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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 1356.PDF
fii^ about yd. And yet for journeys of not more than 350 miles the Post Office asks for 2s. per ounce. Obviously, it is not a commercial proposition at all, and until the Post Office is prepared to talk com mercial sense, instead of simply making a shot at its charges and placing the latter on a profiteering basis, it is obvious that there will be no development in the aerial carriage of inland mails. Being convinced that the aerial carriage a^S?8 of mails can be worked on a sound At All ? commercial basis, showing an advantage in speed of delivery to the community and enabling the Post Office to recoup itself, we are not advocating the subsidising of aircraft for the purpose. The figures quoted by the Observer con tributor are on all fours with other estimates to which we have had access, and we accept them as being quite sufficiently near the mark to answer for all practical purposes. That being so, there is not the slightest doubt the Post Office could run its mail services on the basis of 6d. per ounce and show a considerable margin of profit. But even if there were a slight loss on such services—in the early days during the working up to paying load there would naturajly be a loss—we should still say that it is the business of the Post Office to accept the loss and inaugurate a comprehensive series of mail services. We need not argue the case from our own point of view or that of the aircraft industry. We have had it from almost every member of the Government that it is essential, even vital, that aviation should be en couraged by every possible means, and that the Government intends so to encourage it. We have been told, time and again, that it is absolutely necessary that we should be always in a state of aerial prepared ness for any eventuality that may befall. Therefore, the matter is better argued from the point of view of national preparedness at all times and in every season. Having been told all these things, we natur ally look towards the Government to see exactly what measure of support and encouragement is likely to be forthcoming. All sorts of schemes have been in the air, from a frank subsidisation of the industry to the inauguration of State-owned mail and passenger services, but they all remain very much in the air, if the expression may be allowed to pass. There has been a great deal of talk, but precious little real encouragement. Why should the Post Office, being a department of the Government which has urged that aviation must be encouraged, look initially to the making of inflated profits on any aerial mail services it may run ? Does it want a new and prolific source of revenue to balance the alleged loss on the telephones ? Seriously, we think that even though it were faced with a certain loss on the first few months' trading, until such time as the commercial community had got used to the idea of aerial mails, it is the bounden duty of the Post Office to set about the organisation of aerial mail services to supplement other methods of transport, which, as we have seen recently, are liable to sudden and complete stoppages, and to give to the commercial community the added facilities for the transmission of urgent correspondence which aircraft have placed at our disposal. The argument is all the stronger because there is every reason for believing that there need be no loss—under com petent management—but a substantial profit—and not at 2S. per ounce—after the services had been well OCTOBER 16, 1919 established and the confidence of the public gained. In any case, there .must be a certain amount of risk about all new enterprises, and while we do not expect a Government department to accept, as a general rule, the same risks as a commercial undertaking, the case of aviation is an exceptional one in which not only is the taking of the risk justifiable but essential in the best interests of the nation. • • • Last week saw the completion of the A Landmark firgt six weeks of the London-Paris Aviation aerial passenger service. The figures • are more than a little interesting, especially having regard to the discussion now taking place on account of the apparent unwillingness of the postal authorities to commit themselves to the use of the aeroplane as a mail carrier. These statistics show that of 86 scheduled flights, 83 were successfully accomplished. Of the three which were not completed, one was prevented altogether by weather, one was interrupted by weather conditions, and the remaining one was interrupted by a mechanical defect. The number of miles flown was 20,750, at an average speed of 106 miles an hour, the 250 miles journey between the two capitals having been accomplished in an average time of 2\ hours. There is very little need to elaborate the figures, which speak far more eloquently for themselves than we could. They must appeal to the man in the street most powerfully, as demonstrating that the aeroplane has indeed arrived at a stage of reliability at which it can be trusted to carry out its work with very nearly the same practical certainty as any other form of transport. Moreover, it is a safe form of transport on the showing of the London- Paris service, since there has not been a single accident to machine or passengers with the exception of one forced landing through a slight mechanical defect, and that only involved delay. It is not as though the opening of the service had been blessed with fine weather and calm atmospheres. On the con trary, the weather conditions generally have been unstable, and there has been at least one storm of exceptional severity when, in spite of a wind velocity of over a hundred miles an hour, the Paris to London service was duly carried out, though the flight in the other direction had to be abandoned. Against this may be noted that at times the service has had to be duplicated. On the whole, therefore, we think we are justified in calling attention to the success of the service as a veritable landmark in the history of aviation. That success augurs very well indeed for that of future enterprises of a like nature, and, incidentally, it may be hoped that the Post master-General will take due note of the facts. • * • Sir William Joynson-Hicks, in a letter ThC RjA'F' to The Times, urges the need for Economy immediate and drastic cutting down of national expenditure, and pleads for a civilian head to determine policy and consequent expenditure in each of the great spending depart ments of State. He takes the R.A.F. as his text, and seems to be on good ground when he says :— " No one will accuse me of belittling this force or of denying the need of an adequate and highly trained force in the future, but are the military heads to get to work on a basis of a ^60,000,000 expenditure, or a £25,000,000 expenditure, or a ^10,000,000 expenditure ? Do not forget that Gen. Trenchard is a soldier ; his immediate superior, Gen. Seely, is a soldier ; and his superior, Gen. Churchill, is—well, a super-soldier. All three are imbued with the principle, 1358
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