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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 1027.PDF
OCTOBER 4, 1917. Use of the Telephone. 22. Do not use the telephone during, or immediately after, a raid, except for the most necessary and urgent calls. False Reports of Air Raids. 23. Remember it is an offence punishable by fine or im- prisonment under the Defence of the Realm Regulations to spread false reports of an air raid warning having been issued or an air raid having taken place. Powder from Bombs. The-following precautions should be taken jn handling the powder from bombs :— 1. To remove the powdered explosive from surfaces on which it has fallen it is best to use a brush wetted with a weak alkaline solution—one teaspoonful of soda (bicarbonate or ordinary washing soda) to a quart of water. If the powder can be washed down with water from a hose this Would suffice. 2. The powder, when collected, should not be mixed with ordinary dust, as it might be sent to a destructor and possibly cause damage. If there is only a small quantity it may be mixed with earth and buried. When there is much of it the military authorities should be consulted. 3. It is better to use moist rags rather than gloves to handle articles covered with the powder, as a glove soon becomes penetrated with the powder, and the skin is more easily irritated, whereas the rags can be thrown away and clean ones taken as often as necessary. 4. If the hands become stained an endeavour should be made to remove the stain at once with pumice stone and the *soda solution. It may be found impossible to remove the stain entirely, but no ill results are likely to follow if the hands are carefully cleansed. 5. At the first sign of inflammation of the skin—e.g., irritation or small swellings containing fluid—a doctor should be consulted. CORRESPONDENCE:. Parachutes.[1948] If pilots are to be provided with parachutes it will be necessary to train them in the correct method of usingthem, just as soldiers have to be trained in the use of gas masks. Parachuting can be acquired progressively. The following is a suggestion for a graduated course :— First and second day.—Medical inspection, explanation of apparatus, fitting of harness, releasing from harness. Third and fourth day.—Instruction in correct method of alighting (teeth closed, toes pointed down, knees turned out), practice in jumping down from various heights on to various surfaces. Fifth day.—Recapitulation, falling or jumping from graduated heights into an outstretched net, as used by " aerial gymnastic performers." Sixth day.—Jumping into net in harness attached by a rope to an adjustable escapement, so that the rate of descent may be regulated by the instructor. Drops up to, say, 100 ft., and to an average maximum speed of 25 ft. per second. Seventh day.—Ditto, but with a graduated initial free drop. Eighth day.—Ditto, but without safety net. Ninth day.—Witness actual demonstration by instructor from captive balloon. Make actual descent from graduated heights up to, say, 200 ft., with outspread parachute into safety net. Tenth day.—Make ascent in captive balloon,' witness actual demonstration from balloon. Make actual descent in out- spread parachute without safety net from graduated heights up to, say, 200 ft. Eleventh day.—Make actual descent in outspread para- chute from captive balloon. Twelfth day.—Make descent with folded parachute from captive balloon. From three-seated aeroplane witness actual demonstration of descent from same aeroplane. Thirteenth day.—Make descent from aeroplane in " Guardian Angel " type apparatus. Notes.—Sixth day : It is intended that the harness be attached to a rope which can be paid out from a reel controlled by some simple form of adjustable escapement, e.g., wind vanes or dynamometer. Ninth day.—The outspread parachute might be arranged on the umbrella principle with light ribs. Other methods also suggest themselves. No doubt the system of having one class of pupils a few days ahead of the succeeding class would be the means both of providing demonstrators and at the same time stimulating the pupil demonstrators to " make the plunge." " ANTARCTICUS." Airmen and Life Assurance. [1949] I was surprised to read your leading article in your issue of September 20th on the subject of " Airmen and Life Assurance." Surely your statement that " the lives of our flying men are uninsurable " is very much at variance with the often made and often repeated assurance of many of our public men (such as General Brancker, &c.) that " flying is now as safe as motoring." You yourself, if I am not mistaken, have more than once given this statement the full weight of your official approval. The expression refers, of course, to what may be called " peace flying," and is not intended to hold good when applied to flying in the face of the enemy—though even with this latter the risks to individuals are probably not greater than those of any other of the " combatant " branches of the Army engaged in actively fighting the enemy. Taking " peace flying " only, however, are the lives of our airmen really " uninsurable " ? The statement about flying being as safe as motoring is no doubt an exaggeration ; but it does not seem to me to be nearly as far from the truth as your other statements about flying risks. The whole trouble is that we have no published statistics to go on ; every week—nearly every day, indeed—we read of accidents to our flying men, but what we never hear is the total number of men engaged in flying and the total number of hours or miles flown each day or week. If these figures could be obtained, it might be found—in fact, probably would be found—that the number of fatal accidents is after all quite small compared to the total amount of flying carried out. At present we hear only of one side of the case—that is, the number of accidents ; and therefore everyone, the insuraace companies included, get the unfair impression that flying is as dangerous as it can be and the risk pro- hibitive. I suggest that the proper way for the Government to take this matter in hand is to approach some of the larger insurance companies and to give to them in confidence the statistics for all flying (apart from actual war flying) carried out by both, R.N.A.S. and R.F.C. (including also civilian pilots testing Government machines) during the last three years. As soon as the insurance companies had these figures they would have something to go on, and could then deter- mine at once—at least approximately—what was the real " insurance" risk of flying. At present, with absolutely no statistics, it is of course impossible for any insurance company to consider the question of flying risks at all. Were the figures more available, as I suggest, it would probably be found that flying is little, if at all, more dangerous than some of the other more risky " peace " occupations— such, for instance, as mining. (I do not know whether very high premiums are asked for insuring miners.) Once get the insurance companies started, and keep them continually well supplied with figures (say, every month), and I am sure they would soon take the business up in all seriousness. Even if the premiums were rather high at first, after a year or two (as flying becomes more and more general and better and better understood), they could probably be reduced as a result of further experience. It might be possible also to graduate premiums, the premium payable being made slightly less for each year that the insured life survives. Differentiation might also be made between unavoidable accidents—such as breakages in the air, &c.—and those shown to be due to an error on the part of the pilot (as most training accidents are now), less being charged for the former risk than the latter. This last, however, might, at least at first,lead to too many complications. . Apart from any other consideration, the enormous advance which is bound to be made in commercial flying after the war is alone a good enough reason why the great insurance companies should give the matter every consideration ; because there is no question that the insurance business arising: out of aviation could be made a very big and a very profitable one. However, as I have said, nothing can or will be done until the figures are available for which the real risk may be deduced ; therefore let the Government take action as soon as possible to supply these figures. The insurance companies may be trusted to do the rest. " SQUAD-COMMANDER." fc [The above letter is dealt with editorially elsewhere. -ED.] 1027
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