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Aviation History
1925
1925 - 0131.PDF
MARCH 5, 1925 The arrival of the aeroplanes and troops instantly restored peace. If further testimony is needed of the efficiency of this new form of mobile defence, it would be found in the fact that the Air Officer Commanding, Air Vice-Marshal Higgins, is ready to reduce still further this small garrison, even though the Northern frontier is not yet definitely settled. I suggest to the House that this experiment in mobile defence is of great importance in helping us to solve the problem of defending a vast Empire at a period when we are short both of men and of money. It is an experiment that will become even easier to apply when airships, capable of transporting two or three hundred men, and aeroplanes and aeroplane supplies are, as we hope, developed and still further increase the mobility of Empire Defence. Science and Safety First In the air battle of the future it is the man of science, whether he be working in the Government service or whether he be working in the universities and laboratories of the country, who will have as much to do with success as the most brilliant pilot or the most highly-trained air staff officer. It is on this account that the research policy of the Air Ministry and the money that is devoted to it are of such paramount importance to the future of British air power. I admit that in the financial stringency of the last few years it has been impossible fully to satisfy the legitimate demands of research, and I take full blame "to myself for any sins of omission of which I may have been guilty in this respect. At least I have made an attempt to set on foot an organisation that will give it freer scope, at least I have been at great pains to consult the leaders of the world of science as to the wisest course to pursue, and. although I recognise the fact that we have only scratched the surface, more research work is being carried out now than at any time since the War, and more still will be carried out in 1425-28. The Research Department of the Air Ministrv, the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Earnborough, the Aeronautical Research Committee and many men of science throughout the country are constantly engaged upon problems which are not always as straightforward as they might seem. For the House will realise that we have to take into account possible reactions in other directions. I wish to see this work greatly developed, lor here in '.Treat Britain we have jwrhaps a greater scientific capacity than any other country in the world. Realising the immense importance of the help trutt these men of science can give us in making flying safer and in making air power more efficient. I shall certainly do my utmost to bring to tho help of our splendid pilots and mi hanks the incomparable brains of British men of science. Civil Aviation and Light Aeroplane Clubs The field of research is naturally the common territory U-tween military and Hvil flying, and I pass from the atmo- sphere of bombers and lighters to the more peaceful atmosphere of civil training and civil transport. As to the training schools, the schools, as the House will remember, for training reserve pilots for the R.A.I'., hon. members will be interested to hear that the experiment of giving pilots in civil life refresher courses in civilian training classes is proving successful, and that we hope this year to raise the number of reserves from 510 to 725. This experiment is. however, not altogether new, for it started when 1 was last in otiire. The novelty of this vrar is the starting of a certain number of Light Aeroplane Clubs. The two living meetings that have been held at Lympne have shown the great potentialities of light aero- planes. I'or there we have seen machines with motor-bicycle engines so small as to be capable of being dragged through a gate, flying 70 or 80 miles an hour and remaining for long periods in the air. There have been two difficulties to surmount in starting these clubs, the difficulty of finance and the difficulty of finding a suitable engine for a dual control machine. I believe that we have now surmounted the financial difficulty, and that we have arrived at a basis that "ill make it possible to start a certain number of these clubs during the ensuing year. With the engine also we have been making progress, and obviously if Light Aeroplane Clubs are to be used lor training pilots a suitable engine for dual control is essential I do not wish to be over sanguine, but i have reason for hoping that in the course of the summer we shall see a beginning made with an experiment that may prove very valuable in the matter ol training pilots and of diffusing an air sense throughout the nation. \s to civil air transport, the year has been in some respects a difficult one. First there were the inevitable difficulties connected with the amalgamation of the small company, then there was a difficulty between the company and the pilots, and lastly there was the tragic accident at Croydonon Christmas Eve. With the accident at Croydon, and the subsequent inquiry, I intend to deal in the" answer thatI shall have to make to the resolution upon accidents, moved by my hon. friend the Member for Norwood, whilst theI'nder-Secretary of State will, at the close of the debate, give the House certain details connected with civil aviation,the Department for which he is particularly responsible. Lest, however, it should be thought that if t do not dealwith civil aviation in my opening speech I am indifferent to its progress, or unsympathetic to its developments, letme state broadly in a sentence or two the lines of my general policy. Empire Air Routes It has always been obvious to anyone who has some knowledge of civil flying that it is over long distances, and not with short journeys, that civil aviation has its real advantage over other means of transport. It is on this account that my chief aim in the field of civil transport is to develop a long-distance route betwTeen England and some distant Dominion within the Empire. Within a few days the Director of Civil Aviation, Sir Sefton Brancker, will return from a visit, a flying visit in the exact sense of the word, that he has recently paid to India for the.express purpose of surveying possible air routes, and of selecting in con- sultation with certain representatives of the Air Staff airship bases. So far as any possible aeroplane route is concerned, one of our immediate difficulties is the international situation under which it is impossible to organise a regular air route over Germany, and I may say in passing that it is this same difficulty that is alone responsible for our failure to inaugurate a London to Prague service. Airships and the Need for Research As to the airship route, the House will desire to know the present position of airship development. When I was la.it in office I made the announcement on behalf of the Govern- ment that we intended to resume the development of airships, and that we were in negotiation with a private company, associated with the name of the hon. and gallant Member for Uxbridge. for the purpose of instituting a commercial service to India. Then came the change of Government, and a new scheme was substituted for the earlier scheme in which two airships were to be built, one by the Air Ministry and one by the private company. Holding the view that airship development should at present be mainly commercial, and that the State should not itself engage upon a commercial enterprise, I felt bound to criticise Lord Thomson's scheme upon a number of details. When, however, I returned to the Air Ministry I found that the scheme had been in operation for several months, that commitments of several hundred thousand pounds had been undertaken, and. more important still, that the Air Staff were discovering the great potentialities of the airship for home and empire defence ; for instance, as a troop carrier, and as an aeroplane carrier, and thaf, whatever might be the future of airships, it had become evident that a cautious period of very intensive research was absolutely essential in the interests of safety. Moreover, there had been so many changes in airship policy that to have thrown the question of airships immediately into the melting pot might have endangered their develop- ment altogether. This being so. it seemed best to me to transform rather than to destroy the Thomson scheme, and by transformation I mean that we should proceed with the building of the two airships, that we should make it as easy as possible to pool airship experience between the Air Ministry and the company, that we should set up an impartial committee of experts to advise the company and the Air Ministry alike on any technical problems referred to it, and that so soori as the building of the two ships has made some definite progress, we should take up without delay the question of developing the experimental stage into the commercial stage of an airship line between England and the Dominions, and by that T mean an airship line operated by private enterprise, and not by the State. In my opinion this was the wisest and safest course to pursue in the circum- stances, and it has given us the opportunity to concentrate upon the very foundation of the problem, the problem of safety. On no account must we take risks. It is our duty to make the fullest possible use of all the available scientific- knowledge and research in every possible direction upon such questions as stresses and strains, fabrics and metals, and all the many other questions connected with the aero- dynamics and the operation of airships. 131
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