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Aviation History
1920
1920 - 1008.PDF
Post of Banks, so far from being in advance of the time, is simply a far-sighted attempt to intelligently anticipate the course of future aerial events, and as §uch we wish it all good fortune. • • • We publish elsewhere a map, compiledan< * ^ssuec^ by Messrs, Handley Page, Behind? Ltd., showing with considerable clear- ness the way in which corrimercial flying is developing on the Continent of Europe and the comparative backwardness of this country. A "glance at the map shows that we have but two regular services in operation, the one from London to Paris and the other by way of Calais to Brussels and Holland. There is considerable traffic on these two routes. As a matter of fact, they are probably the two most traversed routes in existence, but it should be remembered that even two such busy routes as these do not constitute any great sign of development. It is when we come to contrast our own condition with that of others that we are bound to feel a certain amount of misgiving as to what the future may hold for us. From Paris radiate six actual routes, in full Operation, while three others are marked on the map as projected—and from what we know of French enterprise we may be very sure that it will be but a short time before these projected routes will fall to be marked as actually being covered by air transport. Berlin has seven routes in being and two projected. How much actual flying is being done on these we do not know at the moment, but we are assured that commercial aviation is a very hardy growth in the land of our late enemies. Munich has three actual services ; Prague one actual and three projected ; Dresden three in being and another projected; Hamburg four and one respectively. Any number of towns in France, Italy and Germany have one or more services in operation, with more to follow. While every allowance must be made for the greater suitability of the Continental countries for aerial transport, it is greatly to be deplored that we seem so indifferent to the possibilities which our late and quite possibly future enemies, to say nothing of our friends and Allies, have so readily grasped. The root of the trouble is that we do not appear to have any definite air policy, and that fact is alone responsible for the relegation of this country to the position pf a third-class aerial power. At the end of the War we were unquestionably supreme in the air. Immediately after the end of the War the group of Parliamentary members who had made a speciality of aerial matters tried very hard to push the Government up to some sort of definite policy. They did not, as we know, succeed to any extent, and they now appear to have given up the task.in disgust. Private enterprise has done a good deal, but it cannot make much headway against the supineness of a Government without a policy. The department of the Controller-General of Civil Aviation is starved for funds, though it is doing what it can, but the two together cannot make civil aviation a real factor in the commercial life of the nation unless they have the State behind them to a far greater extent than it is at present. Apart altogether from all questions of commerce, the future of aviation is indissolubly bound up with the future safety of the nation and the Empire. Without a strong potential aerial arm we cannot continue to exist and, as we have pointed out on many occasions, the only way in which we can obtain the requisite • SEPTEMBER 23, 1920 strength for safety lies in the direct encouragement^of the civilian side in order that we may build up a powerful reserve to the active Air Force for use in , the day of necessity. We say with a due sense of responsibility that the Government is false to the trust reposed in it by the nation for that it neglects the very fundamentals of Imperial defence. A former Government acted thus and involved us in a war which is too recently ended for us to be ignorant of what unpreparedness cost in life and treasure. Some of those who were directly responsible for that un- preparedness still hold high office under the Crown. There lies the trouble. Our politicians are so busy in looking after their own interests and those of their limpet friends that they have no time to look to the real interest of the Empire. They know there is no penalty to be exacted for their misfeasance of office and are thus able to go on their way with rejoicing and in a perfect sense of security. The Air Congress, to which we have ,. JJ"ne previously referred, is to meet inAir Congress London &t ^ Guildhall on the I2th> 13th and 14th of October. It has been called by the Air Council to examine the present position of flying and to bring about an exchange of opinions. The programme of the proceedings of the three days is given elsewhere this week. Nothing but good can come of such a conference, \ which will be of inestimable use in focussing attention on the - present position of the industry and of aviation*generally, civil and military. One of the worst disabilities under which the whole movement ,labours is that the general public has very little grasp of the subject and fails completely to under-^ stand the true meaning of air power in relation to~~ the problems of the Empire, whether military or commercial. To a great extent this is also true of the Press, which, while it has endeavoured to do a great deal for flying, still fails to achieve its objects through want of complete knowledge of the subject. This is in no sense a reproach, since it is not to be expected that, aviation being new in comparison as it is, the full grasp of all it means can be acquired in a relatively short time without special and detailed study of the subject, which is, after all, a highly specialised one. The Air Congress will undoubtedly prove of high educational value, and must lead to a far better appreciation of- the problems which beset- the industry and their bearing on questions of commercial supremacy and Imperial defence. More than any other of the Overseas Canadian Dominions, Canada has manifested a Enterprise marked interest in the development of aviation, civil and military, and while others have virtually stood still since the end of the War, the Canadian Government, with wise prescience, has carefully fostered and encouraged the movement. It is now announced that as the , war machines now in possession of the Government become obsolete it is the intention to replace them with the most modern commercial machines avail- able. Detailed specifications of the types of machines required have been published and are reprinted on another page of this issue of FLIGHT. The outline policy of the Canadian Air Board is to purchase each of several types of aircraft and, ftS IOIO
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