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Aviation History
1924
1924 - 0279.PDF
MAY 15, 1924 THE FUTURE OF AVIATION IN BRITAIN Final Meeting of the Current Session of the Institute of Aeronautical Engineers THE final meeting of the current session of the Institute of Aeronautical Engineers took place on Friday, May 9, and took the form of an informal discussion which was opened by Capt. W. H. Sayers. Mr. Molesworth was in the chair, and before asking Capt. Sayers to open the discussion he explained that the Council of the Society had thought it necessary to call attention to the fact that it did not neces sarily concur in the views expressed, but preferred to regard Capt. Sayers' contribution not as an ordinary paper, but as a statement regarded by the Council as useful in opening a quite informal discussion. Capt. W. H. Sayers said there were two sides from which one could deal with the subject of the future of aviation in Britain. One was the technical ; but that, he thought, he had already dealt with sufficiently in various places. He, therefore, proposed to deal with the second side—the political and psychological. He thought that for a Government department the Air Ministry was quite a reasonable institu tion ; but in spite of the fact that individual Air Ministry officials as a rule had very sound ideas as to what an aeroplane should be, the fact remained that in the total Air Ministry- control had, he thought, hampered development. There was too much tendency on the part of the Air Ministry to remove from individual manufacturers and designers not only initiative but also responsibility. What, in effect if not in actual words, was the attitude of the Air Ministry was somewhat as follows : If you design to our load factors and use inspected specified materials your machine will be safe. The result was that manufacturers not only had their hands tied, but were virtually relieved of responsibility. He thought it would be better to give constructors and designers a free hand, and to let them assume the responsi bility if anything went wrong. There was the problem of popularising flying. This could, he thought, be done much better by letting our young men buy machines and fly them without all the restrictions with which private flying was at present hedged-in. The Air Ministry would probably claim that it had done much to make flying safe, but their policy, if carried too far, would finish up in the ridiculous position of making flying entirely safe by prohibiting flying. By way of showing how Air Ministry " encouragement " had helped aviation, Capt. Sayers quoted figures for a number of military types of aircraft of foreign design and construction, and stated that in each case these machines were several miles per hour faster than our own corresponding types. The excuse that ours were better armed, had their guns in better positions, or were of greater structural strength did not really hold good, as the faster machine need not, except by very rare accident, get itself into a dangerous position. He thought it might be necessary, as regards private flying, for a few enthusiastic aviators to break the laws of the country in order to show up the ridiculous side of many of the existing restrictions. Nothing killed as quick as ridicule, and something might be done in this way. The Chairman then read a letter from Col. Alec Ogilvie, who expressed the opinion that although the restrictions imposed might be very irksome, Government inspection could not be relaxed without introducing considerable dangers. Another letter was read, from Mr. Tinson, who thought there was a lot of unnecessary duplication of the Govern ment's and the manufacturer's mathematical and inspection staffs, which duplication increased the cost of building. Comdr. J. C. Hunsaker, of the United States Naval Air Service, said he thought Capt. Sayers had quoted too optimistic figures relating to some of the American machines, which must, he thought, refer to racing machines rather than to service types. With regard to " Gypsy fliers " (American pilots who buy surplus war machines and take up paying passengers at fairs, etc.) these were not so bad as made out, and he rather doubted the accuracy of the casualty figures one saw quoted. Maj. Davidson, of the United States Army Air Service, also stated that his department did not object to " Gipsy fliers." These people did a lot of useful propaganda work in initiating the general public in flying. He thought that in America, a free country, a man should be allowed to break his neck in any way he chose. When it came to carrying paying pas sengers it might be rather a different thing. A Bill was now being put through Congress relating to carrying passengers lor hire. With reference to Capt. Savers' remarks about the 279 long time taken to get orders through in this country, and the rapidity with which they were got through in America, he really did not think there was much to choose, as his experience had been that it took as long in America, and that the two countries were running parallel in this respect. Comdr. Boothby said he would confine himsef mainly to the airship side. Regarding this, it could only be said that the Air Ministry had killed airships. For the long distances needed in Empire communications some form of aircraft that would be capable of long flights without alighting, and which could fly at night as well as by day, was required, and at present the airship was the only type that could do that. He pointed out that one reason for the Air Ministry's attitude to airships might be that there had never been an airship officer on the Air Council, and that there was no longer at the Air Ministry any officer who had been in charge of an airship station. On the aeroplane side, he thought it was significant that every world's record had now passed into foreign hands. What, Comdr. Boothby said, we had to make up our minds to do was either to kill or to cure the Air Ministry. Mr. Parrott thought the title chosen by Capt. Sayers was wrong, and that the discussion seemed to have turned to a criticism of the Air Ministry instead of the channels which, from the title, one might have expected it to follow. He was not in favour of quite abandoning Government control and supervision, and thought a considerable amount of official control was wanted in the case of machines carrying passengers for hire. In the case of private machines the need was not, perhaps, so great, but even then, if private owners were given a free hand and a number of accidents resulted, this would do harm to the cause of aviation. There was, however, one respect in which he thought improvements could be effected. At present the Air Ministry did not take the constructors into its confidence in the matter of special equipment. The consequence was that designers, instead of being trusted with the installation of equipment, were given some overall size to which to work, and in many cases this meant a waste of space and often of weight. If constructors were given the actual equipment for fitting up in the machine, they would be better able to plan their design, and improve ment was to be expected. As regards technical improvement, Mr. Parrott did not think it likely that we should discover any fundamentally new principle, but that progress would be along the lines of detail improvement. He thought there was room for improve ment in aero engines, and that, if it were possible, one should try to do away with reciprocating parts. Lieut-Commander H. E. Perrin dealt mainly with the subject of private flying, and made the very encouraging announcement that the Royal Aero Club would do all it could to encourage the light 'plane, but that the present restrictions must be removed. The Royal Aero Club was taking the matter up very strongly with the Air Ministry. Dr. Thurston referred to the grandmotherly treatment by Government departments, and recalled the days when a motor-car was only permitted to proceed along a road or Street if preceded by a man carrying a red flag. As motor-cars came into general use this ridiculous restriction was removed, and in air matters something similar would have to happen. Dr. Thurston thought private flying by our young men should be encouraged, and drew a picture of the way in which probably the love of the sea. now thoroughly infused into British life, came into being, by the early adventurers putting out in coracles, tubs or even on planks, the distances covered gradually increasing as experience was gained and the craft improved. In the air much the same line of development should obtain. Mr. Flanders said that the discussion seemed to have taken a course with which he did not quite agree, but if the assembled company wished to discuss the position of the Air Ministry he would contribute his views on the subject. He pointed out how development in any science had always been begun by men of outstanding intelligence, but as the subject grew it became too large for one man to handle, and was then carried on by many, who were often of mediocre intelligence. It seemed, however, that the collective work of mediocre men gave fairly good results. So with the Air Ministry, which was muddling along, but which was, on the whole, doing fairly well. He thought the main trouble, and that which had given cause for most dissatisfaction, was with the personalities of a few officials. Mr. Flanders
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