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Aviation History
1927
1927 - 0306.PDF
MAY 5, 1927 GOVERNMENT BANQUET TO MEMBERS OF I.C.A.N. ON April 26 the Members of the International Commission for Air Navigation attended a Government Banquet held in their honour at Lancaster House. •SrrSanKiel Hoare/Secretary-of- State for Air, who presided, said he was -delighted, as the representative of His Majesty's Government, to welcome once again to London the Inter- national Commission for Air Navigation, and to propose the toast of the guests who were so ably representing their respec- tive governments. During the seven years of its existence the International Commission had helped in many directions to develop civil and commercial flying. By the agreements that its members-had reached upon such questions as the registra- tion of aircraft, the reciprocal recognition of certificates of airworthiness and licences, the establishment of customs aerodromes and the rights of flying over foreign states, it had brought a measure of order and mutual help into a field that would otherwise have been devastated by anarchy and national suspicion. Year by year the influence of its good work was extending as year "by year civilised communities were increasingly realising the necessity of co-operation between each other. States that had not hitherto been members of the Commission were now anxious to join it. Referring to the proposal to give equal rights to women pilots in the air, Sir Samuel said he was naturally sympathetic to the proposal. The number of women pilots was increasing in England. Indeed, the interest of women generally in flying had been one of the conspicuous features of civil aviation during recent years. " Here in England," added Sir Samuel, " if I may give an example taken from my own personal knowledge, there was Lady Maud Hoare's flight to and from India. So far as the Continent is concerned, I notice in today's newspapers that an enterprising German lady has arranged to be married in an aeroplane, but has wisely decided to have the wedding breakfast upon terra firma." We realised, proceeded Sir Samuel, better than most people that civil aviation was still a long way off perfection. Civil air lines still needed heavy Government subsidies to support them. A small percentage of the travelling public made use of them, and there were still some people who did not believe in their future. Let them admit these facts, but whilst admitting them let it be remembered the very considerable progress that had been made since the International Air Convention was signed in 1919. In that year the mileage flown on regular air services was rather more than a million miles. In 1926 the mileage flown was over 16 million miles. The machines of today were two or three times more powerful than they were in 1919 and carried three times as many passengers. It we took the largest air mail service as an example, we found that in 1919 the French service carried 9,000 letters between Toulouse and Morocco. In 1925 it carried 1\ million letters. If we took the British London-Paris service as another example, we noticed that so safe and regular were the machines, that the freight insurance premiums were 65. 8d. per cent, for land or sea transport and only 2s. for air transport. Equally signifi- cant was the progress that had been made in reducing operation costs. The new three-engined machines that had recently been adopted by the Imperial Airways Company were running at less than half the cost per ton-mile of the single-engined machine of even so recent a date as 1922. There was, he said, no need to give further examples of the progress that had been made, of the progress, for example, in the two sister services of aviation, wireless and meteorology, services, the vital import- ance of which he constantly realised during his recent flight to India. He had, he hoped, said enough to show that this new form of transport had advanced far more quickly than the railway or steamer advanced a century ago, or the motor-car within their own memory. If during the next 10 years we could all of us concentrate upon the problems that mattered, upon first and foremost the safety of the traveller, secondly upon his comfort, and thirdly upon the scarcely less urgent question of bringing down still further the operating costs of flying lines, we could hope to see an advance made far greater than any that we could claim since 1919. He hoped they, whether as members of the Commission or as individuals of great influence in their respective States, would contribute to bringing about this desirable result! They were all engaged in the attempt to make aviation an asset and not a liability for the human race, and therefore all desired to develop flying for the purpose of peace, trade, and intercourse, and to restrict it, as far as possible, as an instrument of destruction. 