hide-bound by the traditions of a long past. He lived, moved and had his official existence in a groove, and the habit of taking the line of least resistance had become ingrained. Moreover, the War Office did not believe then that this country would ever become involved in another European war, and its interest in the higher developments of the art of war was thus more academic than active, so that the progress of aviation was a matter which could safely be left to other countries more intimately concerned with readiness for instant war, leaving us to come in on the tail of their inventive research. But a lot of water has run beneath the bridges since then—and the War Office has learnt much. The real interest of the quotation, however, does not lie so much in the record of official blindness it discloses, and for which, as we have said, there is some excuse to be found under all the circumstances of the times. To our way of thinking, that interest is more in the startling contrast between then and now and in the brilliant light it throws on the record of progress made in the meantime. Then, the Government would not find more than pence to carry on experimental work. Now it passes credits by millions of pounds at a time for aerial purposes. Then
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