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Aviation History
1922
1922 - 0098.PDF
am Though the Geddes Report pays rela- The tively little attention to the question of of CM" Civil Aviation, it is suggested that a Aviation reduction of £400,000 could be effected in this department. Considering that the amount provided for 1922-23 is only £700,000, a reduction of more than one-half is a little too drastic to be contemplated, especially in view of the assistance which civil aviation will and can render to the R.A.F. in the matter of reserves. Apparently the Committee considers the £200,000 per annum voted for the next three years a commitment which cannot be escaped, and the saving of £400,000, it is suggested, should come almost wholly out of personnel. It is also thought by the Committee that under the heading of meteorology considerable savings could be effected. In view of the vital importance to aviation of meteoro logical services, and its importance, scarcely less vital, to other sections of the community, we do not agree that any great reduction could or should be made. The Committee evidently realise this fact, and wisely suggests that if more extensive meteorological services are required by the Air Force, they should be provided for on Air Ministry votes other than that of civil aviation. Incidentally, if the suggested Ministry of Defence should materialise, the whole position of civil aviation would have to be very seriously reconsidered. Al ready under existing conditions the effect of the military mind is being felt in the Civil Aviation department, and there can be not the slightest doubt that under a Ministry of Defence Civil Aviation would stand in grave danger of becoming entirely over shadowed by the military side. This could not be tolerated for a moment, and it is well that this fact should be kept in mind when discussing the pros and cons of the suggested Ministry. Civil Aviation would have to be entirely separated from the influence of such a Ministry, except in such matters as affected the framing of arrangements for co-operation in case of war. • • <•> Now that the Air Conference is closed, Conference ** *s Possi^e to Degin to form an opinion of its possible value. The papers read were of a very instructive character, both those of a technical nature and the papers dealing with general matters of policy. One fact was most startlingly brought out, i.e., the divergence of opinion that exists between the views of the Secretary of State for Air and those of more than go per cent, of the speakers. Capt. Guest's views, at any rate as he expressed them at the Conference, are so pessimistic in regard to Civil Aviation that they strongly emphasise the need for separating entirely civil aviation from the military side of flying. It was most unfortunate that the Secretary of State for Air should have chosen the Conference as a suitable place for airing such views, as there is always the danger that some of those attending the Conference—those rnterested in but not in close touch with commercial aviation—may have a H One Resting-Place for Lafayette F.C. AN echo of the tragedy of the late War is the bringing into one burying-ground in France the Americans who fell fighting whilst with the famous Lafayette Flying Corps. According to the Pall Mall Gazette, the French Government have decided to provide a plot and arrange for the reinter ment of the bodies of more than forty heroes who lie buried in different parts of Europe. The maintenance of the graves and the erection of head- FEBRUARY 16, 1922 come away with the idea that Capt. Guest voiced the general opinion. This, of course, is far from being the case, and the many outspoken criticisms levelled at his pessimistic statements must have served to convince the majority that the general considered opinion was not.in agreement with that of Capt. Guest. Nevertheless, it is to be regretted that at a time when Civil Aviation is straining to obtain the interest of the great industries that will help to make aviation a commercial success, a Minister of the Crown should have thought fit to do his best to damn the cause of aviation with faint praise. As one speaker suggested, it would appear that we have an Air Minister who does not believe in aviation. For the rest, the Conference may have done a certain amount of good, inasmuch as it allowed aviation subjects to be discussed on a much larger scale than can be done at the Royal Aeronautical Society. Otherwise one heard exactly the same speakers talking upon the same subjects in exactly the same manner as one can hear at almost any of the meetings of the R.Ae.S. From the other side, the industries and organisations which are, one hopes, going to make use of aviation, one heard nothing or practically nothing. The reasons are, perhaps, not far to seek. From the list of acceptances issued by the Air Ministry one gathered that a fair number of representatives of the " other side " were present, but they added but little to the general discussion. This may be understood if one looks the matter squarely in the face and admits that we—the aviation world-—have to a great extent ourselves to blame. Instead of enlarging upon what we can do at present, and are absolutely ready to do, we appear to be divided among ourselves and to have a tendency to finish up every other sentence with " but tomorrow we shall be able to do very much better." The business man is not interested in what we can do tomorrow ; what he wants to know is what we can do for him today, and at what price. If we spent a little more time, at these Air Conferences, in stating clearly, and considerably more briefly than was done this year, what we are prepared to do, and leave the discussion of wood v. metal, high-lift v. high-speed wings, the Diesel engine of some-day-after-tomorrow v. the petrol engine of today, etc., to be thrashed out in our own private camps, we might interest those for whom we shall have to cater, quite apart from presenting a somewhat more dignified appearance to the outside world. Matters of commercial and general policy, and of our aeronautical relations with other nations, are, to our mind, the appropriate subjects for such a Conference, and that is why we press for making them more international in character. Commercial aviation will of necessity be of an increasingly Inter national nature, and the sooner we get together the various nations interested the sooner shall we be able to formulate, with some degree of certainty, policies having due regard to the requirements of other countries and their claims upon recognition. m m stones will be undertaken by survivors of the famous corps. Of the 186 members of the Lafayette Flying Corps who went to the front, 63 were killed. The bodies of six of these have- not been recovered. Among the bodies to be placed in the new cemetery, which is situated near Souain, is one recovered on the shores of the North Sea, one in Salonika, and one in Genoa. The cemetery will not be military in character, but will be as simple as an American country graveyard. 98
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