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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 1296.PDF
NOVEMBER 14, 1918 to suffer the inevitable and lose its quantum of effectives, leaving ultimately a matter of a thousand prisoners to be roped into the cages. . . • . v' " ". FROM a further communication, it would appear Mr-Mark H. Judge, as Chairman of the Committee on War Damage* has no fear of Dora and her wily ways. The sought-forinformation for damage done through air-raids and bom- bardment is on behalf of the Board of Trade, IT is reported that to facilitate Transatlantic mail andpassenger traffic deep-water piers at Queenstown and at a port in the north of Ireland are proposed by a sub-committee ofthe Select Committee on Transport. From these ports improved fast train services for passengers might, it is pointedout, be established and air services for express mails might be found feasible. IT'S something to remember from recent answers in Parlia-ment, that officialdom has the subject of aerial postal services in mind. Why not let some enterprising private firm take upa contract as a lead to Government timidity. The only proviso that would be reasonable in that case would be thatonce it had been proved a commercial success the Govern- ment should not have the power of filching the goodwill ofthe concern too easily. THAT formidable and respected technician, Mr. M. A. S- Riach, has reduced the matter of the Atlantic flight to a formula in an article entitled " A Matter of Mathematical Analysis," which appears under his name in the Engineering Supplement of The Times. Not only does he work on the lucus a non lucendo principle, but he is devilish cautious. He says that "in all probability the problem will be even- tually solved, for (and mark this well) undoubtedly it will be solved sooner or later." The italics are ours : Quod eraldemonstrandum—as dear old Euclid used to say. Mr. Riach's swift and analytical mind, after sundry divagations, reachesthe conclusion that—" The weight of tie crew remains con- stant during the flight." We hate to differ with an authority,but it seems to us that they will each be approximately twelve pounds heavier at the conclusion, unless they be rivalsof Sacco, the Starving Man. Against this must be set the loss of weight in their clothes by erosion, or friction with thesurrounding elements. Say two dwts. " Since the aeroplane is losing weight in fuel during its flight," continues Mr.Riach, " its velocity will not in general remain constant for the trip, so that the total distance flown will not simply bethe product of the velocity and the time, but must be ex- pressed as the time integral of the velocity between the limitszero and . . . ." We give him best ! It is comforting though to reflect that the informed Mr. Riach has an Achillesheel. He, in common with the writer, was once the possessor of those marvellous Sabella cycle-cars, of a design recallingthe torture chair from the Spanish Inquisition (now in Horni- man's Museum), and she proved too much for him, as she didfor me. Even authorities are fiuman ! SAYS the Sheffield Independent reassuringly, " No womanwould wish for the death of a man to get his job," and goes on to administer further comfort by arguing that, if they donot marry us in the future, they will turn to aviation as an outlet for repressed feeling. H'm . . . (thoughtful pause). Ifmotor driving provides any clue, there are only two kinds of women, those who drive as though they were conducting ahearse (and paid by the hour at that), sounding the horn con- tinuously after the manner of Gabriel; and the others, whotake all cross roads at forty an hour, tflrning one's thoughts to higher things. We must avow the woman aviator makesus a little dubious. THE LORD MAYOR'S BANQUET. LORD WEIR, who responded to the toast of " The ImperialForces of the Crown " at the Lord Mayor's banquet on Saturday, said :—" To-night for the first time in the history of your great banquet, the Air Service of the Crown is joined with theNavy and Army in receiving tribute of honour which the citizens of London pay to the Imperial Forces ; and it is avery great privilege for me, and a great responsibility, to be the first Minister of the Service to whose lot it has fallento return thanks to you on behalf of that Force. Allow me, then, in the name of the officers and men of the RoyalAir Force, to express my sincere and whole-hearted appre- ciation of the warm and generous tributes which have beenso eloquently made. To-night I have to speak on behalf