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Aviation History
1921
1921 - 0320.PDF
considerable prizes offered, the prestige of a country is greatly enhanced by making a good showing in such ajrace. It is therefore to be hoped that this year will see several British machines at Villesauvage. There are close on five months left in which to produce a machine for the race, and as several firms are con- templating entering machines for the Aerial Derby, one hopes that they will, at the same time, keep in mind the Coupe Deutsch. Last year two British machines were actually at Villesauvage during the Gordon Bennett, one of them taking part in the race. The other arrived too late to be allowed to enter. Those two very sporting entries, which were largelv financed by the pilots themselves and their friends, were admirable and deserving of the highest praise. But if we are to have any hopes of winning the Coupe Deutsch we will have to make a better effort this year. That is to say, it must not be left to a- few individuals to do their level—but wholly insufficient —best. Concerted action and thorough organisation is required. We are equal to producing machines worthy of the great race. Let us show that we are also capable of using them to the best advantage. We would call the attention of manufacturers to the dates : The race itself on October I. Entries close August 27. Machines must be on the aero- drome at Villesauvage by September 30, but to make sure, and to allow pilots to make themselves familiar with the course, it will be better to have them in readiness a couple of days before that date. • • • It is inevitable that a war of any magni- American tude should bring in its train charges of in^e*1 incompetency and corruption against •yyar some who have been engaged in its prosecution, particularly those who have had to do with fhe supply side of affairs. Our own experience after the South African War is a case in point. Sometimes the charges can be justi- fied, but in most cases they fail because men are only- human and are apt to make genuine mistakes of judgment under the stress of abnormal conditions, while it has always to be remembered that in war nothing matters so much as the defeat of the enemy in the shortest possible time. Therefore, things can be done with impunity which, in more normal times, would lead to all sorts of unpleasant charges. As a matter of fact, experience shows that, except in the comparatively few cases arising in which real turpitude has been manifested, it is best after a war of any size to wipe the slate clean and endeavour to forget all about the mismanagement and the errors which seem to be a necessary concomitant of war. America seems to have been learning this lesson, particularly with regard to the expenditure on her aviation services. For the past two years it has been alleged against the administration that a billion and a half of dollars were expended on the Air Service without any tangible result being shown for the expenditure. Figures seem now to have been adduced to show that the accusations referred to were verv wide of the mark. The actual expenditure incurred appears to have been very little more than a third of the sum stated, while as for there being nothing to show, in numbers of machines and engines produced we seem to think that America did surprisingly well. In the twenty-one months which elapsed between the entry of America into the War and the Armistice, she had to create not only an Air Service, but an aero- . . ••'.":; . MAY 12, 1921 . * nautical industry. During the nine years previous to 1917, no more than 142 machines had been built for the United States Air Services, but in the following twenty-one months American factories- produced no fewer than 13,894 complete machines and 41,953 aero engines. In so far as personnel is concerned, at the Armistice the American Air Service numbered 20,568 officers and 174,456 other ranks. Certainly on the figures America cannot reasonably complain that she did not get value for the money expended. Where we suspect the shoe pinches is that at the actual cessation of hostilities there were no more than 667 American machines actually in service at the front. Without the slightest desire to discuss matters which are no concern of anybody but the American, we think we may venture to point out that America had done very well indeed to get that number of machines into actual fighting commission in the time. We do not know our own figures of production for the first twenty-one months of the War, but we should like to venture the opinion that we had not 600 machines at the front. We had by then had the very same problems to solve by which America was beset in 1917-18. We had to create out of practically nothing an Air Service and an aeronautical industry, and if we made as much progress as America did in the corresponding period we should be very pleased to know it. However, we will not pursue the subject farther. Indeed, we should not have referred to it at all had the official statement of the case not been sent to us direct We will therefore content ourselves by saying that we are very well pleased to know that the American Air Service has been able to show that the charges levelled against it have not been founded on fact, and we congratulate our Ally on having achieved a really magnificent performance. We will not say that it was bad luck that the War ended before there was a chance for her air effort to make itself fully felt, as it would have been if the struggle had lasted over the following winter. Our friends on the other side of the Atlantic must take consolation from the adage that Rome was not built in a day, nor can an overwhelmingly powerful and actually effective air service be created in a year and a half. Our Airships We note that an aeronautical corre- spondent of The Times states that a reversal of policy has been made in regard to the airships, and that instead of the service being closed down a further respite has been granted. He points out that an immediate closing down now, when negotiations for the disposal of the ships have been brought to a standstill by industrial depression, would be detrimental to the public interest. The negotiations with private enterprise have progressed so far that there is every reason to preserve the service in being until they can be resumed in a more favourable^ atmosphere. But for the coal dispute, he says, there would have been some long-distance demonstration flight^ with the airships, and these may be expected to be carried out as soon as circumstances permit. As a matter of fact, it is understood that the respite referred to is one of three months' duration. It is common knowledge that the intention was to have closed down the airship service altogether at the end of last month, but it has now been decreed that it is to carry on until the end of July. What will happen then, if in the meantime some satisfactory 320
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