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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0580.PDF
FLIGHT, JUNE 12, 1931 CORRESPONDENCE [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed by correspondents. The names and addresses of the writernot necessarily for publication, must in all cases accompany letters intended for insertion in these columns.] s' THIS "OBEY" STUFF [27441 I am becoming a little muddled in my thoughtsas a result of reading letters headed " I will obey," and Who will obey what ?'' but 1 think some of yourcorrespondents are more muddled still. A certain " Dadalus " began clearly enough by sayingthat some pilots fly carelessly, and suggested as a remedy the formation of a British Rumble Club. Sandy McTavishfollowed this up with the gesture of ofk'ring two guineas for a practical work-out of the scheme. With Scottishacumen he appears to have guessed that his money was safe. Daedalus then contributed a letter, and very littleelse, dragging the horse to the water again, and I certainly thought that was that. Not at all. After three and a-half months the idea had penetratedthrough the perceptive faculties of a gentleman who signed himself " Per Ardua ad Inlinitum." The stuff that cameout the other side filled me with admiration at the apti- tude of the signature. I think he wanted to know whetherthere was anybody in aviation who could, who wanted to, and who proposed to do anything. Via scenic railways,the Eiffel Tower, camels, and needles, his letter finished up in the Kingdom of Heaven, where, poor man, he mayperhaps ultimately rejoin it, or, if a rich man, perhaps not. He did, however, in the following number, bring" Hornet " about our ears. In his letter Hornet touched on the subject underreview. You have got to hand him that. He wrote: " The Royal Aero Club should employ someone to be con-tinually visiting aerodromes and private owners to find out their difficulties and matters of interest, and to takeaction in cases of dangerous flying, otherwise, in time, the Air Ministry will take action which will mean more lawsand regulations." The italics are not his. If I judge rightly by his letter, Hornet has his nestin the Royal Aero Club, and I wonder how they like it. " The Royal Aero Club should employ someone ..."certainly they should. It would go very well with Hornet's other suggestion that " The Royal Aero Clubshould form a branch or association for amateur pilots with a full-time staff to look after their requirements ..."(Again the italics are not his.) Well, there are going to be a whole heap of swell jobs going, you can see that.The Royal Aero Club are apparently not doing what they should, because they have not got the staff, and because,being a club, they must have social distinction. I have to laugh. What is the situation ? The Automobile Association,which Hornet pats on the back, is doing the very things that Hornet wants the Royal Aero Club to employ some-one to do. The A.A. is a centre of information and advice on matters pertaining to aeronautics, is a representativebody in Aviation that actively looks after the interests of private owners with whom it is continually and closely intouch. It is not a social club and is open to anybody, male or female, on payment of a small annual subscrip-tion. That is what Hornet says he wants. If the A.A. is bungling its job, then the Royal Aero Club, or anybodyelse, can form a body to do better. But if the A.A. is old enough and big enough to give a real live service toAviation without having to put in a short step, then we should be grateful, and so should the Royal Aero Club,because it can save its money for other things. But it drives me to drink trying to figure out how thisis going to make pilots fly more safely. If bodies, social or working, that keep from filing their schedules by thesubscriptions of their members are going to put their members across their knees and spank them when they arenaughty, then it's a World Revolution. If you don't believe it, next time a policeman rolls slowly andmenacingly towards you, tell him you are going to resign your membership of the United Kingdom of Great Britainand Northern Ireland. Try that. The fellow whom the Royal Aero Club employs to take action in cases of dan-gerous flying will be a Hornet all right. The business end of the hornet is not in its head, as the Club would find outif it did not know it already. I like policemen well enough, and I like to read of themrushing around after car thieves and smash-and-grab men, and ferreting for poison in the innards of buried ladies.But when I catch a cop looking my way it gives me acute spiritual discomfort. If I felt towards an A.A. Patrol thway I feel towards policemen, I would sue the A A f moral damage. If I felt that there was any chance 'th°rwe should be able to get along without policemen, I would sue Mr. Clynes. Just so long as we misuse our little livesso long shall we suffer under the Law, and Aviation looks like being part of life for us. Anyway, I don't see howthat should worry Hornet, if Swift was right when he wrote: "Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch smallflies, but let the wasps and hornets break through." It is no use accusing me of being erudite, because 1 gotthat bit out of the Oxford Dictionary. It has a whole lot of funny things to say a,bout Hornets. In 1802, it saysMr. Bingley, or it may have been Mrs. Bingley, wrote "It is chiefly in the hollow trunks of dead trees thatHornets form their nests." Well, now, that doesn't sound awfully good for the Royal Aero Club if they are thinkingof growing any new branches. Away back in 1658 a chap named Phillips said about the hornet that it was " akinde of insect, called in Latin Crabro, which useth to infest horse and other creatures, and is ingendered of thecarcases of dead horses." It's no good flogging those. I am still giggling, this very minute, over that bit from" Angling " (1880) by F. Francis—" The Hornets have fat bodies dressed after the fashion of the ' Bumble ' troutfly." I take it F. Francis knew what he was talking about when he wrote that. Well, maybe I've risen to one, but itdid look so good. London, E.C.2. JOHN G. CRAMMONT. May 5, 1931. OUR AIRSHIP POLICY [2745] Your correspondent in to-day's issue of FLIGHT(May 1) seems to imagine that I entirely overlook the fact that we are still in the " experimental stage " of airshipwork. If he reads my letter again, he will note that I say " . . .if we stop building airships now . . . the lessons ofR 101 will have been in vain." Obviously, this means that our designers and engineers must continue with their ex-perimental work before we launch other and larger air- ships, and in building them the " technical experts " willbe able to " get on with their job," remembering the lessons of K 101 ; and not only those, but the presentsuccesses of Dr. Eckener and his Graf Zeppelin. As for " imperialists, militarists and pessimists," andother (to your correspondent) wild people, in which he in- cludes myself, " interfering," that is nonsense, as ourvoice is not great enough to be heard in the land of air- ship construction. Furthermore, the onlookers see most ofthe game, and we wild people see Germany and America forging ahead with airship work ; and on behalf of ourcountry we raise our voice, hoping it will be heard in the land of politicians, and make them get a move on towardsputting us in line with other European powers. Nor do I, personally, regard airships as " pawns of somepolitical game." But on logical grounds: Ais priori: Air- ships are part of our aerial defence and transport. Aissecundi: They must be part of the modus operandi of international politics. It is no " excess of military zeal "which inspired my letter. It was the realisation of what the next great war will be like, the memory of the lastone, and the strides other countries are making in airship construction, and of what our own position will be if, inthe next war, our airships are either non est or utterly unable to compare with those of the enemy. Dr. Eckener's " harmonious co-operation " is all verywell in tiine of peace, but the harmony becomes a discord in time of war. All I want to see is " the technicalexperts " getting on with the job unhampered by a wait- and-see " Government. I repeat my letter: " GreatBritain ranks fifth in air power." Are we wild people, who are citizens of this country, to take that lying down?And who is to do the frustrating? In conclusion, may I point out that any reflections nowcast on those who ordained R 101 to fly—when she did fly —are no ^"appreciated, since some of those in authorityperished at Beauvais, in the interests of airship construc- tion and experiment. Let your correspondent ask himself:"Could / have done better? " MARY KNIGHTLEY. Golder's Green, London, N.W.ll. May 1, 1931. : 3 542
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