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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 0574.PDF
AERIAL postal matters appear, at the moment, to be atsixes and sevens. In one breath almost, comes news of stoppage of an air postal service, the definite starting of ahighly important service, the intention to start two others, and on the top of all, the re-affirmation by the British authoritiesnot at present to join up with any scheme of a similar character. The stoppage is the service between Vienna and Kieff. ABudapest journal attributes this impending stoppage to the variability of the weather, to the fact that the aero-planes used too much petrol, and finally to the improvement in the railway service. This elaboration of reasons remindsone of the lawyers' novel ingenuous take-no-chances defence methods in which they set out that firstly, the defendantnever ordered the goods ; if he ordered them he never re- ceived them ; if he received them and didn't order them,then he's not liable, and so on ad infinitum. . THEN there is the very heartening announcement fromAmerica of the actual inauguration last week of the Washington-Philadelphia-New York regular aeroplane mailservice, a distance of about 220 miles. This has been under organisation, as readers of " FLIGHT " will remember, for ON THE WESTERNmachine being tuned (British Official.)FRONT IN FRANCE A "Baby" R.A.F.up before starting off for Germany with a load of bombs. 57* some little time, and the official send-off marks April 15thas a red-letter day in the annals of aviation. PRESIDENT WILSON, members of the Cabinet, and otherofficials were present at the inauguration. Two military airmen, using 150 h.p. Hispano-Suiza motored Curtiss',started simultaneously from both cities, Relay machines were provided at Philadelphia. EACH 'plane had a carrying capacity of 300 to 600 lbs., andupon the first trip the Washington pilot carried with him a specially autographed letter by President Wilson appealingfor Red Cross funds. Postage for the new service costs a shilling an ounce, but, instead of occupying five hours intransit by the old railway route, the aeroplanes will deliver their freight in a little ov~r two hours.Before long it is anticipated that the service will be extended to other important routes. IN regard to the proposed Norwegian service betweenStavanger and Aberdeen, the policy of our Air Board is once more affirmed of biding a wee, as it is claimed that if aero-planes are suitable for such services, they can be far better employed in war opera-tions. For which reason similar proposals from France have been likewise temporarilyturned down. " DOES not the fact that ' conscientious *objectors, when attacked, defend themselves by force, put them and their objection tofighting their country's enemies entirely out of court ? 'If they are prepared to take up weapons of defence, as they did at Knutsford, why shouldnot their exemptions be cancelled, as their plea that any resistance by force to violenceis against their conscience is shown by their conduct to be arrant humbug ? "Thus writes Capt. R. Muirhead Collins, late R.N., from Bournemouth, regarding the" Conchies." And a very sound argument which most will applaud. THE following is the promised furtherexcerpt from the Trier Prisoners of War Camp Journal, The Barb, the swan song ofwhich we re-printed last week :— GEFANGENERS GO FOR A WALK. As you all know, the British Officers atthis camp are allowed to go for a walk each morning, and afternoon, with a " feld-webel "as escort. About the morning walk, which starts at 9 a.m., I am afraid I can giveyou very meagre information, as I regard time of the day, as, properly, part of thenight. Other officers are similarly engaged ; so many, in fact, that I believe this walkhas been " washed out " altogether. I will endeavour to give you an impression of theafternoon walks, which commence at 2 p.m. I want to be quite candid with you, so Iwill say right here, at once, that I do not go out to get exercise. In fact, nothing is moreboring to me than walking for the sake of walking. No sir I I go to see the fair inhabi-tants of Trier; and why not ? Surely some of them are worth seeing, and if I do, on anyoccasion, win a smile, I feel that'my walk has not been in vain. To accomplish this desire,I don a decidedly " chic " cap, neither naval or military, and though perhaps it may notbe becoming, there is n,o doubt that it attracts a certain amount of attention. Un-fortunately, another officer, who really is good looking, wears a Belgian cavalry cap, which
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