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Aviation History
1924
1924 - 0225.PDF
APRIL 17, 1924 THE INSTITUTE OF AT the annual meeting of the Institute of Naval Architects, which was held at the United Services Institution on Wed nesday morning, April 9, the Duke of Northumberland presiding, Admiral-of-the-Fleet Sir Doveton Sturdee gave an address on " Strategical and Tactical Considerations Governing Warship Design," in which he made several references to aviation. The strength, he said, of the British Navy from 1815 to 1914 was a great asset in the preservation of world peace, and ensured for this country naval peace for a century. That superiority we had, with our eyes open, abandoned so far as battleships and aircraft-carriers were concerned, and therefore strategically we had placed ourselves at a disadvantage in relation to any great Power that had an equal force of battleships, particularly if that Power was a Continental nation and was self-contained, while we, with our communications to overseas Dominions, had some 80,000 miles of ocean routes to defend. In summarising the requirements of a British cruiser he stated that each one should carry and be able to launch two aeroplanes, and that anti-aircraft defence guns should be provided, particularly for cruisers intended to accompany battle fleets. He also advocated fresh efforts to make aircraft-carriers less liable to destruction by torpedoes, by ample sub-division or by whole or partial adoption of the bulge methods. Rear-Admiral Clifton Brown, who spoke after Sir Doveton Sturdee, said he thought in future the question of aircraft- carriers might not be so important, for probably battleships would have to carry their own aircraft. At the dinner of the Institution, held the same evening at the Connaught Rooms, aviation matters were again referred to. The Duke of Northumberland, who presided, in proposing " The Naval and Air Forces of the Empire," said he thought the problems of Imperial defence had never been more complicated than they were at present, and that the fact that they were celebrating in this toast both the Navy and the Air Force reminded them that the relations between the two services had never yet been definitely determined. Viscount Chelmsford, First Lord of the Admiralty, responding for the Navy, said, referring to the Air Force and the Navy, that each had much to bring to the other. The Air Force was able to bring along all that great popular enthusiasm which was behind it, as well as the concentrated results of the study of the science of aviation. On the other hand, the Navy could bring a long experience in technical problems which in many respects would confront the Air Force in the near future, and it could bring to the junior service a body of technical experts which was second to none in the world. In replying for the Air Force, Lord Thomson, Secretary of State for Air, said the Air Force was the Cinderella of the Services, but he had found that the relations between the Air Force and the Admiralty were entirely sisterly, and he had noticed very little of that jealousy which one associated with Cinderella's elder sisters. As a soldier, he was once disposed to regard the Air Force as an auxiliary or subsidiary weapon. But he had been converted, and often, in his present position, he thought of what the fcrce meant to this country. He realised only too well that, if another European war should once again occur, the first brunt of that war would fall upon our airmen—that they would fight the earliest phase, and indeed it might well become the final phase. It was for that reason that to men of light and leading, of public spirit and of science he always went as something of a suppliant. He asked them to do all that they could to furnish experience and advice to this young force. Fortunately, there was also civil aviation, which was one of the most baffling problems that presented itself today. It could not. be run without large subsidies from the State. But there were many directions in which he looked for improvement. We had to have a heavier-than-air service linking up our business men in all parts of Europe ; we had got to have an airship service linking up the Empire. But a third way which appealed to him very much was the encouragement of individual flying. 13 H Imperial Airways Dispute UP to the time of writing no agreement had been announced re the Imperial Airways dispute. During the NAVAL ARCHITECTS What he believed had got to come to pass in regard to civil aviation, he continued, was that we must produce some sort of flying apparatus which would enlist the activity of young men who were ready to break their necks at doing something, but wanted that something to be fairly Cheap. He believed the future of aviation would be found in the encouragement of the habit of the air. We became a great maritime state because our people had the habit of the sea. We had got at all costs to encourage the habit of the air, and he believed that in those three methods we would find the key of the situation. We would never main tain our supremacy as a world-power unless we were as supreme, in a commercial sense, in the air as we had hitherto been upon the sea. On April 10 the Institution resumed the conference, when, amongst other speakers, Commander C. D. Burney read a paper on " The Development of the Airship, with Special Reference to Transport." Commander Burney stated that before the airship could be adopted as a reliable means of transport it was necessary that many difficulties should be met, and the aeronautical engineer had to face four main problems—(1) the means of flotation ; (2) the provision of a structure which, while adapted to utilise the means of flotation for the purpose of lifting weight, was also suitable for propulsion through the air at high speeds ; (3) the means of propulsion itself ; and (4) the handling and operation of the completed airship on a commercially economic basis. Hydrogen had, he continued, remained for many years the only suitable means of obtaining the required displace ment ; but much attention had recently been drawn to the use of helium for this purpose on account of its inert properties. An airship filled with helium had a lift 7 per cent, less than one of equal displacement filled with hydrogen. This loss of lift would mean a loss in potential earning capacity of no less than ^84,000 per annum in airships of the size which would be used on the Indian route. So far as was known at present there were no available sources of helium of any magnitude within the limits of the British Empire. The cost of its production and transport would alone be so great as to render any commercial scheme an impossibility. It was, therefore, of primary importance that we should develop a type of airship which should be absolutely safe and efficient when filled with hydrogen. In reference to the handling and operation of airships on a commercially economic basis, Commander Burney said that he had come to the conclusion that the smallest size of ship that could be profitably employed on commercial work must have a displacement of not less than 5,000,000 cubic ft., giving a gross lift of approximately 150 tons. Of this 150 tons some 75 were available for lifting fuel, crew, passengers and mail cargo, etc. These ships would have a cruising speed of 80 miles an hour, the power installa tion consisting of seven interchangeable units of a maximum 600 b.h.p. each. The maximum economical length of flight was between 2,000 and 2,500 miles. The actual route which was being planned was that from England to India, where the terminal station would be Bombay. This route would be flown in two portions, the halting place being at Cairo, dividing the journey roughly into London to Cairo 2,300 miles, Cairo to Bombay 2,400 miles. The station at Cairo would consist of a mooring station only ; that in India of a mooring station and shed. That speeds and displacements would increase rapidly was already inevitable. Indeed, they confidently expected to exceed speeds of a hundred miles an hour in the near future. They were now at work on an interesting develop ment which would allow trial routes to be run without the capital expenditure involved in setting up permanent mooring bases. The quickest way to Western Canada, China and Japan lay almost directly over the North Pole, and that had only to be mentioned to realise the immense advantages which such mobile bases would give us. And in time of war, when airships armed with their own squadrons of fast fighting aeroplanes, released and recovered at will, formed the eyes of the fleet which was guarding the great trade routes, such bases would be of indispensable use to the Navy. past few days, however, meetings have been held between Sir Eric Geddes, representing Imperial Airways, and the pilots, resulting, it is reported, in some progress towards a settlement.
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