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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 0556.PDF
m HT Our attention has been directed to A™ af another anomaly existing in the R.A.F., m y which should be adjusted without delay. In the Memorandum constituting the Force, it was distinctly laid down that no officer or man trans ferring to the newly created R.A.F. should suffer in pay, pension or rewards by such transfer. How this undertaking is interpreted may be gathered from the following. When a wound gratuity is assessed, it is based on the period of " unfitness for general service," viz., from the time of admission to hospital to the date of the officer being passed by a medical board as fit for general service. Now, the Army passes officers placed by medical boards in Category C I as being fit only for home service. The R.A.F. procedure is to pass all officers in Category C i as being fit for general service for " ground duties " only. Obviously, this makes a great difference in the assessment for wound gratuities. The Army officer may be discharged from hospital after recover ing from wounds and be passed fit for home service, sent to a camp or station, and remain in Category C i for months before a board will pass him for general service, while the R.A.F. officer may be passed straight out of a convalescent home to " general service, ground duties." In the one case the officer might get a substantial sum as gratuity and in the other nothing at all. The main point seems to be that under the regulations of the R.F.C.—the Army— the first procedure was recognised, but under the R.A.F. the second is adopted. Clearly, then, the officer who is wounded on service is likely to be victimised by not receiving the gratuity to which he would have been entitled had the R.F.C. remained under the control of the Army, and this certainly amounts to a violation of the undertaking given in the Memorandum to which we have referred. We are not apportioning blame in the matter. It seems to be one of those errors in procedure which is very likely to happen when a new force is created in the circumstances in which the R.A.F. was brought into existence and we feel assured that the matter only wants to be brought to the notice of the proper authority for it to be altered and brought into line with the understanding—the distinct pledge, in fact—given to officers and men on transfer to the R.A.F. from other branches of the Service. In connection with the removal of the Pivtnt? kan on ciyman flyi"?- which nominally took effect to-day (May l) the Air Ministry has issued an important statement, which we print in full elsewhere. The statement sets forth that there must ensue a period during which regula tions are being studied and applications are being made by firms and private individuals for the licens ing of pilots and registration of aircraft. In a word, there must be an interval of probation and prepara tion, so to say, while people are making ready for the great change which will ultimately come over the whole face of transport consequent upon the perfecting of aerial facilities. In order that every assistance may be given to those intending to take advantage of whatever facilities are offered by the Government, certain details of some of the aerial routes of Great Britain which it is proposed to throw open to civilian aviation are made public in the statement quoted. The Air Ministry, however, makes it clear that these routes are merely provisional, MAY I, 1919 since practical experience alone can show if the selected stations are rightly placed. Selection and decision have been limited by existing conditions. Certain aerodromes are in being and in order to start civilian aviation as soon as possible, and also for the sake of economy, it is necessary to make use of what already exists. This is eminently sound and logical and shows that the Department of Civilian Aviation has a true appreciation of the need to get to real work as quickly as possible, while not being in too much of a hurry to get to the end of things. It is recorded for information that at the time the Armistice was concluded there were in Great Britain and Ireland no fewer than 337 aerodromes and land ing grounds. Of these 116 have already been re leased for cultivation, etc., while about 100 will be required for the purposes of the R.A.F. There remain, therefore, about 120 aerodromes and landing grounds which will ultimately be available for the purposes of civil aviation. The accompanying map indicates the principal main routes it is proposed to open up at once. It must be said that these routes do not by any means seem to be the most ideal from the point of view of commerce, since they leave out many important centres which must ultimately be served by aerial post and passenger services, but that cannot be helped in the meantime. The routes have been chosen with reference to the existence of military aerodromes, which is quite the best method of projection that could have been adopted in present circumstances. Once a particular route has been declared open, the pilot of an aeroplane making the journey will find petrol, some accommodation, and where possible mechanics to handle his machine at each of the air stations named. The practical value of the intima tion lies in the fact that any individual who complies with the terms of the regulations is now at liberty to fly along these civil air routes and to make use of the stations and facilities afforded. It is not made clear whether in the meantime the Air Ministry intends to lay down a scale of charges for the accom modation and assistance indicated, or whether for the sake of encouraging the movement during its first infancy these will be placed at the disposal of firms and individuals free of cost to themselves. It would be useful to have a statement as to this point. We should say it would be a graceful, as well as an extremely useful, concession to allow the use of these facilities without charge for the first few months at least. • • • The statement lays down that the c^er||as control of traffic passing to and from overseas cannot but prove a difficult problem. The whole question has been discussed between the Air Ministry, the Home Office and the Board of Customs and Excise, and it has been pro visionally decided that the aerodromes which can be used for the purposes of such control, called " appointed " aerodromes, shall for the present be limited to four in number and, with the exception of the London terminal aerodrome at Hounslow, be on the coast. They are as follows:— For Continental traffic—Lympne in Kent. For Dutch traffic via Harwich—Hadleigh in Suffolk. For Scandinavian traffic via the Humber—New Holland in Lincolnshire. 556
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