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Aviation History
1921
1921 - 0002.PDF
. by United States authorities and our own experts. We ourselves have consistently urged that the best means of ensuring the essential measure of air power against the day of war is the active encouragement of civil aviation, so that a powerful reserve to a nucleus fighting air service may be almost instantly- available when called upon to assist the active force. • • * , It would seem that recent occurrences in connection with civil aviation in this GiVeii? country, and notably the closing-down of the Airco service to France, have given great concern to the Government, since we understand that the Cabinet is at last seriously considering a_ scheme for subsidising in some shape or form an essential industry which is suffering from creeping paralysis for lack of the support which was promised two years ago, and has so far not materialised. What shape the scheme is likely to take is not available, so that it would be idle to discuss the question in detail. This much may be said, that it is not likely to take the form of a subsidy on mileage flown. French experience has shown that, while such a subsid 7 is much better than the apa-thetic lack of suppprt from which British civil aviation has suffered, it puts a premium on the use of obsolete and unsuitable machines, and leads to ujp£Cessary flights which are made for the sole purpose of earning the subsidy. We may venture the hope that what- ever the main lines of the Government scheme— assuming that report does not lie, and that there actually is a scheme—it will include that form of encouragement which we have so often urged upon the postal authorities of sending the bulk of the first- class mail matter addressed to Continental countries by air. We are perfectly confident that if this were done the cross-Channel services could pay their way and be quite independent of direct subsidies, which are never desirable, and only to be given when there is no other method of attaining a desired result. If this were done, and it were shown that, given some certain method of ensuring a paying load for each flight, civil aviation could stand upon its own feet, we should see services being opened up within the British Isles and private enterprise becoming more inclined to venture capital and effort in fostering the new transport. However, it is useless, as we have said, to discuss the matter in more than very general terms until it is made known what the views of the Cabinet are, and how it is proposed to give effect to them. When that happens we shall be better able to assess the precise value of the encouragement which now seems to be more or less definitely in sight. : .•-.- _ The The Royal Air Force is to have its .. „ own ensign, the design of which has Air Force , J i_ TT••»*•• A TAEnsign been approved by His Majesty. It consists of a flag of R.A.F. blue, having the Union flag in the upper canton next the staff, as in all British national ensigns. The " fly " bears the well-known circular identification mark borne by British Service aircraft, which became so familiar a sight to even the stay-at-home civilian during the War. This honour—for honour it is, albeit one that has been well and truly earned by years of sacrifice in thousands of aerial combats—descends to the Air JANUARY 6, 1921 Force from the Royal Navy, with which it was, in part at least, very closely linked before and during the greater part of the War. The Army has no distinctive ensign of its own, though every infantry battalion, except the rifle regiments, has its colours in which the " King's colour " is the Union Jack. But that is not the same thing as the possession of a distinctive- ensign, which has hitherto been the exclusive privilege of the sea services. The Royal Navy has the White Ensign, which is flown only by His Majesty's ships and shore stations belonging to the Navy, with the exception that vessels of the Royal Yacht Squadron have also the right to fly- it. The Royal Naval Reserve has the Blue Ensign, which is also used by ships and vessels belonging to certain Government services, in the latter case adorned by a badge in the " fly " denoting the particular department to which they belong. The Red Ensign is the flag of the mercantile marine of Britain and the overseas Dominions. Ships belonging to British possessions fly it with the badge of the colony or dominion displayed as already described in the case of the Blue Ensign. There is to us a double significance in this grant of a distinctive ensign to the Royal Air Force. Not * only does it convey a sense of honour worthily earned and accorded, but it signifies also the separate- ness, if we may call it so, from the sister services of the Royal Air Force, and stamps it as one distinct in its duties and in its very element from both Navy and Army, though owing allegiance to a single ideal and devoted to a common task. •o> «o <a. The Air Ministry has taken a step in o A. . the right direction by the publication Or rowing /• , , 7 1 • , J , j- 11Air Traffic °* tables—which we reproduce in full in another part of this issue of FLIGHT— showing the value of imports and exports to and from this country which have been carried by air transport during the period between August 26, 1919, and November 30, 1920. These statistics are in future to be issued monthly by the Air Ministry. Our readers will be able to analyse for themselves the figures contained in these very interesting tables, and all we need do here is to briefly refer to thr totals with a view to showing that, in spite of all the handicaps under which civil aviation labours, some progress at least is being made, as is shown by the steadily increasing value of imports and exports. The most valuable index afforded by the figures is that which points to increasing public confidence in air transport as a means of forwarding valuable goods. We find that during the period under review the total value of aerial imports was £685,054, and of exports, including re-exports, £344,876. The volume of traffic, measured by value, carried during October and November last was about four times that carried during the same months of 1919, the imports having increased from £44,977 to £172,332, and exports from £22,987 to £109,831. The most prominent articles carried seem to be furs, jewellery, cinema films, clothing, perfumery, ar.d mechanical components. The bulk of the imports came from France, whence large quantities of ladies' dresses, hats, hosiery, feathers, precious stones and so forth were conveyed to the value of £96,076 in October and £67,075 in November. The figures are both instructive and interesting, and we shall loe>k forward to their monthly publication with added interest in the development of the cross-Channel traffic.
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