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Aviation History
1928
1928 - 0329.PDF
APRIL 26, 1928 A VERY JOLLY AFFAIR A.I.D. Puts Away the Micrometer and Microscope for One Evening than the majority of similar functions we have never beenable quite to make out. That they are is an undoubted fact. There is a general feeling of good fellowship Every-one knows everyone else. The speeches are always wittv and often brilliant ; and the time flies with incredible swift-ness, so that, even on the rare occasions when Mr. " Jack " Jarvis's time table breaks down (through no fault of his)one is never aware of the fact, and " Auld Lang Syne " and 11 o'clock arrive unexpectedly early. The Annual Dinner of the A.I.D.', held at the Hotel RussellRussell Square, on Friday, April 20, was no exception to the rule, and as a sign of the ever-growing popularity of thisevent it may be mentioned that the number of those present exceeded 260, an increase of more than 60 as compared withlast year's dinner. A feature of this year's gathering was that the majority of the new guests came from the aircraftindustry, which was extremely well represented. In the chair was Mr. J. J. A. Gilmore, B.A., A.R.C.Sc, who isChairman of the Council of the A.I.D. Technical Staff Association. After the Loyal Toast, Air Vice Marshal Sir John F AHiggins, K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O., A.F.C., Air Member for Supply and Research, proposed " The A.I.D." He com-plained of suffering under several disabilities. To begin with, he had already spoken at the A.I.D. Congress in themorning, when he had said pretty well all that was to be said. Having found out that Mr. C. R. Fairey would bepresent and was to speak, he had attempted to find out what Mr. Fairey was going to say, so as to be in a position tosay it first. (Laughter.) He had, however, been unsuccessful, either because Mr. Fairey did not know, or more probablybecause he was too wily to tell. He had had no more success with the gentleman on his left, Mr. McAnally. In rather more serious vein, Sir John said he was very gladindeed to see the large increase in the number of those present, this amounting to some 50 or 60 more than last year,and to note that the guests that evening included a large proportion of constructors. He was glad of this becausehe always welcomed anything which tended to link the A.I.D. and the constructor^ closer together. Little remained forhim to add to what he had said at the Congress during the morning, except to express his gratification that during theyear the A.I.D. had maintained its reputation for good honest inspection, and in doing so had the full confidence of theR.A.F. and of the constructors. He wras glad that the A.I.D. had been put on the same level as other technicaldepartments by having now at its head a Director instead of a Deputy-Director. Lieut.-Col. H. W. S. Outram, C.B.E., Director of theA.I.D., complained that he was faced with the difficulty of countering all the nice things said about the A.I.D. bySir John. He was afraid that some of his inspectors might get exaggerated ideas of their importance—(laughter)—buthe would refrain on this occasion from touching on that subject. Whatever the letters A. I. D. might stand for, AeronauticalInspection Department, Directorate or anything else, it really boiled down to this, that the A. I. D. was a " team," and itwas by good team work that they must proceed. He recalled that during the war the " team " grew very big indeedAfter the war they endeavoured to keep up the quality even when the " team " grew very small. Then came theslump, about 1922 or so, when there were practically no orders and the A.I.D. dropped to its lowest level numerically.The slump was followed by a period when orders began again to be placed, and as a consequence the industry beganto get " uppish." (Laughter.) It then had to be shown what inspection reallv meant ! He was sincerely glad to see thatevening the industry so well represented. The constructors were really an important part of the " team," and he wantedto say how much he appreciated the good feeling between the industry and the A.I.D. Without that the A.I.D. could not do its w-ork efficiently. . • i , • (i TTIP (liPS"fs SUld It- seemed thatthe S.B.A.C. was represented en masse, and itwas, of course well known that when the S.B.A.C. spoke, the Air Ministry trembled. He referred to the very greatinterest which Sir John Higg.ns had taken in the affairs of the A I D , and mentioned that about a year ago therewere those who rather feared that Sir John had dropped a bomb by his suggestion of an