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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 1002.PDF
Royal Air Force would remain one integral body, united as to its branches and independent of the control of either War Office or Admiralty. There is no other meaning that we can attach to so cate gorical a statement. Yet we read that the rigid airships R.33 and R.34 have now been " handed back " to the Admiralty. The question then arises: Is the airship branch of the Service a purely naval force or is it not ? Before the fusion of the R.N.A.S. and the R.F.C. the airships were completely and directly under naval administration. As soon as the R.A.F. came into being the officers and men of the airship branch were put into R.A.F. uniform, the whole of the routine at airship stations was changed from naval to quasi-military, and- the whole atmosphere com pletely changed. " Airships " still remained under the Admiralty for " operations," but administratively they became a part of the R.A.F. It was clearly understood that as soon as possible after the armistice the airships would pass completely under the control of the Air Ministry, but that has certainly not happened yet. The correspondence between the Departments is " still proceeding," and in the mean time the airships which were graciously lent by the Admiralty to the Air Ministry for the Atlantic flight and for advertising the Victory Loan have been returned to the former. There may be excellent reasons for the temporary retention under Admiralty control of these craft, but the position all round is so peculiar that we think it is time a definite statement of policy should be made. According to the First Lord of the Admiralty, everyone is not agreed as to the soundness of the view that there should be a single control in the Air Service. That seems to mean that the Admiralty is in disagreement with the principle, and thereby sets itself above the authority of Parlia ment, which, by passing the Air Force Act, has said there shall be but one control. Our own views on the subject are sufficiently well known, since it was FLIGHT which led the campaign in favour of a single and indivisible service, but, assuming that there are two sides to the argument, it is surely necessary that the Government should state plainly whether the views of the Admiralty, which may be sound in theory—we do not admit they are if they tend to JULY 31, 1919 the division of the Air Service—are to be permitted to override the authority of Parliament. It is perfectly clear that so long as the Admiralty retains its hold on the airship branch the State- owned lighter-than-air craft will not be available for the development of the civil side of flying. The voyage of R. 34 was not made under Admiralty auspices—and would not have been—and the only way the Air Ministry could get it done was by " borrowing " the ship from the Navy. The airship shows considerable promise as a vehicle of aerial transport, and it is certainly not in accord with the requirements of civil aviation that the Admiralty should be permitted to pursue the policy of the dog in the manger. The Air The Air Ministry has issued for publi cation the text of the Convention Convention relating to International Air Naviga tion, and this will be found printed in extenso in last week's issue of FLIGHT and part in the current number. The Convention has been agreed to by all the representatives of the Powers taking part in the Peace negotiations on the side of the Allies and the States at present subscribing to the League of Nations, subject to certain reserva tions. It has not been formally approved by the Supreme Council of the Peace Conference, but it has been agreed that it should be issued for the informa tion of the public of the Allied arid Associated States. There is little in the Convention calling for com ment, since the completed Convention differs very little from the suggested text put forward some little time ago as a basis for the international regula tion of flying. It recognises that every State has complete and exclusive sovereignty in the air above its territory and its territorial waters. It agrees that every State shall accord in time of peace freedom of passage across its territories without distinction of nationality, subject to the right for military reasons to prevent aircraft from flying over certain defined areas of its territory. Except in the matter of these " General Principles" the Convention consists mainly of technical regulations governing the conduct of aerial traffic, which are quite un exceptionable, and, therefore, call for no specific comment. <•> <*> MR. CLAUDE JOHNSON As a rule we have not broken out into biography on the publication of the portraits of prominent personalities in aviation, which have been included in " Flight—And the Men." Nor do we intend to break through the precedents on this occasion, but it is nevertheless fitting that we should refer to what is an unique record in regard to our subject of this week—Mr. Claude Johnson. At the moment when everyone connected with aviation is busy congratulating him and the firm with which he is connected on the successful crossing of the Atlantic by a machine driven by Rolls-Royce engines, it may <s> $> Air Ministry Reorganisation THE Air Ministry announces that the Secretary of State for Air has approved a reorganisation of the Department of the Secretary to the Air Ministry, one of the objects of which is not be generally known that Mr. Johnson was the first honorary secretary of the Aero Club of the United Kingdom, as it then was, which was founded in November of 1901. His association with the active side of aeronautics thus began very early, though it did not continue for very long. The War has brought him back into active contact with the movement, and his firm has been, as everyone knows, responsible for the production of a series of very highly successful aero-motors, which have just recently crowned that success by securing the " Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic." «5> <2> to provide more fully for the co-ordination of the work of the Department. In this reorganisation Mr. C. R. Brigstock am Mr. J. A. Webster, D.S.O., who have been transferred irons the Board of Trade, have been appointed assistant secretarier IOO4
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