of units of the Royal Air Force serving withthe Navy on many a coast, and on many a ship ; of units serving with our great Army in all the many theatresof war ; and of units serving also with that new Force which has become a factor in modern warfare—the IndependentAir Force—and when I refer to that Force, let me simply say that the only competent critic of the Force has been theenemy. The officers and men of these units would, I am sure, desire me to say to-night that, whatever measure of servicethey may have rendered through the medium of the air— service of great value, of great variety in measure and intargets, stinted only by weather—that service has been inspired and intensified by the glorious example set to themby the two senior Services. In regard to the home units, the School of Training Squadrons—that gallant -force offlying instructors, whose work, if not so spectacular, is none the less creditable—these men have their reward in the successof their overseas comrades, whom they have trained and equipped. '' The Air Force is in every sense young—born but yester-day—manned, may I say, by boys whose qualities of courage, self-sacrifice and skill have earned the immeasurable admira-tion and gratitude of all. Their record is surely an un- mistakeable proof of the soundness on which our Empireis built, and it is full of hope for the future, associated, as it has been, with the technical skill, the ingenuity and theadaptability of the British designers and the British manu- facturers. Our indebtedness to them is very great, for theknowledge and the resources placed ungrudgingly at our dis- posal without restriction and without thought of privateinterests. To-night I feel that we are all conscious of living through hours pregnant with historical possibilties. Itis a great night. At any moment, we hope, we may have reached the end of these years of sacrifice and of struggle,and may look forward to an era, no less strenuous, perhaps, but one in which construction rather than destruction willbe the subject of our united efforts. The future of aviation —the future, perhaps, of the Air Force—will come, I hope,from the needs of peaceful commerce rather than from the tragic necessities of war, and one of the duties of the AirForce will be to maintain and still further develop that degree of technical superiority which we have now achieved. Asregards the other source of our success—the quality of our youth—that will never fail us. It is bred in thesoul and fostered by the spirit and tradition of a free people." Reconstruction. ^ THE Minister of Reconstruction has appointed an Engineering Trades (New Industries) Committee to compile a list of the articles suitable for manufacture by those with engineering trade experience or plant, which were either not made in the United Kingdom before the War but were imported, or were made in the United Kingdom in small or insufficient quantities and for which there is likely to be a considerable demand after the War, classified as to whether they are capable of being made by (1) women ; (2) men and women ; (3) skilled men ; and setting out the industries to which such new manufactures would most suitably be attached ; and to make recommendations:—(a) On the establishment and development of such industries by the transfer of labour, machines and otherwise ; (b) as to how such a transfer could be made, and what organisation would be requisite for the purpose, with due.regard to securing the co-operation of labour. j ,-.:-,• The members of the main Committee, together with theSub-Committees which have been appointed to deal with particular industries, are as follows :— The Hon. H. D. McLaren, M.P., C.B.E. (Chairman), CharlesBennion, Esq., Sir George Bullbu^h, Bt., F. H. Crittall, Esq., R. Dumas, Esq., Sir John Griffith, M.Inst.C.E., W. B.Lang, Esq., Charles A. Lister, Esq., C.B.E., P. J. Pybus, Esq., C.B.E., G. H. Sankey, Esq., Sir Percy Stothert, K.B.E.,John Taylor, Esq., William Taylor, Esq., William Thorn, Esq., Sir'W. Rowan Thomson, K.B.E., and H. C. B. Under-down, Esq. The members of the Branch Committee for the AircraftIndustry are Mr. P. J. Pybus (Chairman) ; Mr. R. O. Cary, of Sopwith Aviation Co., Ltd. ; Mr. N. G. Gwynne, ofGwynnes, Ltd. ; Mr. J. D. Siddeley, of Siddeley-Deasy Motor Car Co., Ltd. ; Mr. H. White-Smith, of British and ColonialAeroplane Co. ; Mr. G. Holt Thomas, of Aircraft Manu- facturing Co., Ltd. ; and Mr. C. V. Allen, of Society of BritishAircraft Constructors, Ltd. '297 . . J
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