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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 0294.PDF
right of every public servant to know why he is dismissed and it is this right which has been denied in the case under discussion. As a matter of fact no-one seems to know why Miss Pennant was dis missed and, that being so, it follows as a matter of course that she remains under the stigma which is inevitable in a case of what may quite justifiably be described as a hole-and-corner dismissal from a post of considerable public importance. We are told, and it has not been denied, that Mr. Harmsworth recom mended a full judicial enquiry. Again, we are told, and once more no categorical denial has been made, that the Prime Minister promised such an enquiry. M ss Pennant herself has stated publicly and in the most definite terms that she was the victim of con spiracy and malice. Unless, therefore, the Govern ment really has something to conceal or some indi vidual or persons to protect, the case for full enquiry seems to be completely established. On every ground of public interest that enquiry is called for and we trust that Miss Pennant's friends will continue to insist that the promise of enquiry, which has never been controverted, shall be kept. The question involved goes much deeper than that of injustice to a single person, since the refusal of enquiry strikes at the roots of a valuable principle of public life. Certain extremely interesting experi- the11^ ments are in progress in France and Clouds Belgium, where the R.A.F. is main taining a regular postal service between Marquise, near Boulogne, and the headquarters of the Armstice Commission at Spa, and on to Cologne. This through service to Cologne, apart from the distance, presents peculiar difficulties not met with on the frontier routes. Between the flat country of Northern France and the valley of the Rhine there lies a range of hills, rising in places to 2,000 ft. Not only does the country possess very few suitable landing places, but clouds and bad weather in variably collect round this massif. A chain of wire less stations has been organised for the transmission of weather reports. In the event of a forced landing the pilot communicates his situation to the nearest wireless station, which passes on the information to the most accessible R.A.F. or Army unit, and trans port is immediately despatched to pick up the mails and render what assistance is possible. Where a pilot loses his way by reason of clouds or other difficulties arrangements are being made whereby he will be able to get into touch with a directional wireless station, whence he will receive details as to his actual bearings. These stations will also direct pilots to the nearest landing ground and guide him during night flying. In connection with the service a chain of balloons has also been arranged. Each section is to maintain a balloon in the air dur rgday light, and later on it is intended to fit these balloons for carrying signal lights by night. These balloons are to serve several purposes :— 1. To provide " air buoys " above the clouds to mark the landing grounds. Each balloon is marked with signs which indicate its exact locality, and thus enable the pilots to check their bearings when weather is bad or clouds are very low. 2. To enable the balloon observers to ascertain the height and thickness of clouds and condition of weather above the cloud layer. 3. To take the speed and direction of wind at the greatest possible altitude, and to note changes of direction. These observations are then passed to the nearest wireless station for transmission. As the intention is to maintain a night service on this route, a chain of lighthouses has also been provided. At present the service is experimental, and owing to the nature of the country and the time of year, in which the conditions are the worst possible, the trial is a very practical test and should provide exceedingly valuable experience in meeting the difficulties that are certain to be encountered in eventual civilian and postal services. So far as we know this is the first regular service of the kind in which a real attempt has been made to bring the conditions into line with those of marine n vigation, and.it will be more than a little interesting to note the results when, later on, the full data are available. In thus taking the lead in experiment the R.A.F. are d. ing an excellent work for the future of aerial navigation, work which can admittedly only be done by the Force, which has at its disposal the machines and the personnel to make the experiments on a scale large enough to be ultimately useful. As we have insisted 6n previous occasions, it is along these lines of experiment that it is the business of the Air Ministry, in its capacity of the controlling department of civil aviation to proceed and we can only view with the profoundest satisfaction the fact that it is thus alive to its responsibilities in this direction. m • • One of the first esentials in the An Aer*31 development of aerial transport is a Regfstry 600(* system °f registration and in surance, similar to that of Lloyd's in relation to merchant shipping. It is now an open secret that this is to be inaugurated almost at once and before very long the " Aerial Lloyd's Registry " will be actually in existence. Exactly what the scope of this organisation is likely to be we do not know at the moment, but it will doubtless carry out precisely the same functions in regard to aircraft as Lloyd's does in the case of shipping. Obviously, the first thing to be done is to get together the most competent constructional experts in order that a concrete scheme of classification of aircraft may be evolved. When that has been done, it will be time to issue a definite set of regulations under which all aircraft must be built in order to qualify for registra tion—and we assume that every machine will be compelled to possess a Lloyd's certificate as a neces sary antecedent to insurance by Lloyd's underwriters. We may say at once that we much prefer such a system to that of rigid Government supervision of construction, such as some have predicted would be insisted upon. The Lloyd's system has worked admirably in the case of shipping—it could not have been bettered—and there is no reason in the world to suppose that in relation to aircraft it will not work equally well, both from the point of view of the public safety and from that of the aircraft industry; Indeed, we are very much inclined to the opinion that the name of L'oyd's will carry even more confidence than that of a Government department since an insurance at Lloyd's is a question of pounds sterling in relation to stability of construction, which is a matter which is understood by all. Then, it is reasonably certain that the insurance rates levied by Lloyds are likely to be much lower in the case of machines built to its own requirements
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