FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1917
1917 - 1320.PDF
The indirect abolition by Mr. Fisher's Act of the blind- alley occupations, will have also the effect (since we have decided to be governed by a body which includes many of those who live blindly in blind alleys at present), that a more farseeing electorate will have charge of our destinies. So far as the hand-workers in aircraft construction are concerned, they do not differ from the engineering trades generally, and' the educational scheme which is good for the skilled fitter or carpenter is good for the aircraftsman. In the higher branches,.e.g., the aeronautical designer, what is first wanted is a good engineering and sociological education, to which are to be superadded the specialities of his calling, a business largely to be achieved by familiarity in college or university with the work of the wind tunnel and whirling arm. Routes.—One of the things Wanted now is some enquiry made experimentally by actual flight for the purpose of deter- mining the best aircraft trader and postal routes which may be useful and eventually payable. London-Paris has been suggested, with extension to Marseilles, Turin and Egypt. Links between capitals have also been spoken of, and links with India and South Africa, &c. Short runs will probably come first. In all short distance runs the problem is compli- cated when the existing rail and steam facilities compete. There is a marked advantage for aircraft every time that tran- shipment of any kind occurs on the ordinary means of transit. This favours London-Paris and London-Dublin, for example. Similarly, and for similar reasons, whereas no great advantage might be gained by a London-Glasgow route, where the train travels at fifty miles per hour, and the journey can easily be done during the lost hours of the night without the traveller being roused from his sleeping berth, we shall find that cross- country journeys, those involving changes of trains, waiting "at stations for connections, will be instantly eclipsed in comfort and speed by aerial travel and aerial mail deliveries. One could suggest Cardiff and Newcastle, or the like. I do not think that much is to be gained by suggesting routes at the present moment, unless we propose to permit a few machines to be withdrawn from war service, and then by using a few pilots Who are for one reason or another not fit for war service, explore the practical possibilities of such transport. 1 think it far better to start by carrying newspapers and letters and packets rather than passengers, at first, for every reason. The routes will be unknown to the pilots, their experience may perhaps not be great—the advertisement expense needed to summon passengers to support the trial cannot usefully be made in war time, and generally, it is not desirable, save in exceptional cases, to expend petrol for personal travel, or to expend money in adapting designs to passengers' comfort. Yet if this comfort were omitted, a false impression of the facilities to be afforded would easily get spread broad. I do not know whether certain types, whose performance is below the ever-rising requisites for war, could be made DECEMBER 13, 1917- available, but I should have thought that with good will they could be managed, and if so, the experiments made in war time would help us to start quickly, on the declaration of peace, that which might eventually help to create orders —only a few it is true, but still a small fraction of what is wanted for the maintenance of the production factories. Speed.—I am inclined to endorse Mr. Holt Thomas's view that, if We consider the average wind speed as thirty miles per hour, sometimes with us and sometimes against, we shall need machines whose own air speed is 120 miles per hour, in the case when there is any competition with other means of transport. On cross-country journeys far lower speeds will be vastly faster than the existing systems, and will at once command attention. As we kno-dHMfo miles per hour is a very ordinary speed to-day for aircraft, and offers no technical difficulties in alighting— indeed, Captain Green's interesting forecast, under certain conditions which he laid down, of an aeroplane to travel at 240 miles per hour, did not appear to raise any feeling of doubt or hesitancy at the Aeronautical Society about three weeks ago—though a similar audience in 1911 was very scep- tical about the advisability of introducing, even for military purposes, my proposed speed of seventy-two miles per hour. This gives us an idea of the changes which have gone on in men's minds by legitimate extrapolations from the actual achievements with which they are familiar. I have nearly finished, but before doing so I must once more reiterate that the most hopeful estimate for immediate aircraft transport and travel does not save the situation. There must be Governmental action to maintain the country's productivity and designing capacity for jnilitary and naval aircraft in the first place, and as the mainstay of the country's factory organisation. In conclusion, it is only half a truth to say with Frederick List, " The sea is the high street of the earth. The sea is the parade ground of the nations. The sea is the arena for the display of strength and enterprise of all the nations." There is now the air. A great instrument of power tending to peace and usef ulnes\= and good will can be designed in a week, if only a British, a French, an American, an Italian plenipo- tentiary could be empowered to sit round a table. That instru- ment is the aerial way. Its regulations must not be founded now upon speculation, they must be evolved later upon experi- ence. All the allied nations desire the same thing, all are agreed that just as in time of peace we must prepare for the catastrophe of war—so in war we must prepare our thoughts and plans for cataclysm of peace. The Word is used advisedly, for a very sinister situation will develop in the world of aircraft during the hiatus which first Was publicly indicated, I think, by my- self, in the discussion on Mr. Holt Thomas's paper before the Aeronautical Society, and which Lord Cowdray himself promised to make every effort to bridge. Fatal Accidents. A VERDICT of " Accidental death " was returned at an inquest at Westminster, on December 7th, on 2nd Lieut. T. B. Pritchard, R.F.C., who died on December 5th, from injuries received in an aeroplane accident on November 20th. Two Gotha Raiders Wrecked. IT would appear that in addition to the two Gotharaiders which were brought down in England a further two were destroyed as the result of colliding together while flyingnear Gentbrugge, on their homeward journey. The machines, according to a report from Amsterdam, were destroyed andthe crews killed. Putting "L 29 " to Good Use. INSPIRED by the British idea of using a Tank as a depot for the sale of War Bonds, the French, on December 8th, opened a loan office in the car of the Zeppelin '' L 29," captured at Bourbonne-les-Bains. A large crowd of people anxious to have their scrip stamped with the Zeppelin stamp passed through an avenue of captured guns to the Zeppelin relics, in front of which is an aeroplane flown by the late Capt. Guynemer. A further privilege accorded to subscribers to the loan is a peep at Tank 686. Airship Crosses Mediterranean. ACCORDING to the Matin, one of the French military airships has recently succeeded in crossing the Mediterranean. The airship started from Paris, reached Aubagne, near Marseilles, and arrived at Algiers without incident, after a journey lasting eleven hours. German Aeroplane in Switzerland. ON the afternoon of December 4th, a new German aeroplane.-flying from Strassburg to Lorraine, lost its way, and, having been fired on, alighted in Switzerland, near the frontiei. The occupants, two lieutenants of reserve, were arrested and taken to Basel. Dutch Salve German Seaplane. THE two occupants of a German seaplane which was taken into Flushing, started from Ostend on the morning of Dec. 5th, and the machine falling into the sea on the same morning, they had been adrift 24 hours. Air Fight Over Swiss Territory. AN aerial fight, in which several aeroplanes were engaged, took place between Miittenz and the Rhine, near Basel on the morning of December 6th. Two bombs fell in the vicinity of a school at Muttenz, breaking windows and doing other damage to the school building and some neighbouring houses. At-2.30 a.m. the same day, near Meuziken, Canton of Aargau, four or five bombs from an aeroplane, the nationality of which was not ascertained, fell in a field, making a hole about 10 ft. deep. German Kite Balloon Adrift. ON the night of December 5th, a large observation balloon, supposed to be German, was wrecked in the Kattegat, near Samsd Island. There were no persons on board. Zeppelins Out Again. AFTER their disastrous visit to England some weeks ago the Zeppelins have not been in evidence in the North Sea, but the Stockholm correspondent of the Morning Post states that they have recommenced patrol work and are now travelling by night with lights, so that their movements can be easily followed. On the night of December 6th a Zeppelin, heading west, was observed off Ystad. I32O
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
