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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 1274.PDF
NOVEMBER 14, 1918* reminded industry that itjowed^a duty to the com- munity, and in pursuance of that duty the Federation would endeavour by co-operative and other means to raise production to the highest level both of quan- tity and quality, to reduce expenses of distribution and the cost of goods to the consumer, and to ensure the maintenance of industrial peace and the enjoy- ment by all engaged in industry of the fullest share practicable in the creation and distribution of wealth. All these are excellent sentiments, and we would they were backed by corresponding expressions of respon- sible opinion from the, workers' side. Still, we are by no means discouraged by the outlook. As^we have said, if we are to bridge over the gap which lies between us and the complete reconstruction of our industrial and commercial status, it will require all the good-will, all the level-headed resource we possess among every class of the industrial and commercial communities. Given that, we shall be all right. If these essentials do not come to the surface, then we shall never retrieve our former position. But the profound belief we have in our fellow- countrymen induces us to think that whatever the causes of difference now, whatever points of friction there may arise in the future, these will all be smoothed away and the future will be full of promise. In our correspondence columns we After print a letter frOm a Prominent fir™ ofthe War aeronautical engineers, which appears to us to merit the very closest attention of the trade. The main point raised by the letter is that owing to the conditions under which production has proceeded during the war there is an utter want of standardisation of ideas and designs. On general principles we ourselves have always opposed standard- isation as tending towards stagnation, but in this case we are entirely at one with our correspondents. Much as we have learnt as a consequence of the lessons inculcated by the War, and enormous as the improvement has been in every detail of aircraft, it must not be forgotten that all our energies have been concentrated on the production of machines for war purposes simply and solely, without the slightest reference to commercial use in the post-bellum period. Naturally, all this experience will prove invaluable in the development of aviation for peaceful purposes, hut it requires to be related and co-ordinated before it can be of much general use. For instance, the machine of the fast scouting type will be quite useless^ for commercial purposes, as was the Brooklands speed monster of before the war. Nevertheless, the latter provided most valuable data for the manufacturer of the pleasure car. So undoubtedly the experience of the fast fighting machine will prove of inestimable value to the constructors of heavy commercial types later on, but the results of that experience must be collected and tabulated over all the various types, and out of the sum total some methods of standardisa- tion of product must be evolved. We are not at all astonished at our correspondents' experience of the diversity of views expressed by the numerous firms with whom they communicated. It would have been passing strange if it had been otherwise, in view of the conditions under which they have been working. We need hardly say that we shall be more than pleased to open our columns to such a correspondence as is suggested, since we believe it will prove of the greatest possible value to the industry and to the future development of aviation. The Endof the War! It was with feelings of the most devout thankfulness that England received the news on Monday that the end of the War had indeed come at last, and come in the definite shape which the country had always intended it should come—with the complete surrender of Germany to the armistice terms imposed by the Allied Powers. There is not very much to be said at the moment. We are all too oppressed with the magnitude of the relief after more than four years of bitter struggle to be articulate. The only feeling of which every responsible person is conscious is one of complete gratitude that the end, which so often seemed far off and doubtful of the issues, has indeed come at last. Later, when we have all become used to the feeling of peace again, there will come the counting of the cost. We shall think with sorrow of the million of our best who lie beneath the mud of Flanders, in the arid wastes of Gallipoli and in the tropic sands of many a far-flung battle-ground, and of the many thousands who have given health and limb to secure what we have gained—the permanent peace of the world. But the effect of the sudden end is too stun- ning for us to think coherently of anything but the one great glorious fact-—the WAR HAS ENDED. AN A.E.G. TWIN-ENGINE BOMBER OF THE G III TYPE.—On the right a CI typel " • . " • .1275 • "•••;, -~.
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