interchange between tm -*r departments. Some had probably fearedmight be hidden away some sinister motive. He was glad to say that it hail proved something muchmore laudable, and had brought them together. Referring to last year's dinner, and to comparing Sir John Higginswith a Daniel in a den of lions, he thought a more apt com- parison would be to regard him as the hand that wrote onthe wall. Rather would he say that Col. Outram was the Daniel. Mr. Gilmore expressed pleasure at seeing so many guestsof the D.T.D., whose presence was a welcome sign of close co-operation, and he also was glad to see so many contractorspresent, mentioning in particular Mr. Maxwell Muller, a director of Vickers, and Mr. C. K. Fairey, one of the " captainsof the aircraft industry." Once more with a twinkle in his eye, Mr. Gilmore referredto those " who had gone outside the sheltering walls of the Air Ministry and into the hard, cold world." He was gladto notice that they did not look as if they had crossed the Rubicon at great financial loss ! In this connection, he wouldlike to ask them that when, in future, they made use of the phrase, " We have to work for a living," as they often did,they would not put to much emphasis on the personal pro- noun. Mr. VI. \Y. W. McAnally, C.B., in replying, delivered oneof his usual witty and amusing speeches. Unfortunately, it cannot be given in full for various reasons, and thus willlose most of its charm. That, however, is inevitable, and cannot be helped. Mr. McAnally began by saying that he wasvery glad to find that the A.I.D. had continued to apply themselves to their biblical studies during the past year !Reference had been made to Daniel in the den of lions, and to the writing on the wall. He would, however, commend totheir attention during the coming year three men in the Scriptures. He was referring to Shadrach, Meschach andAbednego, who passed through the fire and were not consumed. Those present had all eaten and drunk, but not all were merry.Hanging over some of them was the shadow of the "Zero Hour." Some of them had to " go over the top." He wasone of those, and it was worrying him. However, to come to the subject in hand, it was gratifying that this year theR.A.F., the Air Ministry and the A.I.D. were celebrating their 10th birthday. They were suffering from the " crimeof being young," but there was comfort in the reflection that the man to whom the saying about the crime of being youngwas applied, Wm. Pitt the younger, was a pilot who weathered the storm. Mr. McAnally humorously referred to a well-known M.P.,who had the courage to get up in the House and suggest as a means of economy the abolition of all pre-war departments !Naturally, by making such a statement he put his head on the political block, but was it not a fact that that was just thetime when one might expect a man to speak the truth ? Those in the Air Ministry had outside contacts which madeand kept them young. They had contact with science and with some of the most brilliant minds. They had contactwith a great industry. The thought occurred to him that if one could imagine going back to war-time conditions and theenemy should have taken it into his head to drop a bomb (properly inspected, of course) ! on the assembly, it wouldpretty well have destroyed British aviation. To conclude, he would desire to give a succinct description of Mr. Gilmore,and that description was " One of the best " (Applause.) He hoped Mr. Gilmore would have a happy and prosperousfuture in the world. Mr. C. R. Fairey referred to the good feeling that nowexisted between the industry and the A.I.D., recalling that this had not always been the case. He could recall anA.I.D. inspector at his works (who had now left the A.I.D.), about whom it used to be said that when he died (as theyfervently hoped) and went to Heaven (as they very much doubted), he would certainly reject the golden wings ! Asregards the work of the A.I.D., there could be no better testi- monial than the fact that they stood in the highest popularity.The industry and the A.I.D. had much in common. Both worked hard to safeguard the lives of our pilots. In the press(not their own press, but the daily) they heard much about accidents. They heard nothing of the number of milesflown per accident, or about the way in which flying was getting safer every day. Still less, that the proportion ofcrashes due to failure of material was microscopic. That was in a large measure due to the work of the A.I.D., and betweenthem the A.I.D. and the British aircraft industry could, he
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