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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0964.PDF
problems of the war, but that is not quite the same thing as this correspondent of our contemporary is driving at. We quite see his point and can fully appreciate it. It is one thing for the engineer to be given a detail problem to solve along lines which are rigidly defined for him, but quite another for him to be told that there is a particular end to be achieved and a free hand accorded him to do the job in his own way. Let us take the analogy of the tanks, for example. The engineer in that case was told that what he had to produce was an armoured vehicle of definite design, which should be capable of carrying an armament of ten guns and be ablcto attain a speed of ten miles an hour over any sort of country. He did his job and did it well. But who knows what might have been the result if we had had a central engineering war staff and the proposition had been put somewhat as follows : " We have arrived at a state of comparative deadlock, when our infantry cannot go forward, except at the cost of casualties which we cannot afford for long. The character of the ground is so-and-so; the enemy's defensive organisation possesses so-and-so characteristics, which our own soldiers' methods cannot surmount. Can you evolve something that will enable us to overcome it ? " It is possible, of course, that the engineer would have been as much at a loss to evolve a specific - as the soldiers themselves, but on the other hand it is just as possible that by this time we might have had something to which the tanks would be, in the American vernacular, a mere circumstance. Whatever the merits or demerits of the idea, the correspondence in question has at least started a new train of thought, and one which we think might with advantage be pursued by the War Cabinet. No harm can be done by a careful examination of the case for and against making of the war even more of an engineers' affair than it is now, and it is quite on the cards that much good might come of it. TheNational Partyand its Aims. SEPTEMBER to, 1917. Although " FLIGHT " necessarily has no politics, it is difficult to the point almost of impossibility for any organ of public opinion to refrain from the discussion of matters affecting the public weal in times such as those we are passing through at present. When the famous manifesto announcing the formation of the new National Party was issued, we gave it our blessing simply on the grounds that it stood for a cleaner public life and for the elimination of those evil influences which have made party politics a by-word among decent people. It does seem to us that the new Party has a chance which is unique, if it will take it, of rallying to its banners the great and hitherto inarticulate middle- class. That class has been the patient hewer of wood and drawer of water for all the rest of the classes of society. It has been ground between the upper and the nether millstone for long enough. It has carried the greater proportion of the nation's burden and has been the ultimate victim of every species of class legislation for several generations. It is a class which has never asked for Utopian legislation and has never grumbled when such legislation has been passed in favour, of others—it has paid-up and endeavoured to look pleasant. The time has come, however, when the great middle class intends to have a say in the affairs of the nation and to be no longer content to remain the" milch cow of the community. If it will take it, the National Party has its opportunity. With a sane and • sensible programme, clear of the taint of the pro- fessional politician and without those damnable features of " party " which have caused politics to stink in the nostrils of the better classes of the nation, we believe the great mass of the middle-classes would . rally to the new Party and we might enter upon a new era of-political life. A three-decker in :the hands of the enemy .—Another ;view of the :machine " stand- ing '' on its nose ;which was re-, prod u ce d in " FLIGHT " on:page 920, Sep-. tember 6th. Wereproduce the: illustration ex-,actly as it ap- pears in anenemy news - \ paper, and it will:be noticed that j emphasis is laid ,upon the fact that: the machine is:'•uninjured," which appears to 'be correct subject; to the propeller .and very minor : details. j m m m m 964
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