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Aviation History
1920
1920 - 0172.PDF
in another great war for probably a quarter of a century, and it begins to look as though they intended to leave the future to make provision for defence. We know it is an unpleasant deduction, but what else is there left for us to believe ? Once again we must emphasise the point that it becomes clearer every day that nothing but the force of public opinion will move the Government to carry out a sane and definite air policy. The offer some time ago by the Daily To India Express of a prize of £10,000 for the first flight to India and back with a cargo of 1,200 lbs. strikes us as being a very practical idea indeed. Aviation has arrived at a stage now when it is no longer necessary merely to demonstrate that aircraft are capable of travelling long distances in safety. That has been amply shown by the Atlantic flights, both of the Vickers-Vimy machine and the R 34, and the more recent flight to Australia. What the public wants to know now is that aircraft are equally capable of being used commercially, for the carriage of goods as well as passengers. From that point of Coming Air Legislation AMONG the legislation foreshadowed in the King's Speech at the opening of Parliament on Tuesday was a Bill for regulating the navigation of the air. Mentioned in Dispatches IT was announced in a supplement to the London Gazelle, dated February 3, that the names of the undermentioned have been brought to the notice of the Secretary of State for War by the General Officer Commanding fhe British Military Mission, for valuable and distinguished services rendered in connection with the operations in South Russia :—CRESSWELL, - 406062, 2nd Aircraftman A., 30th Squadron, R.A.F.; JUDGE, 49087, Ldg. Aircraftman W. E., 30th Squadron, R.A.F. Amendment to Appointed Aerodromes List THE Air Ministry announces that the following Notice to Airmen (No. 12) has been issued :— " The Secretary of State for Air has issued directions under Schedule VIII, paragraph 1 (1), of the Air Navigation Re- gulations, 1919, whereby from January 28, 1920, the aero- drome at Cricklewood, Middlesex, is added to the list of Ap- pointed Aerodromes, and the aerodromes at New Holland, Lincolnshire, and Hadleigh, Suffolk, are removed from the list. " The full list of appointed aerodromes in the United Kingdom now stands as follows :— Cricklewood, Middlesex. Lympne, Kent. Hounslow, Middlesex." Permits Necessary for Fixed Balloons UNDER an amended Air Navigation Regulation a fixedballoon may not be flown except by written permission of the Secretary of State, and on conditions which he mayprescribe. The Air Ministry Staff FROM an official statement issued last week, it appearsthat the total staff at the Air Ministry on December 1 last was 2,538> which represents an increase of 137 over the figures forNovember 1. The figures have gone up through the taking over of the staffs of the Airships Department and theMeteorological Office. East Fortune Aerodrome Closed WITH the departure of the airships R 34 and NS 7for Pulham on the morning of February 5, the E?st Fortune air station came to an end as an airship base, and it willnow be closed down and handed over to the Disposal Board. Temporarily, the R 34, will remain with the R 33 andseveral smaller craft of the semi-rigid type at Pulham, but the rigids will be removed shortly to the new aerodrome atHowden (Yorkshire), Pulhant being retained then for use with the " blimps " and NS airshird. •. ' • FEBRUARY 12, 1920. i view alone the Daily Express competition, the regula- tions governing which were published in our last issue, is excellent. There are other points about it which seem to be eminently practical. There is the proviso that aircraft may be changed en route, which again strikes us as excellent. We do not think for a moment that long-distance services such as that from London to Karachi will, at least for many years to come, be served in any other way than by relays of machines, and it is just as well, therefore, that this competition should be carried out on lines approximating as nearly as possible to the actual conditions which will obtain on commercial services. In fact, we would almost rather it had not been stipulated that the pilot and crew may not be changed, since it is scarcely con- ceivable that any commercial service would under ordinary conditions run the risks attendant upon exposing pilots and crews to the prolonged strains imposed by the journey to India and back. However, that is possibly a minor point in the competition rules, especially as we have seen that the aerial voyage to Australia is within the compass of a single crew. We sincerely congratulate the Express on a public- spirited offer which cannot fail to do lasting good to the cause of commercial aviation. Air Work on Indian N.W. Frontier IN a telegram received from the North-Wester Frontier, it is stated that during the advance of the Derajat column on February 1 large parties of the enemy, numbering up to 600, were seen in the vicinity of our troops. The enemy sniped continuously, but never closely. Our casualties were about 20. Aeroplanes had excellent targets, and claim very good results, in which the howitzers and guns shared. The Mahsud losses from air operations are estimated at 20 killed and 50 severely wounded. Maps to Help Aviators LECTURING on " Characteristics of the Ground as Seen from the Air " before the Royal Geographical Society on Monday Capt. H. Alan Lloyd, who served in the Intelligence Department, said it was apparent after the Battle of the Somme that the liaison between the A.F. and the Army was not close enough, and early in 1917 arrangements were made by which the information could be collated and quickly distributed. The difficulty of finding very small objectives was so great that at one time as much as 50 per cent, of the flying was useless. In order to meet this difficulty, the lecturer sub-divided the Western Front into 13 different types of country to enable the flying officers to see where they were. By means of lantern slides, Capt. Alan Lloyd described the various types of country and suggested in conclusion that every town should be so pictorial ly represented on the maps that the moment an aviator saw the town through a thin patch of clouds he should be able to recognise the outstanding features of the place. Cargo Transport in Africa IN a lecture before the African Society on February 5 on Transport in Africa, Capt. Frederic Shelford said that for carrying commercial loads in Africa at a cheap rate aero- planes could not be considered. It seemed, he remarked, ungracious to dismiss aeroplanes so airily when they performed fresh wonders every day, but he dismissed them only as cargo carriers. For special purposes, such as scouting, exploration, and rapid mail service from London to Paris or Brussels, they were invaluable. As an example of a case in which an aeroplane would have been welcome, he mentioned that a few years ago he led an expedition to Lake Magadi, the Soda Lake, in British East Africa, and had to traverse about 120 miles of waterless, difficult, and dangerous country. As the party was large, it had dozens of ponies and gun-bearers and scores of natives The trip cost thousands of pounds, and the expedition took six days to reach the lake and six days later to return, whereas with a modern aeroplane of fair size they could have flown over in one day between lunch and tea. Commercial transport by river Capt. Shelford also ruled out, and lie maintained that railways remained the most practical and economical of all means of transport. 172
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