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Aviation History
1920
1920 - 0852.PDF
output per pound weight which would have been voted impossible five years before. This, generally speaking, was accomplished at the expense of considerable complication of construction, which in turn made the engine very costly to produce. Again, this mattered not at all during the War, but it may be questionable if the type is exactly what we want commercially. It may be found much better to sacrifice some pro- portion of power output—meaning slower machines with less climbing ability—in favour of less complica- tion and lower cost of production. These are some of the factors which have a very distinct bearing on such tests as those to be carried out by the Air Ministry during this month and next. We look forward with great interest to the results of the trials, which cannot but be of the very greatest value to the industry and the country. <- There can be no aviation industry unless The there are adequate supplies of oil fuel Future available. That, we are aware, is British oil merery a truism, but it seems neces- sary to state it for the reason that it does not appear to be as well appreciated as it might be. The shipping and motor trade interests are fully alive to the importance of the question of fuel supplies, but hitherto those associated with the development of flying seem to have allowed the matter to drift. Yet they are fully as concerned with the question of oil fuel as any. Indeed, we may say more so if we accept the prophecies we hear from day to day of how aviation is ultimately to take the place of other methods of transport. If the maximum development is to take place, the industry will have to interest itself equally with others in the collateral development of native fuel resources. By that we do not necessarily mean that it will have to interest itself financially or even actively in any other way. We know by experience, however, that nothing is done in this country except under pressure of public opinion, and we hold that in so vital a matter as that of our future supplies of oil fuel there is need for creating that pressure at once and all the time. A fortnight ago it was officially stated that some success has attended the effort to discover free oil in Great Britain and that there is actually one well which is producing steadily about five tons of crude oil per day. That is something in the way of evidence that oil actually exists, though we understand that the oil which is being produced from this experi- mental boring is not promising in the matter of the AUGUST 5, 1920 lighter elements, and is not of the class from which motor spirit is producible in any quantity. But apart from free oil resources, which will no doubt be developed automatically, there are others to which attention must be directed. Coal is the principal of these. It is simply appalling to think of the waste- ful methods which are pursued in the use of this staple fuel. Millions of tons are burnt every year in open grates and furnaces without any regard to the enor- mously valuable products which are being wasted in the form of smoke and unconsumed gases. Fuel oil, motor spirit, all the tar products, sulphate of ammonia and half a dozen other products of extreme value are simply dissipated to the four winds, yet on every hand we are being told that one of the most vital problems we have to solve is that of home- *produced oil fuel. We look forward to the time when all this will compulsorily cease, when we get a really enlightened and far-seeing Government, which will care more for the future of the country and the Empire than for political buffoonery. Why should not an Act of Parliament be passed, making it an offence, after a certain number of years, to allow of conversion of appliances for heating, to burn a single ton of raw coal ? Properly treated, all the by- products can be extracted from coal and a smoke- less fuel left over which actually gives out some 50 per cent, more heat units, weight for weight, than the raw coal. Why not, then, insist upon the distillation of all coal before use for industrial and domestic purposes ? Then, there are the shales, which ought to be developed on scientific lines, under a proper scheme of Government encouragement. During the War we are informed that more than one interested group offered to supply large quantities of oil fuel for the Navy if the requisite permission could be obtained for the erection of distillation plants. They were turned own. Admittedly, there may have been justification then, because the labour and materials which would have been absorbed were better employed in other directions. Matters are different now, and it would seem that one of the best methods of encour- agement the Government could employ now would be to call for tenders for home-produced fuel for the Navy, to be contracted for, say, in 1923. We should then at least see whether the war proposals to which we have referred were serious or not. Regarding the whole situation it would seem necessary that all interested in the future of home-produced oil fuel must get together and work towards a common goal, else we shall get nothing done. The Royal Air Force Memorial Fund ELSEWHERE in this issue will be fotind a list of the dona- tions and subscriptions which have already been given to the Royal Air Force Memorial Fund. It will be seen that the response to the appeal of H.R.H. the Duke of York has been a generous one. It falls, however, very far short of the total—^400,000—which the Committee has decided is the minimum upon which they can embark upon the work they have planned. The Committee claim the support of everyone who values the brilliant deeds of gallantry and self-sacrifice which marked the Ifistory of the Flying Services during the War, and who feels that it would be shameful to forget what we then valued so highly. The Committee therefore renew their appeal for the Fund, and ask that donations should be forwarded to the Secretary of the Fund, at No. 7, Iddesleigh House, Caxton Street, S.W. 1. Coastal and General Air Charts IT is hereby notified that the Coastal and General Air Charts prepared by the Admiralty during the War for the use of R.A.F. pilots have now been placed on sale to the public at one shilling and sixpence per sheet. The index sheets to the series are priced at one shilling. The Coastal Air Charts cover the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland on the scale of 1 in. to 3 nautical miles (Air Chart Index A) and the Southern and Eastern shores of the North Sea from Ostend to Blaavand Pt. (in Denmark), and the Cattegat, on the scale of 1 in. to 5 nautical miles (Air Chart Index B). The General Air Charts cover a slightly larger area, and range in scale from 1 in. to 10 nautical miles to 1 in. to 30 nautical miles (Air Chart Index P). These air charts, which are constructed on Mercator's projection, measure approximately 20 ins. by 18 ins. They show lights and fog signals, buoys and beacons, sites of wrecks, and the direction of the flood and ebb streams ; soundings are given in fathoms ; conspicuous objects on land are also shown for navigational purposes. The signs and abbre- viations used on air charts are contained in Air Chart Index Z. The agent for the sale of these air charts and index sheets is Mr. J. D. Potter, 145, Minories, E.I. (Notice to airmen, No. 83.) 854
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