274 Today in London we were considering the methods tha. should be employed in developing its uses for peace. Today also in Geneva our representatives were considering the military aspects of the problem and were discussing the possibilities of restricting its powers of destruction. Speaking as the representative of His Majesty's Government, he could say that the British Government was as keenly interested in the one side of the problem as it was in the other. Thev were anxious to see these deliberations succeed in both cases. We in England had hitherto taken the view that the best hope of success for the restriction of air armaments was to move step by step rather than to attempt at once the solution of a great and complicated problem. We had held the view- that if, even though the action be prompted by the best intentions in the world, the problem was at the outset com- plicated and weighed down by a consideration of all the various points connected with it, there was a grave risk that any advance would be made impossible or at least regrettably delayed. This was the reason why the British representative at Geneva proposed that in the matter of air armaments we should deal first with that side of the problem that was most urgent and that appeared to be most simple, namely, the risk to the great cities of Europe from the sudden attacks of the metropolitan air forces within reach of them. Other countries did not agree with us. They wished rather that all the questions connected with air armaments should be simul- taneously taken into account. In deference to their wishes, therefore, the British Government modified its original posi- tion and undertaken to widen the problem of air dis- armament in the direction that the others desired. None the less, he felt nervous lest it would be found that when, in the final stages of the treaty, the actual question of numbers of machines came to be settled this widening of the problem would force nations to put in very high demands for their own requirements or would stifle the whole problem in a maze of complexities. M. P. E. Flandin (France) said that Sir Samuel Hoare had shown them that the progress of civil aviation had been great. The Commission had not, he said, been able to da all for civil aviation it had hoped to do, but it had done much—and Sir Samuel Hoare had set a very fine example by his flight to India and back. By this flight he had shown how easy it was to get into an aeroplane and arrive safely at the desired destination. It had, in fact, shown that long distance flying was as easy as a long journey by train. Refer- mg to the question of disarmament, M. Flandin stated that the attitude of France was that she was anxious for dis- armament, but feared that if advance in this direction was too rapid she would place herself at a disadvantage as regards defence. Gen. Piccio (Italy) said that although the Commission had not achieved all its aims, it had at least done something for the organisation of international aviation. Sir Samuel Hoare had passed over Italy in his flight to India, and had thereby stimulated commercial aviation in that country. In proposing the health of the Chairman, Maj.-Gen. thcKt. Hon. J. E. B. Seely said that while other Air Ministers had accomplished long-distance flights. Sir Samuel Hoare was the first to be accompanied by his wife. It was being realised more and more that aviation must be supported by peoples and by Governments. A great means of locomotion, <mcl' dreamt of and hoped for, had at last come true. Among those present were the following :—M. Pierre Etienne Flandin, M. Zdenko Janak, the Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Cook (High Commissioner for Australia). Mr. J. S. Smit (High Commissioner for South Africa), M. Hiroyuki Kawai. (oi- George P. Ostoyitch, Maj. Sir Philip Sassoon, Bart., M.P.. The Duke of Sutherland, Gen. Constantine Dumit.-scu, Maj. Count R. Michalowski. Lord Thomson Maj.-Gi••:. the Rt. Hon. J. E. B. Seely, Viscount Burnham. Gen. Iccw, Viscount Peel, Sir Walter Nicholson, M. Jose R. Echc- rria, Lord Gorell, Luang jamni Kolakam, M. Emile Alia <•, »*• Carlos A. Pons, Col. N. Guimares, Col. Hiam, Mr. F. >• h- Bertram, M. D. A. Nadumoff, Air V1Ce-Marshal D. •• jnr°; Sir Geoffrey Butler, M. Felix Camerman, Mr. C. LI. I w£*. M. Albert Roper, Lieut.-Col. E. Gold, Group-Capt. -i"" Pack, M. Jacques Sabatier, Mr. R. J. Goodman < ucn; M. le Vicomte Max Vilain XIII, Commander B- '"«'' Air Commodore L. F. Blandy, M. Michel Guibert, ' ;n• ' Guidoni, Flight-Lieut. H. Edwards, M. Edmond ^T^ M. Daniel Haguenan, Gen. Cav. Rodolfo Verduzio, M ,f' de Megarry, Cav. Uff. Dott Salvatore Cacopardo, M I'- Jouffroy, Flight-Lieut. J. R. Bell, Lieut. J. M. Bos. V • •&• Beare, Mr. A. J. B. Rutherford, M. Julien, etc.
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