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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 1128.PDF
CHT NOVEMBER I, 1917. fact that a great deal of these resources are absorbed by submarine construction and the necessity of main- taining the High Sea Fleet in a state of readiness for eventualities. But even allowing for these factors, it is beyond doubt that Germany is in a better position than ourselves to take advantage of her shipbuilding yards and their plant for aircraft construction. We do not think for a moment that she will, in spite of these advantages, succeed in holding us back from our objectives in 1918, provided we keep all the facts in mind and do not slack up on our efforts in any spirit of over-confidence. We are at the most critical time of preparation in the whole course of the war, and on the work of our factories during the coming winter depends our prospect of early victory. If only we keep that well before us, we have no fear for the result —but we cannot afford to slacken a single effort. Rather must we strain every nerve to increase pro- duction of aircraft to its very maximum. A correspondent of the Daily Mail, who and is evidently ^ aircraft constructor in Aeroplanes. a comparatively small way, and who signs himself—as well he might' if his indictment is literally true—" Utterly Disgusted," discloses a deplorable condition of things due to the incompetence of the so-called inspectors employed to pass aeroplane construction. He says, after remarking that he is interested in a small firm employing about forty hands : " A spar having been produced from the mill, the junior inspector walks round it, rule in hand, hoping to find some serious defect. Disappointed, he continues to walk round it for about two hours, and then discovers some trivial flaw, round which he draws a red-pencil line, and proceeds to report his discovery to the resident chief, who now appears on the scene. They consult together for another half an hour, when the foreman (who is waiting for the spar) asks if they have passed it, and is told they cannot take it upon themselves to do so, but must report it to their chief at headquarters. After three days this official arrives, bringing with him a wood expert, and the four proceed to hold a sort of coroner's inquest on the spar for another half-hour. The foreman then asks if it has been passed or condemned, and is told that they cannot take the responsibility of passing it, but will bring down Lieut. to see it. After a few more days the lieutenant (who is a man who thoroughly understands air- craft) arrives, gives a general look at the article, and says, ' It is quite all right.' Result : Work held up for ten days, because the inspectors sent to the firm know absolutely nothing about timber or aircraft; any man who understood the business could have settled the matter in five, minutes." It seems to us that this letter requires a very serious answer from the Air Board. Either the charges it contains are true in substance and in fact, or they are not. We take it that if they are, the writer would have no objection to divulging his name and place of business to the Board, and it would then be up to the latter to enquire into the charges which, if sub- stantiated, should lead to the instant dismissal of the incompetents. We agree that these men are probably doing their best, but such a " best " is no use to the country in its time of travail. They are the victims of a vicious system which has placed tinkers, tailors and doubtful play-actors in positions they are no more fitted to hold than our office-boy is to run the universe. If there are no really competent inspectors to be had, or if there are not enough to go round, then it would be far better to wash out the inspection business altogether and to trust to the integrity of our aircraft^eonstructors than to hold up vital production at such a critical time as the present. Alternatively, if the charges are untrue, or are The Furniture Trade and Aeroplane Work. grossly exaggerated, then it is for the Board to say so in the most unequivocal terms and to proceed to the punishment of the person making them. If they cannot be substantiated, then an offence against the community has clearly been committed, since nothing is more likely to lead to a loss of con- fidence in the methods of the Government in carrying on the war, and a corresponding lowering of the public moral. That is the way the thing appeals t o us. We wonder what the Air Board thinks of the disclosures—or, shall we say, the allegations as to the methods of its officials ? / . • • •* In a recent issue of the Furniture iecord there appears a lucid, and we must say convincing, reply to the criticisms that have been levelled against the furniture trade on account of its alleged unwillingness to release men for aeroplane work. The Record points out that the Trade has special grounds for complaint, because while one department appeals to furniture manufacturers to release their men for aeroplane work, another tells them that the output of aero- plane woodwork exceeds the demand. Quite rightly the ecord asks what is the position ? It points out that Lord Cowdray, in a recent speech, said :—• " The Air Board's demands for men and material are considered of vital importance, and are there- fore being invariably met so far as it is ever possible for them to be. The result is that our output of aeroplanes and seaplanes has been enormously increased, and must be considered as highly satis- factory." As the Record remarks, this does not square with the suggestion that men are so urgently needed as to justify the closing down of such important industries as the furniture trade. We agree with the argument that it is in the national interest that trade should be continued as far as possible. We do think that there is too much of a tendency in certain quarters to lose sight of the fact that the national revenue needs to be kept up, and in order to attain that end trade must be maintained, always subject, naturally, to the needs of the war. The cry for closing down this trade and that industry has been carried quite far enough, especially by a section of the Press which would apparently be well satisfied if everything were shut down—except its own immediate interests. It certainly seems to emerge that in this case there has been much cry and little enough wool. If we take the position to be as it is set forth by the Fur- niture Record—and there is no reason why we should not—it is quite clear that the trade has done all it has been asked to do in the way of releasing men for aeroplane work, and we are assured it is willing to do more when required, even to releasing its last man for the work of aeroplane construction. There is another point raised by the Record which is worthy of remark, since it applies to all trades engaged in or concerned with the production of war material. "When," says this journal, "there is actually in sight a demand for more aeroplane wood- work the furniture manufacturers ought to be given the opportunity of doing it in their own factories, instead of being called upon to release their men to aeroplane works. The trade has the men and the machinery necessary for making wings, spare parts, &c, and properly organised there is no reason why 1128
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