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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 0761.PDF
Flight, July 11, 1918. i ^ V^ First Aero Weekly in the World. - : Founder and Editor: STANLEY SPOONER. A Journal deva*ed to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport. OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. No. 498. (No. 28, Vol. X.) JBLY II, 1918. fWMkly, Price 64.L Post Free, 74. and The Aircraft Engineer. Editorial Office: 36, GREAT QPEEN STREET, KINGSWAY, W.C. 1. m Telegrams: Truditur, Wostcent, London. Telephone: Gerrard 1S18. Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free : United Kingdom .. i&s. *d. Abroad.. .. .. 33;, oa, CONTENTS. Editorial Comment: ' . - • PAGE Practical Points about R.A.F. Uniforms •. .. 759 The State Menace to Industry.. _ ... .. 760 The Lond 11 Strike .. .. .. .. .. ....... 761 Honours .. ' .. 782 The Roland Single-Seater Chaser, D. II (with scale drawings) .. .. 765 The Roll of Honour • 768 The Royal Aero Club. Official Notices .. .. .. 769 Report on the Friedrichshafen Bomber — 770 Airiimt frmn the Four Winds 774 Aviation in Parliament _ 7 Pwionals 778 The Flight of an Aeroplane at Different Altitudes. By Louis De Bazillac 779 Some Outstanding Problems in Aeronautics. By Dr. Durand .. ..781 The Royal Air Force .. .. _ 7J3 " Newspapers are an essential part of our war organisation."— (Sir Attckland Geddes, Minister of National Service.) HILE we have never been particu- larly intrigued as to whether the uniforms for the Royal Air Force incline to this hue or to that tint, and as to whether a button is placed here or there, holding that such matters are best left to experts on • the subject, of whom, perchance, there would appear to be a greater number than are to be found expert concerning a great many matters of much more vital, because engineering, interest to the newly created Service, we have been always of opinion that the fundamental test of any uniform for service is that it should be designed primarily, not to making a pretty appearance on parade, but to being a practical pro- position from the point of view of those who have to wear it when and where there is work ,to be done. That is one of the matters wherein the French are second to none, as instance their infantry uniform, at which many in these islands were wont to smile almost patronisingly before the war, whereas to-day it is realised the world over that no uniform enables Practical Points about R.A.F. Uniforms. an infantryman to do an infantryman's work more effectively and more conveniently than that worn by the immortal Poilou. Such being our views, the matter of detail in the R.A.F. uniform scheme has not come under serious editorial review hitherto ; nor did we expect it would do so at any time. Now these new uniforms are beginning to be used, however, a practical point emerges. We should imagine it has merely to be brought to the notice of the authorities for steps to be taken to remedy what is, in fact, an awkward situation, in which not merely the R.A.F., but all units of His Majesty's Services are placed by reason at once of the similarity and of the relative absence of dissimilarity between a Junior Officer's and a Warrant Officer's uniform in the newly con- stituted and now entirely independent Third Arm. Ever since we have had a Navy and an Army the nation has realised that the non-commissioned officers are the very backbone of those Services. Experience in this war has merely confirmed that fact. Now that a third entirely independent but co-operating arm has been added to the Senior Services by reason of man's conquest of the air and of the ever-present miracle pi aerial warfare, and that the outward and visible sign of the birth of the Third Arm is being given by the wearing of the new style uniforms, a not inconsiderable number of warrant officers of the R.A.F. are experiencing embarrassment; also non- commissioned officers and men not of that Force but of other forces, besides, are being still further embarrassed and worried by reason of the difficulty of distinguishing at a distance of more than three paces, say, between a junior commissioned officer and a warrant officer of the new Service. This Service has been constituted to a large extent by compro- mising between naval and military practice. Thus, in the Navy a warrant officer is saluted, whereas in the Army he is not. In the R.A.F. also a warrant officer is not entitled to a salute. Indeed, for him to acknowledge one is a " crime." That word is used by the military in sundry senses that to the civilian mind appear, shall we say, a thought Gilbertian ? Be that as may be, thus difficulties arise. In the R.A.F. a commissioned officer and a warrant officer'wear, in effect, the same uniform. There is a difference in the texture of the material of which each is fashioned, but the degree is so slight as scarcely to be recognisable at a distance of three yards. Further, both classes of officers wear the same cap and the
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