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Aviation History
1921
1921 - 0563.PDF
AUGUST 18, 1921 IN PARLIAMENT Royal Air Force Medical Service COMMANDER BELLAIRS, on August 2, asked the Secretary of State for Airwhether his Council is attempting to build up a separate medical service from the Army and Navy ; if so, how many medical officers are there ; whethercasualties or invalids are sent both to naval and military hospitals, or exclusively to military hospitals ; and whether any hospitals have been, or are being builtfor the Air Force ? Capt. Guest: The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative,and to the second part, 124. This figure excludes medical officers employed at the Air Ministry, With regard to the remaining parts, casualties and invalidsare sent, where possible, to the nearest naval, military, or civil hospital. No hospitals have been, or are being built for the Royal Air Force, but Royal AirForce hospitals have been established in buildings at Halton and Cranwell which were formerly occupied by other units. In addition, a temporary hospitalfor officers exists at Avenue House, Fiuchley. The latter is a private house, hired for the purpose, and has not been altered. Royal Air Force Mr. GILBERT on August 9 asked the Secretary of State for Air the numberof aeroplane stations or depots controlled by his Department; the present strength of meu in the Air Service ; approximately the number of aeroplanes inservice at the present time ; and whether it is intended to increase the number of depdts, men, or machines at the present time ?Capt. Guest: The number of stations and depots controlled by the Air Ministry in the United Kingdom is 46, of which two are civil and two are experi-mental stations. The establishment of the Royal Air Force as authorised by Parliament for the present year is 30,880 all ranks. With regard to the thirdpart of the question, I am prepared to give privately to my hon. friend the figures for which he asks. The answer to the last portion of the question is in thenegative under each of the three heads. It is not intended to increase the number of dep6ts, men, or machines. Aviation in Germany ' - MR. RAPER, on August o, asked the Secretary for Air if he would makea statement as to the present position of German aviation, indicating the passenger and'or postal services they arerunning, the average daily number of miles coveredby these services, the form of subsidy the German aviation companies are receiving frgm the German Government, particulars as to the chief aerial post office whichhas been established in the Koenigstrasse, Berlin, the fares and rates being charged, particulars of the facilities being given by the German railway com-panies to assist the aviation companies in the distribution of the passengers, mails, etc., and the types of machines being employed on these services ? Treaty Handicap CAPT. GUEST'S reply is :— The German Government are unquestionably fostering civil aviation, which is, however, at the moment considerably handicapped by the restrictions on the construction of aircraft imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. There are in Germany two main bodies which virtually control all air traffic—the Deutsche Luftreederei and the Nord Deutsche I.loyd. The latter comprises some eight or ten companies—the most important of which are the Rumpler, Albatros, Sab!atnig, and Junker concerns. A large number of societies have been founded throughout the country with the object of stimulating interest in and promoting the development of aviation in all its civil aspects. The Government are indirectly represented on the ' Flug and Haven,' which is the most influential of these institutions. Although prohibited by the Allied authorites from running air services outside Germany, the following internal air routes are understood to be actually in daily operation for mails and passengers :— (a) Berlin to Danzig and Konisberg .. b) „ Bremen and Munster .. c) ,, Bremen and Wangeroog d) „ Brunswick and Dortmund e) ,, Dresden .. (/) „ Leipzig, Nurnberg, Munich and Augsberg (g) Hamburg to Magdeburg, Leipzig and Dresden (A) Munich to Constance (i) Stuttgart to Constance (j) Travemunde to Warnemunde, Sassnitz and Swinemunde Fare in Marks. 975 650 650 800 500 i 1,725 sde .. 700 400 450 At ParRates, about £ s. 47 15 31 1731 17 39 4 24 1084 10 34 6 29 12 22 1 550 26 10 agreement to carry mails of 100 kg. or over on specified routes, approved com-panies are paid the following subsidy by the Government :— 10 marks for every km. flown up to 300 km. 11 marks for every km. flown over 300 km. .'.:;'"10 marks for every kg. of correspondence over 100 kg. 2 marks for every kg. of newspaper matter over lop kg.The total amount of the subsidy is not to exceed 11 million marks (about £539,000). The post office in Koenigstrasse, Berlin, has been established in order to deal with correspondence leaving the German capital by air. Mail ChargesTHE fares are as indicated under each air route, while the charge for corres- pondence, etc., is :— Grammes.Up to 20 ,,50 ,, 100 ,. 250,, 500 or over Misc. .. 1.40 inks. 2.20 „ .. 3.00 „.. 11.60 ,, Letters.80 pfs. 1.60 mks. 2.40 ,, 3-6° ..— PrintedMatter. 