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Aviation History
1921
1921 - 0236.PDF
APRIL 7, 1921 at all and are at a complete loss to find a reason for his sudden elevation to Cabinet rank in the capacity to which he has been called. Still, we do not question the Prime Minister's choice, the more so since it would be grossly unfair to Capt. Guest to criticise his appointment before he has had a chance to show his capacity as head of the Air Ministry. He has had a quiet Parliamentary life, having represented East Dorset as a Liberal since 1911. During the War he served in the original Expeditionary Force in France during the first part of the operations, and then, at the end of 1915, went to East Africa on the staff of Sir H. Smith-Dorrien. Invalided home in 1917, he returned to Parliament and became Patronage Secretary to the Treasury. Since Mr. Churchill went to the East, he has replied in the House to a number of questions affecting Air Ministry policy, but apart from that it does not emerge that he has had any close contact with aerial policy. Captain Guest has a wonderful chance, if he will take it. The question we shall require to have answered, not in words but in acts, is : Does the new Minister realise the extreme, the vital importance, to the country and the Empire of air power and the only safe and economic methods by which we can assure ourselves of the necessary powers of expansion in time of need ? If he does, and is certain enough of himself to pursue his task to its ultimate objective, it is in his power to make a wonderful success of his office. If he does not and cannot, then the choice will be held to be a bad one, and the sooner a change is made the better. We say this in no spirit^ of criticism, which we feel would be out of place at the outset. But aviation, particularly on the civil side of the movement, is in such a critical condition now that there is nothing to be gained and much to be lost by mincing matters. In a word, we want a strong, able Air Minister who knows what is needed and will insist upon getting it. Have we got such a Minister in Capt. Guest ? We do not know, and time only can answer the question. For some reason or other, which we do »lref1.cl1 not attempt to explain, a completely Air Aims ,.„ v u 4. -i different atmosphere seems to prevail in France in mattersv affecting aviation to that existing here. There is more prevision, more cer- tainty, in the manner in which the subject is ap- proached than there is in this country. Last week the Budget clauses including the votes for aviation were discussed by the Senate, and were passed as they stood, almost without debate. As a matter of fact, the reports of the discussion indicate that the only criticisms which the Government had to meet were directed against what some members of the Assembly appeared to think indicated a less amount of progress than should have been made. It is abundantly plain that France does not intend to be left behind in the race for supremacy in the air either by her Allies or her late, enemies. The whole tone of the discussion showed that, and therein differed from the atmosphere of bored apathy with which our own House of Commons as a whole appears to regard a subject which is literally above the heads of the majority of the members. As to what France is doing and intends to do, it was stated that the connections with London and Brussels are shortly to be augmented by a Paris-Amsterdam service, while the Paris-Prague line is to be continued to Warsaw to enable travellers to reach the Polish capital in a single day. France, remarked the Under- secretary for Aeronautics, is ahead of other countries, and her technical efforts are being vigorously pursued. , Today we have to admit with a certain amount of shame that this fairly represents the position. France is ahead, and for that she has to thank the British Government, which has played fast and loose with aviation ever since the end of the War. We finished in 1918 with a lead in aerial matters, in design, con- struction, and personnel, both technical and operative —a lead over all the rest of the nations which can only be said to have been almost overwhelming. That has been dissipated into thin air. Most of our designing staffs have been distributed to the four winds, and have been compelled to find occupation in-other walks of life and industry. Our factories have either been closed down altogether or have, for the most part, been turned over to the production of things other than aircraft. Our best aviators have had to return to more prosaic trades than flying. A few have entered the service of foreign Governments, and are busy now in the creation of aerial interests for countries which may one day turn the knowledge thus inculcated against ourselves. And all because a wobbly Government has not been able to make up its mind one way or the other ! We certainly con- gratulate our Ally on her progress in the air, and admire the expansive outlook which her statesmen have adopted, but, without a suspicion of jealousy, we still grudge her the lead she has wrested from us. We have nobody but ourselves to blame for it, and France would be foolish to be deterred from her forward policy merely because we chose to fritter away our chances. • *• • ;' The Easter holidays saw quite a boom Air ^Traffic in cross-Channel air traffic. All the services were greatly increased, and even then were barely capable of coping with the rush to secure seats for the trip to Paris or Brussels. Not only this, but we are told that since the fares were reduced and the British services re-started, ordinary traffic has increased three-fold, and the demand still is for more facilities. This is an exceedingly healthy sign, and augurs very well for existing services and those which are still be come. We have always expressed the view that what is wanted more than anything else to popularise flying is the better education of the travelling public in its facility and safety. Once confidence is secured the rest 15 easy. Obviously, if the traveller is assured that he actually will be conveyed from point to point in absolute safety—by that we mean with the ordinary safety of train and steamer transport—in fewer hours and for less money than alternative methods of travel entail, the average person will take advantage of what is offered him. We are now beginning to see the results of the speed and certainty with which the cross-Channel services have been conducted. The public realises that aerial travel is as safe and certain as any other, while it possesses the added merit of being infinitely faster and actually less costly in the case of existing services than train and steamer. We are getting on famously in this one direction, but there still remains a long road to travel before aviation can come into its own. There is no truer saying than the one which tells us that one swallow does not make a summer. Nor does one successful service make an aviation industry. Now that so much progress is being made, it is more 236
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