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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 1482.PDF
Flight, December 26, 1918 ; First Aero Weekly in the World V Founder and Editor : STANLEY SPOONER A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport \. OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM No. 522. (No. 52, Vol. X.) DECEMBER 26, 1918 rWeekly, Price 6d.L Post Free, 7d. and The Aircraft Engineer. ' BdittrialOgtct: 36, GREAT QUEEN STREET, KINGSWAY, W.C. a. Telegrams: Trnditnr, Wejtcent, London. Telephone: Gerrard 1818. Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free: United Kingdom .. i&r. %d. Abroad 33/. od. These rates are subject to any alteration found necessary ander war conditions. CONTENTS. Editorial Comment : . PAGE A Senseless Canard .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... 1451 The Passing of 1018 .. .. 1452 The Royal Air Force.. 1452 New Aircraft Types .1454 The Dirigible 1454 Raids: Enemy and Allied .. .. .. 1455 The Roll of Honour •• '455 The Royal Aero Club •• '•• J455 The Year in Industry .. .. .. .. , .. -" .. * J455 ~ - Technical Progress .. .... ...» .;. 1 .. ,1436 Kngine Development .. .. ... .. .. •- -• ,*• M5^ Aeroplanes .... .. . .. 1456 Seaplanes .. .. .. .. '• - ' •• • M5* Airships ;. ..-..• .... 145* The L.V.G. Two-Seater Biplanes ... .. ..' ..'. .. •• M57 The Roll of Honour : .... 1463 An Apparent Revolution in Fabric Looms. By <Juae»tor .. * • .. - - 1463 The Report of the Civil Aerial Transport Committee , 1465 Reviews of Books .. .. .. .. .. .. .„ »47> Airisms from the Four Winds • • >472 Personals •. M76 Aeroplane Parachutes : By " K. Forgeron " .. •• .. •• •• '4?7 The Royal Air Force J478 Company Matters .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. • •' 148" EDITORIAL COMMENT. E are completely at a loss to imagine how a supposedly responsible journal like the Daily Express allowed its leg to be pulled to the extent of committing itself to the senseless and mischievous statement which appeared in its columns on the 18th inst., to the effect that Lord Weir had resigned the Sscretaryship of the Air and that the R.A.F. was to pass under the control Senseless °f the War Office- As to the first Part Canard °f this announcement, it is true enough that Lord Weir is leaving the Air Ministry, as it was his intention to do as soon as the war ended. His was entirely a war appoint- ment and was never meant to be anything else, inasmuch as he has very great private interests to look after—interests which he was perfectly willing to neglect in the service of the country so long as was necessary, but which now require his urgent attention. " Resignation" is not quite the right word to be applied in this case. The position is that, Parliament having been dissolved, every Minister has automatically placed himself at the disposal of the Premier and is simply carrying on until a suc- cessor has been appointed. That is what Lord Weir is actually doing now, and when the new Ministerial appointments are announced a new Secretary for the Air will be among them. In the circumstances there is no need for " resignation." As to the statement that the R.A.F. will revert to the War Office, there is not an atom of truth in it. There cannot in fact be a vestige of authority for it, as the Daily Express would have recognised if it had stopped to think. The R.A.F. was constituted a year ago by Act of Parliament and is a constitutional force, as much as the Royal Navy or the Army, and cannot be altered in its constitution except by virtue of another Act of Parliament or by the repeal of the Air Force Act. A great many peculiar things have been done during the war—even to the overriding oi Acts of Parliament, including such a time-honoured statute as the Habeas Corpus Act—but this is one that cannot be done. What may be in the minds of certain interested parties—including the author of the Express canard, at. whose identity we could make a shrewd guess—we have no means of knowing, nor does it greatly matter, but we do know this : that there is no intention whatever of altering the con- stitution of the R.A.F., and that Parliament alone could change it if there were. There is no need at all, in the circumstances, to adduce a single argu- ment in favour of leaving well alone. The record of the R.A.F. since it acquired its own separate exist- ence supplies all that is necessary in that direction, so we will leave it at that, with the expression of our sincere regret that any newspaper of repute has been so led astray as to make a statement so entirely contrary to fact and so utterly foolish on the face of it.
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