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Aviation History
1920
1920 - 0004.PDF
of being^turned the other way about. It is just as easy to make out a case ior the Air Service officer by saying that it is essential that the officer who drops the torpedoes must be an officer highly skilled in flying, with an intimate knowledge of the technical side of his profession, and that his actual qualifica- tions regarding the torpedo itself need not be high. He has nothing to do but manoeuvre for position in attacking an enemy craft and, having got into it, to drop his weapon which has been set for depth and course before he took the air at all. Surely, it is not the intention of the authorities of the Air Ministry that officers of the Air Force should know nothing about the weapons they will have to use in war and that their training should be confined absolutely to the mere flying of their machines ? Yet, if we are to accept such arguments as this of Mr. Leyland's at their face value this is what is contemplated. Such a proposition is merely grotesque. Then, the same writer tells us that: " The Naval Air Service cannot be a mere offshoot of a distinct Service. It must surely be an integral part of the Navy, trained by it, under its direction, and always under its control." That is very well in its way, but is scarcely con- vincing to the other side. It has been laid down already that the air squadrons which will operate with the Navy will be to a very great extent an integral part of the Navy, be trained by, be under the direction of, and always under the control of the naval commander-in-chief. They will, in fact, stand in pretty much the same relation to the Navy as do the Royal Marines. The latter are adminis- tratively a separate Service from the Navy, yet under naval command when afloat or serving on detachment at naval stations, almost exactly as we understand will be the case with the units of the Air Force similarly employed. If the system works well in the one case, as we know it does, then why not in the other ? The whole fact of the matter is that the agitation is born of the inherent dislike of the older Service men to anything in the shape of innovation, even,when the latter takes the shape of reform. Nevertheless, it is a regrettable fact that the agitation is being fostered by the delay of the Govern- ment to pronounce upon a definite policy in regard to the future of the Air Service, and it will go on JANUARY it 1920 increasing until such a policy has been laid down. In the meantime, it almost looks as though the Government were waiting until the agitation had grown to such dimensions as would apparently justify a reversal of the policy laid down at the end of 1917 in the Air Force and enable them to say that the whole weight of responsible naval and military opinion is against the continuance of the separate Air Service and it had therefore been decided, etc. We trust the representatives of the Air Party in both Houses will be very much on their guard against anything of the sort. As we were able to announce last week,the ICin S has been Phased to confer the honour of knighthood of the Order of the British Empire, Civil Division, on Capt. Ross Smith and his brother, Lieut. Keith Smith, in recognition of their valuable services to aviation by their successful flight from England to Australia. Sergt. Bennett and Sergt. Shiers, who acted as mechanics to the successful airmen, have each been granted a bar to the Air Force Medal. We congratulate them all on the well-deserved honour they have received to mark their erection of another notable landmark in aviation. Still, we have no doubt the memory of their successful adventure, which has demonstrated that neither distance nor any other obstacle can stand in the way of great achievement where the determination to succeed is present, will in future be more to these gallant Australian airmen than even the signal honour thus conferred by His Majesty. They have done some- thing which had never been accomplished by man and they have brought Australia into closer contact than ever with the Motherland. They have pioneered an aerial route which will in the years to come, no matter how thickly the upper air may be populated by voyaging aircraft, be indissolubly linked with their names. As those of Livingstone and Stanley are associated with the opening up of Africa to knowledge and civilisation, so will the names of Ross Smith and his companions be joined with the aerial route to the Antipodes. That is an honour passing all other distinctions, high in esteem as the latter may be held among men. Sir Hugh Trenchard's Title IT was announced in the London Gazette of December 30, that Letters Patent have passed the Great Seal of the United Kingdom conferring the dignity .of a Baronet upon Air- Marshal Sir Hugh Montague Trenchard, K.C.B., D.S.O., of Wolfeton, in the County of Dorset. Civil Aviation in France THE provision in the 1920 French Budget for civil aviation amounts to 233,000,000 frs. The credits granted for aeronau- tics in 1919 were just over 244,000,000 frs. but then conditions were somewhat different to those ruling at the present time. The 1920 figures ate estimated as follows :— Wages in the Service Aerien, 5,740,000 frs. ; technical service, 980,000 frs. ; manufacturers' service, 1,701,000 frs. The working costs in connection with these services are respectively 23,800,000 frs., 45,500,000 frs., and 4,830,000 frs The sum set aside for premiums is 19,950,000 frs. The techni- cal service will have at its disposal for experiments 38,500,000 frs., and for installations, 4,830,000 frs. A sum of 15,750,000 frs. will be offered in premiums for motor manufacture, and a quarter of that sum will be expended in land arrange- ments in connection with air routes, wireless, etc. 6,300,000 frs. will be spent on aerodromes in France and Algeria ; and 63,000,000 frs. on land purchase and the construction of new aerodromes. The above is considered the minimum sum on which French aeronautics carrbe conducted without detriment to France's position. Air Work on Indian Frontier ON December 17 the Titi Madda and Hassan, two sections of the Waziris who remain recalcitrant, were again bombed, and aeroplanes co-operated with good effect with the Derajab column in its operations at Mandanna Kach on the following day. Katkai, which had been a place of hostile concentration for the previous four days, was attacked by our aeroplanes on Christmas Day. The Mahsuds have now surrendered. R.A.F. or Army Rank ONE consequence of the reduction of R.A.F. officers from approximately 30,000 at the date of the Armistice to about 4,000 at the present date, is that a large number of officers seconded to the Air Force from the Army have been returned to their units. This has raised the question as to whether officers who have not attained Army rank equivalent to their R.A.F. rank when they finally leave the Army shall reassume their R.A.F. rank. The point is now under con- sideration. The First Zarahoff Professor IT iijriinnounecd that Sir Richard Glazebrook, who was until recently Director of the National Physical Laboratory, has accepted the invitation to be the first holder of the Zarahoff Chair of Aviation, at the Imperial College of Science and Te;hno!ogy.
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