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Aviation History
1922
1922 - 0085.PDF
FEBRUARY a, 1922 The Committee, Lord Gorell stated, took the views that it would be a mistake to spread the subsidy over other routes, and that in order to ensure progress we must concentrate, and must learn how to make one service a commercial success. He thought that the moment this has been done every other route lies open lor development. The cross-Channel route was chosen because it is, he said, unquestionably the most important, as it leads to the Continent and links up with the trans-Continental lines. He thought it would be generally admitted that the preservation of this service was an absolute necessity, and that we must look to routes across the sea for the adequate development of aerial transport. He pointed out that, owing to the situation of this country on the north west of Europe, expansion of transit by aeroplane is restricted to the south and east, at any rate unless and until aeroplanes can safely negotiate the Atlantic. Lord Gorell thought that if it had done nothing else since March last, the maintenance of regular cross-Channel services has, at least, converted many people to a belief in the future of the air. Regarding the more permanent scheme for the cross-Channel services, Lord Gorell brought up the question of the return to the Air Ministry of machines used by the firms. It has always, he said, been charged against any policy of sub sidisation, that it might result in keeping obsolete or obsoles cent machines in,the air. He admitted that this was a real danger, but stated that the interests of the firms and the interests of the Government were identical, the object of the former being to have the use of the best machines available, and the Government's object being to expedite the evolution of the ideal type of civil aeroplane. He stated that the Government has now been able to agree, for the present year, at any rate, that machines, if returned in an air-worthy con dition, will be taken back after only nine monthly pay ments of 2£ per cent, of their value, in order that they may be replaced by the latest types of machines, if the Air Ministry is satisfied that the change is desirable from the point of view of forwarding design and construction. Lord Gorell did not wish to pretend that the arrangements entered into are beyond criticism, and said that he was not so much concerned with the task of defending them as with that of explaining them, and that their wisdom, therefore, was open to discussion during the Conference. He said that he felt it his duty, however, to state that, in the view of all three members of the Committee, the arrangements, whether ideal or not, were the only ones which in actual practice could achieve their objects at the present time. The sub sidies. Lord Gorell said, are necessary, because we are asking firms to compete with the French subsidies, and because we deem it essential that the British cross-Channel services shall be maintained. Regarding the suggestion of an air service across the Irish Channel, Lord Gorell stated that, personally, if it were in any way financially possible, he would like to see this established, but at the same time, it would, he said, be misleading to suggest that he saw any definite hope of its establishment in the immediate future. Imperial Air Services Passing on to broader aspects of aviation, Lord Gorell proceeded to deal with the question of Imperial Air Services. He pointed out that the aeroplane stages must necessarily be a good deal shorter than those on a route flown by airships. With the number of relay stations, emergency landing grounds, and other ground organisation necessary, such a route could not yet be a commercial proposition, and that, therefore, the establishment of such routes must be primarily undertaken by the Royal Air Force. From the point of view of the Government, he said, although the desirability of opening the routes to commercial services should be constantly borne in mind, the first necessity is to effect the linking up of the different areas of R.A.F. squadrons. When that has been effected we shall have stations established at convenient stages, -in connection with which, or beside which, civilian stations can be successfully established and economi cally protected. Lord Gorell further stated that the process of linking up the stations established for sendee purposes is steadily continuing, and that therefore the time may not be so far distant when an Imperial route for civilian and commer cial purposes can be established with a prospect of commercial success. Air Mails On the subject of air mails, Lord Gorell had a good deal to say. He prefaced his remarks on the question of air mails from and to this country by a brief statement of what has been done in the matter of air mails abroad. The United States Government was the first, and for some time the only, State which itself operated an air mail service, Nearly 45 million pieces of mail were carried in the year ended June 30, 1921, and this was in addition to large BEX) quantities carried on other routes by non-subsidised com panies. In the United Kingdom, during the 12 months ended September 30 last, 102,240 letters were posted for outward transmission by the cross-Channel air services, and of these 63,340 were for Paris. The numbers carried in the opposite direction were rather less. The first necessity, Lord Gorell said, in any system of transit, must be the regularity of service, and although this regularity has to a great extent been gained in that 95 per cent, of the flights on the London- Paris mail service between April 1 and September 30, 1921, were completed in less than four hours from the scheduled time of starting, no very substantial advantage, he thought, was gained from the point of view of the General Post Office, by the more speedy transit of mails across the Channel by day flights. For the cross-Channel air mails, Lord Gorell thought it would be necessary to develop night flying, as, if a business man could post his letters in the evening and be assured that they would reach his French correspondent early next morning, he would readily see the advantages of the cross- Channel air mail service. Regarding the attitude of the General Post Office towards air mails. Lord Gqrell stated that he had not found that the G.P.O. deserved some ofi the more harsh criticisms which have been passed upon its officials. He thought it obvious that if the regularity can be assured they will take advantage of the service, just in the same way as in the past they changed from sending mails by road when the railways provided a speedier and surer method. It seemed to him, he said, that there were two sides to be considered. As long as it costs more to send a letter by air, the G.P.O. must, in addition to the question of regularity, be assured that there are a sufficient number of people who are willing to pay that extra sum in order to obtain more rapid communication. The G.P.O. would not be justified in entering into new arrangements if the public response is inadequate. He thought it rather indicative of the lack of general public interest that far fewer letters are sent from London to Baghdad by air than are sent from Baghdad to London. He thought that if once it can be shown that mails can be borne by air at approximately the same charges as they can be borne by land and sea, and a good deal quicker, that will be the method which the G.P.O. will naturally adopt. Regularity and cheapness were the two pillars, Lord Gorell considered, upon which must rest any real development of the transit of mails by air. Civil Aviation and Commerce On the question of the relations between civil aviation and commerce, Lord Gorell thought it was hardly too much to say that at present these were distinctly poor. He thought that at present there is no real sign that business brains in this country have taken into serious consideration the degree to which the air may be utilised for the purpose of their business, and he mentioned as one example the great industry comprised by the word journalism. He expressed surprise at the fact that some of the great newspapers have not regularly employed the aeroplane in connection with their early editions. We shall, he said, really only begin to make decided progress when the business community begins to go seriously into the cost and practicability of meeting their constant need of the speediest means of transport by making use of the air. The Policy of Subsidisation On the general question of aerial development, Lord Gorell said that he had noticed that critics of the Government attitude had drawn a distinction between promise and performance. Probably, he said, the action of any Ministry falls short of what enthusiasts consider desirable, but he thought that the critics had wished the Government to do a great deal more in ways that would have cost the taxpayer a great deal more money, and he was sure that no degree of public support would be given to a proposal that we should spend a million pounds on this object. Lord Gorell stated that he had been much interested to read in a recent article by a French writer, written in defence of the results of the Paris Aero Show, against some of the criticisms which had been passed upon it, some striking admissions of the errors into which the earlier policy of subsidisation had led the French Government, and even of the present regulations this French writer had some significant things to say. For instance, of the petrol subsidy, he says, " the new subsidy stifles initiative in the firms concerned, since they are free from all anxiety in regard to the price of petrol." He further states, Lord Gorell said, that " the present regulations have been drawn up more with an eye to existing machines than to future construction." The Under-Secretary of State for Air, therefore, thought that the Government would require
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