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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 1135.PDF
N0VEMBEI?"l,|l917. THE THANKS OF THE NATION. iNjjthe House of Lords, inj his speechyintroducing' the very ^acceptable resolution of thanks of the Nation to the Navy, Army and Mercantile Marine, Lord Curzon, taking the Air Services in their turn, said :— " When we are dealing with the Royal Flying Corps or either of the services, I deliberately say that nowhere in this country has the spirit of knight errantry been more con- spicuously shown. When in August, 1914, 100 officers and 66 machines made their way to France, who could have foreseen that they would have developed into a great fleet of thousands of machines and tens of thousands of men ? On the Western front in the first nine months of 1917 the •men of the Royal Flying Corps brought down 876 enemy machines, they drove 759 out of action, 52 were brought •down by anti-aircraft gunners : thousands of tons of ex- plosive were dropped on aerodromes, bridges, railways, lines of communication, and even on marching regiments. Apart from offensive operations and activities of the Air Service, they are the eyes of the Army in the field. Then we must not forget the airmen at home, who have shattered the enemy's Zeppelins, and by their skill and bravery on many occasions have brought those great gas-bags in flames to the ground. I sometimes think when Gothas are shrieking •over London, and when the civil population are cowering in their cellars, we might give a thought to those brave men who are riding in the darkness above and risking their lives to save us from destruction. I include in the same tribute the officers and men of the Naval Air Service. There is no distinction between the two Services. At the beginning •of the war the personnel of the Naval Air Service was 800, and now it is 42.000. Its fleet in August, 1914, consisted of seven airships, thirty aeroplanes and thirty-four seaplanes ; whilst^_the number is now many thousands. The most effective branch of the Service has bsen the Naval squadron of Dunkirk, from whence it has bombed aerodromes and has diminished and at times stopped the aerial invasion of our country. "These airmen have been in evidence in every theatre. They have flown over Damascus, dropped bombs on Beyrout, destroyed buildings in Constantinople ; and their flight to the Lake of Constance in the early part of the war and destruction of sheds there will bs rememb3red." In his speech upon the same subject, in the House of Commons, Mr. Lloyd Gsorge was equally generous, and although wishing not to appear invidious in singling out any one of the various arms of the Service, he said :— " But, amongst all these, I may bo permitted to mention one arm of the Service which has appeared for the first time in this great war—I m?an the Air Service. I am sure the House would like special mention to be made of our Air Service. The heavens are their battlefield ; they are the cavalry of the clouds. High above the squalor and the mud, so high in the firmament that they are not visible from earth, they fight out the eternal issues of right and wrong. They are struggling there day, yea, and by night, in that titanic conflict between the great forces of light and of darkness. They fight the foe high up and they fight him low down ; they skim like armed swallows along the front, taking men, in their flights, armed with rifle and with machine gun. They scatter infantry on the march ; they destroy convoys ; they scatter dismay. Every flight is a romance ; every record is an epic. They are the knighthood of this war, without fear and without reproach. They recall the old legends of chivalry, not merely by daring individually, but by the nobility of their spirit, and, amongst the multitudes of heroes, let us think of the chivalry of the air." CORRESPONDENCE. Re Airmen and Life Assurance. [1951] I have read the letter from " Squad-Commander " and the " Editorial " in your issue of October 4th. I am afraid there will be some difficulty to obtain the -Government statistics of flying accidents so as to enable any company to place the business on an actuarial basis, and it is, therefore, necessary for some company to be enter- prising enough to quote rates and so build up their own experience from accepted cases. In these days when everything is insurable it seemed to me that there must be some office sporting enough to take the risk, and I have approached one of the leading companies •on the subject, and am pleased to say that they are prepared to accept proposals subject to satisfactory particulars on the following scheme, viz. :— 1. The policy to be payable at the end of twenty years or -at previous death. 2. Every five years the declared bonus to be added to the policy. The rates chargeable for every ^100 insurance will be :— Plus—for Flying this country risks in For age 20. £ s. d. 4 17 3 5 S o For age 25. £ s. d. 4 18 o 5 5 o £™ 2 3 .. £10 3 o •excluding war risks. This scheme is only open to pilots and observers who have obtained their certificates. In the event of flying being discontinued, the additional rate will be no longer chargeable. If any of your readers are interested, and will communicate with the undersigned at 149, Leadenhall Street, he will place them in communication with the company. W. S. COLES. 149, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C. 3.October 24th, 1917. To Readers—One and All. THE Editor of " FLIGHT-" will at all times be pleased to consider original articles (illustrated or otherwise) on subjects directly or indirectly allied with aviation. All articles accepted will be paid for ; a high literary standard of writing is not essential; it is the facts which matter. Practical explanatory articles are most acceptable. Diagrams and similar illustrations need^onlyjbe rough sketches if necessary. "X" AIRCRAFT RAIDS. IN view of the decision of the Government not to allow details of places visited by enemy aircraft to be published, we are, as before, giving to each one an index number. Eventually, when details are available, we shall give th« respective information under these index numbers, which will facilitate easy reference to each particular raid. " X " 81 Raid (October 29th). The following communiques were issued by the Field-Marshal Commanding Home Forces :— " October 29th. " Hostile aeroplanes attempted to raid the South-East counties to-night. Our aeroplanes went up and guns and lights Were in action. No hostile aeroplane succeeded in passing the outer defences." " October 2,0th. " No casualties or damage were caused by last night's air- raid. The enemy machines were unable to penetrate far inland owing to the activity of our own aircraft, which went up to meet them in spite of the rising gale. All our machines landed safely." m m m m Skilled Men Wanted for the R.F.C. THE Royal Flying Corps, the Royal Artillery, and other Technical Corps of the Army are still in urgent need of Artificers, and the Ministry of Munitions is appealing for volunteers. The Ministry is returning to the Colours many soldiers formerly released for munitions work, who possess the necessary qualifications, and the Army Council is making sure that skilled men in line regiments will be transferred to technical units, and the ability of men posted to technical units utilised to the fullest extent possible. But the demand for fitters, turners, coppersmiths, acetylene welders, planing and other machinists, riveters, mechanical engineering draughtsmen, electricians, boilermakers, and caulkers con- tinues to exceed the supply ; and they are now urged to enrol at once for service by going to the nearest Employment Exchange and signing Form A.A.4. The names of those enrolling who can be spared from then- present work will be submitted to the new National Service Recruiting Department with a view to a trade test before being posted to some Technical Corps. The technical unit to which a man may be assigned is determined by the trade test. Fitters of special ability may be granted the rank of Fitter Staff Sergeant soon after enlistment, and for smart, intel- ligent men there are good chances of promotion, to the higher non-commissioned ranks. In the present phase of the war nothing is more necessary than that the technical units of the Army should be made increasingly efficient to maintain in the field an ample supply of aeroplanes, guns, and tanks. "35
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