95 Pfs. 1.90 mks. 3.00 ,, 5-6o ,, Samp] 1.40 1.90 3.00 560 80 Some 6,000 miles are said to be flown daily. Subject to their machines having flown 20,000 km. during the past year, to1 per cent, of the scheduled flights being carried out, to the acceptance of au Post-cards at 50 pfennigs (1 half-mark) arid parcels up to 1 kg., 11.10 mks.The mark at par rates equals about nfd. Twenty grammes is equal to about 7/ioths of an ounce.The railway companies arrange for connection between the air mail services and express trains, but no details are available.All the services are being maintained by about 100 old military machines, acquired by the companies from the Allies after surrender by Germany to theInter-Allied Aeronautical Commission Control. Our Airships VISCOUNT CURZON, on August 9, asked the Secretfty of State for Air whatis the capital cost or value of all ships, material, etc., affected by the Government decision to scrap airships ; what will be the estimated annual saving ; what theprobable sum will be that will be realised by the disposal of the ships, material, etc. ; and whether any facilities will then exist for the handling of airships inthe British Empire ? The Secretary of State for Air (Captain Guest) : The original cost of existingBritish airships and airship material was approximately £1,575,000. This figure does not include the cost of accommodation. The annual saving under thishead is estimated to be in the region of £250,000. But it must not be thought that this sum bears any relation to the expense which would be incurred if wecontinued to operate these airships. With regard to the third part of the ques- tion, the amount which may be realised by the disposal of the airships and airshipmaterial cannot at present be estimated within any approach to accuracy. It can be stated confidently, however, that the scrap value of the ships themselvesis not large. With regard to the last part of the question, while the sheds and masts will not be manned, they will remain capable of being utilised at shortnotice. Mr. Raper asked the Secretary of State for Air whether the offer made byHis Majesty's Government to British civilian firms to take over the airships, equipment, spares and stores on terms approved by the Government still remainsin force ; and if so, for how long ? Captain Guest : The arrangement approved by the Conference of PrimeMinisters, the terms of which were announced to the House by my right hon. friend the Secretary of State for the Colonies, on Thursday last, makes it stillpossible for private firms to come forward with proposals, although conditions have somewhat altered, and the original time limit has now expired. No suchproposal could now be accepted without previous reference to the Dominions. Mr. Raper : When the hon. and gallant gentleman says that the conditionshave altered, does he mean that the conditions laid down by the Government have altered ? Capt. Guest: No, Sir. The hon. member must not read that suggestion intomy reply. The conditions have altered to the extent of the answer made by the Secretary of State for the Colonies last Thursday.Royal Aircraft Establishment Designers MR. R. YOUNG on August 11 asked the Secretary of State for Air the basisof grading to the class of temporary established civil servants which is applied in the case of the engineering drawing office staffs at the Royal Aircraft Estab-lishment, Farnborough ; and is he aware that at the present time draughtsmen who have similar duties and responsibilities to those placed in this class are inan inferior grade ; and will the attention of his Department be given to the question of the removal of the anomaly and the consequent dissatisfactionamong the members of the drawing office staff ? Capt. Guest: On the assumption that by the phrase " the class of temporaryestablished civil servants " the hon. member intends to refer to the designers at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, the reply to the first part of his question is,that designers are graded as such because they are responsible for original design work. A draughtsman has neither similar duties nor responsibilities, and itwould be both uneconomical and unfair to designers if draughtsmen were to be similarly graded. R.A.F. Boy Mechanics' Examinations THE Civil Service Commissioners give notice that an open competitive examination of candidates for entry as boy mechanics in the Royal Air Force will be held at London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Birmingham, Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth on November 25. Applications to compete must be sent in to the secretary on or before October 13. Bourget Air-Pageant FOR this year the idea of a French Air-Pageant has been shelved. It is to be held at Easter, 1922, at Bourget. M. Flandin is the Hon. President of the Organising Committee, and M. Leon Bathiat, President. Eighty per cent, of the profits goes to the funds for relief of aviators, and the balance to a similar fund for sporting journalists. : _ . .. The " Movies " in an " Aeroplane " A NOVEL form of show is foreshadowed in the.registration of a company, under the title of Holcroft Cinema Aeroplane, Ltd. The raison d'Stre of the company is to provide a cinema entertainment actually given in a large model aeroplane in- vented by Major Charles Holcroft, which performs certain motions and gives to the public the benefit of cinema enter- tainment coupled with the sensation of flying, etc. Mr. E. Lewis Waller is a director of the company. The Napier-Engined Aerial Derby Winner. , s - MESSRS. D. NAPIER AND SON, LTD., write in connection with ' an advertisement which recently appeared, wherein the result of the Aerial Derby is given. The particulars set forth are, Mr. H. T. Vane points out, likely to be misunderstood by some people, as it omits to state the S.E. 5A machines were given a start of 23 mins. 24 sees, in front of the Napier-engined machine. Further the winner of the Aerial Derby is the machine which completed the course in the fastest time, which in this case was the Napier-engined Mars I, piloted by Mr. J. H. James, whose time for the distance was 1 hr. 13 mins. 8 sees., whereas the two S.E. 5's took 1 hr. 36 mins. 46 sees, and 1 hr. 40 mins. 24 sees,, respectively, 23 mins. 38 sees, and 27 mins. 16 sees, longer than the Napier machine. As a matter of fact both the Aerial Derby and first Handicap prizes were won by the Napier-engined Mars I, two cups and £600 being awarded to the winner. The disqualified machine only passed the post first because it omitted to circle the pylon at the end of the first round, in other words it did not complete the course. . ,;l •- 563
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