FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1923
1923 - 0444.PDF
Take merely one item which is made much of over and over again, that in active service the naval commanders have no control over the air units placed at their disposal. Can anything be more fatuous ? Once the units are placed to the credit of the Navy the naval commanding officers are in absolute charge to bid the fetching and carrying as they deem desirable. As sensible to suggest that they have no control over the Royal Marines when attached to war vessels. Taken altogether the present agitation is merely a natural outcome of the " writing on the wall " which many, many years ago FLIGHT pointed out was there, to take note of by those who would, having now grown into such very plain reading that even at the Admiralty they have discerned that the legend looks very much like " The Passing of the Navy." And it is so. That all reasonable means between the Air Ministry and the Admiralty should and will be adopted to ensure smooth working for Imperial ends goes without saying, but we should be very surprised if the report and recommendations of the Committee of Imperial Defence are scrapped by the Government. We have every confidence that the " crisis " will be so handled by the Cabinet that ere long folk will be asking what it was ah1 about. The At last it is beginning to look as if thereAirship were> at any rate, a possibility that Decision Great Britain may resume the work on airships which has been so unwisely allowed to drop during trie last three or four years. There should be no necessity to remind readers of FLIGHT that successive Governments have dallied with the airship question for a very long period, and that, although the double crossing of the Atlantic by the R.34 more than four years ago should have acted as a strong incentive for this country to continue and to expand airship research and experiment, the very reverse has been the case. During the War something like £40,000,000 was spent on airships and the decision to " scrap the lot," which on more than one occasion has only just been avoided, has left this country without technical and operational airship personnel. Not only so, but in the latest Burney scheme, which has now been adopted by the Govern- ment " in principle," there is no room for such airships as are still in existence, nor for the nearly-completed R.37. Thus much of the experimental work done in the past will be wasted, and the competition of British airship firms with those of other countries made the more difficult on account of the short-sighted policy, or rather entire lack of policy, exhibited by previous Governments. However, better late than never is a saying which can, let us hope, be applied in this case also, and, at any rate, the promise of a small beginning has been made which, if the financial details of the contract can be satisfactorily settled with the Treasury, should result in the resumption of airship development in Great Britain. With regard to the latest Burney scheme, this is on AUGUST 2, 1923 a considerably more modest scale than was the original one. Without going into minute details, the full scheme provides for a subsidy of £400,000 a year for seven years. As at present proposed, the scheme appears to involve but £400,000 of the taxpayer's money—as subsidy payable in the first year. Subse- quent subsidies are only payable subject to certain possibilities being proved in practice, and if the first and subsequent trials are successful the whole of the Government subsidies will be ultimately repayable out of profits. If the first year's trials are unsuccessful the loss to the country will, therefore, be limited to the £400,000 subsidy. Thus, at relatively trifling cost to the country, it should be possible to settle definitely, once and for all, whether or not airship services over long distances are technically and com- mercially possible. It is therefore to be hoped that the necessary arrangements with the Treasury may be completed, and without delay, so that a fresh start may be made. Concerning the technical aspects of the scheme, we have on previous occasions called attention to the fact, stated in public by some of our greatest airship authorities, that many problems in the structural design of large airships still remain unsolved, and we are not quite convinced that airships of 5,000,000 cubic ft. capacity can be built without introducing experimental features. It is to be assumed, of course, that those responsible for the scheme have done all in their power to ascertain the feasibility of building ships of this size, but it would be reassuring if a plain statement could be made, setting out on whose authority the construction of such huge airships can be confidently contemplated. For our own part, we 'should like to see, simultaneously with the con- struction of larger ships, experiments carried out on such of our existing craft as are still in a condition - which enables them to be re-conditioned. One year's research with full-scale ships should discover most defects likely to develop in the larger type, and in time for them to be remedied before construction had gone too far. It is, of course, possible that the large ships can be built with every prospect of success, but the undertaking would be less of a venture if the full-scale research, unfortunately dropped on the plea of economy, could be resumed and such data as are at present incomplete could be ascertained. On the question of time, it must be borne in mind that before thi country can undertake the con- struction of such large ships, very considerable exten- sions of existing sheds will have to be made, as we have no sheds large enough to take a fully erected airship of 5,000,000 cubic ft. capacity. The con- structional work on^the airship parts could probably be started with bit little delay, as the large sheds could be got ready by the time the first airship was ready for assembly, but in any case it seems likely that at least eighteen months to two years will elapse —assuming the scheme to be finally sanctioned— before the first of the leviathans of the air is ready to make her trial trip. GOTHENBURG INTEF "FLIGHT" is on sale ai " MEDENS BOKHANI FLIGHT] at the -• '•>'.:.- tNATIONAL AERO EXHIBITION. t the Gothenburg Aero Exhibition at )ES A.B., inside Main Entrance, 444
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
