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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 0794.PDF
for them willingly and cheerfully, recking little of what was to become of them in the end, and we should have had to pay for a great many more than form the subject of complaint now. We arc all against waste in the public service, and much as we deplore the necessity for manufacturing a thing for the sole purpose of destroying it on completion we really cannot see what else could have been done in the circumstances. Possibly some of the critics of the Air Council and the Ministry of Munitions will say what ought to have been done and outilne the probable consequences of their advice had it been tendered and taken at the time. • • • The Select Committee seems to have The gone exhaustively into the question of A1anVd?t!try the alleged abuse of cars bY the staff Cars and officials of the Air Ministry, and a schedule is appended of the officers and others for whom cars are provided. So far as the individual officers named are concerned, we cannot see anything to complain of in their being afforded the necessary means of locomotion to enable them to more efficiently carry out their duties. There is no doubt, however, that there is still a great deal of abuse of the facilities given to ordinary members of the staff and that cars are used for quite other than purely Service purposes. The Committee, in deed, draws particular attention to this, and mentions one case in which a powerful car was used for no other purpose than to bring an official to town in the morning, take him home to lunch and back, and then convey him* home again in the evening. Another extra vagant abuse is in fetching cars up from Kennington to the Hotel Cecil in order to convey officers to the War Office or the Treasury—a mere matter of a few hundred»• yards. One car did as much as 106 miles in a week on this duty, at a cost of n| gallons of petrol, plus wages, tyres and upkeep. Altogether, the cost of cars employed on Air Ministry services at headquarters works out at £129,740 per annum, which is a stupendous figure in peace time. Surely, a return should be made at once to the old conditions, and officers and officials should find their own means of conveyance to and from their homes and clubs. If is of no avail for the Government to preach economy when an example of wanton extravagance like this is disclosed. Moreover,' the Government is now asking the patriotic citizen to put his money into Victory Loans, but it is scarcely to be wondered at that a great many who are able and would be willing to subscribe are chary of doing so because they fear the result of providing the Government with more millions to splash in the wild orgy of spending. We agree that this business of the use of cars is a comparatively minor matter, but it is the principle of useless extravagance which is objectionable, apart altogether from whether the sums involved are great or small. Aerial Service A message from South Africa states that a commercial aviation company South Africa nas been formed for promoting aerial services between Johannesburg and Pretoria, and also between Johannesburg, Maritzburg and Durban, while, in addition, demonstrations will be given with the object of familiarising the public with the new venture. South Africa is certainly to be congratulated on the enterprise shown by this venture, which we trust and believe will be fully successful. The country over the routes to be JUNE 19, 19x9 initially opened up is eminently suitable for such services, and there is little doubt the time occupied in the conveyance of passengers and mails, as com pared with the railways, will be such as to fully justify them. It would appear, also, that those behind the new enterprise are alive to the fact that a great deal of education work will have to be done in order to secure the confidence of the public to whom they must look for success. Thi# is an aspect of commercial aviation to which we have drawn atten tion several times during recent months and is one on which we hold very strong views. It seems to be imperfectly understood by many in the movement that it is really upon the proper education of the general public that the success of commercial flying most depends. It is true enough that such services, mostly of the " joy-flip " kind, which have been established here have no difficulty in securing more passengers than they can deal with, but it requires to be understood that the patrons of these services are really the sporting minority which believes there is a certain amount of risk attendant on flying and is content to take it as it comes. Generally speaking, however, the man in the street has not been educated up to the point at which he will trust himself in an aeroplane as readily as he will book by rail or steamer, and until that point has been reached com mercial aviation cannot be more, than a modified success. The South African company is indubitably on the right lines and its educational programme is likely to do considerable amount of good to the movement. • • • Little by little the public is learning Wireless Qf ^ne tremendous progress made in the development of wireless telegraphy during the war and to what an extent it can be called to the aid of aerial navigation. A good example is afforded by the giant Handley Page machine which has been equipped for the Atlantic flight—and although the Daily Mail prize has been so splendidly won by Capt. Alcock and Lieut. Brown on the Vickers-Vimy machine, we still hope to see the Handley-Page, without difficulty, also cross the Atlantic shortly. A wireless set has been installed which will enable the machine to notify London direct of her start and to keep communication during the whole of the flight. The works at Cricklewood will learn direct from those in charge of the progress of the flight—the position of the machine, the running of the engines, the weather met with and every detail of interest. This is all very interesting to the casual observer, but to those who think beyond the surface- it is more than interesting—it is of the very highest importance as a landmark in aviation. It means in reality that the safety of overseas flight is immeasur ably enhanced by the possession of so rapid and ready a means of long distance communication, which can keep in touch with points distant nearly two thousand miles apart. By its aid assistance can be called up in case of necessity, while if untoward happenings should occur the exact position of the machine and its passengers and crew can be communicated with absolute certainty in a very few seconds. It certainly marks progress of a most important nature. * * •. One of the most satisfactory signs of the The Revival ^mes js tne healthy state of aerial sport, Aerial Sport which, since the restrictions on private flying were removed, has show every indication of strong vitality. It is early yet for 794
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