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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 1304.PDF
FLIGHT, DECEMBER 11, 1981 "THE TRADE" DINES AT MARTLESHAM •—t|r-"HAT the reports on aircraft given by the Aero-(3 III plane and Armament Experiment Establishment, III Martlesham Heath, Suflolk, are now acceptedthe world over as unchallengeable no one will deny. If Martlesham " says so, it is so," and no argu-ments about it. The foreigner, if he thinks about it at all, is probably under the impression that such a state ofaffairs must of necessity mean that the poor British air- craft constructor lives in fear and trembling of Martieshamand its officers. Could he have been present at the annual dinner given by Wing Com. Field and his officers onDecember 4 to members of the aircraft industry, the foreigner would have discovered that Martlesham and thepoor B.A.C. are on the best of terms, and that the relation- ship between the aforementioned B.A.C. and Martlesham'sofficers is rather that of various members of a large family. Like members of a family, the industry and Martleshamare very critical of one another. Secretly there is much admiration, but it is an admiration well and carefully con-cealed. Not for worlds would one member of the, family let another feel his admiration, but it is there just the same. In proposing the toast of " The Guests " at last Friday'sgathering, a gathering, by the way, which was larger then ever, Wing Com. Roger M. Field, CO., of Martle-sham, gave voice to something of this feeling. He was, he said, very glad indeed to welcome that evening so manycaptains of the British aircraft industry. Martlesham held a position which he thought was unique. No other unit inthe world could do what Martlesham did in the same way. The world in general accepted Martlesham figures as beingunassailable. That position had only been reached by the strictest insistence upon truth and rectitude. Martle-sham had to be harsh, perhaps, but also severely just. He was glad that this made no difference to the friend-ship between Martlesham and the aircraft industry. With becoming modesty Wing Com. Field said that of the twothe industry had the harder task, since it had to produce while Martlesham had only to test. He was convinced thatthe aircraft industry did its level best to produce a good thing, and did it honestly, and very often it was verydifficult for Martlesham to select the best. Mr. F. Handley Page said it was his proud privilege toreply for the guests. He stressed the fact that in dining there that evening the guests all felt that they were amongfriends. It was a commonplace to thank people for the very nice way in which they had been welcomed, but onthis occasion the saying was quite sincerely meant. He was not, that evening, going to refer to slots, as hebi-lieved another speaker would refer to this aid to safety, but he would ask them to look at the wing tips of theeagle on the menu, and he would ask them whether these did not remind them of something. He would like to takethe opportunity of welcoming one newcomer, Maj. J. S. Buchanan. He singled out Maj. Buchanan because he hadrecently stepped into a new job. They were all aware that some time ago Maj. Buchanan was cast out into the outer darkness—Farnborough. He had to stay more than threedays, but he had returned, and they were glad to welcome him not as a newcomer but as a very old friend. Air Marshal Sir John Higgins confirmed that the whole ofthe British aircraft industry was convinced that Martle- sham was a real hall mark. Martlesham's decisions wereinvariably honest and true, and the industry accepted them without question. He had, he said, learned with regretthat Mr. Stevens (Principal Technical Officer at Martle- sham) was leaving. The aircraft industry had always re-ceived great kindness from Mr. Stevens, who had worked very hard and helpfully in improving the breed of Britishaircraft. His leaving would be a great loss, and they would all wish to thank Mr. Stevens for what he had donefor the industry. In conclusion he would like to say how much the aircraft industry appreciated this opportunity tomeet old friends. Sir Robert McLean complained that previous speakershad left him nothing to say, and he could only repeat what he had said at the last Martlesham dinner, namely, thatthe industry had great confidence in Martlesham, and he was glad of the opportunity of saying so a second time. Air Vice Marshal Dowding (Air Member for Supply andResearch) said that when he accepted the invitation to attend the dinner he felt like Daniel in the lions' den.However, he was glad to find that it was not so bad after all. He referred to the troublous times in which they wereliving, and said that on every hand they were being in- structed to turn their swords into plough-shares and werebusy doing so. The trouble seemed to be that when it had been done it was found there was no money to buy plough-shares with. He recalled a song popular some time ago, the refrain of which was to the effect that " There's a goodtime coming, be it ever so far away." That was the out- look to adopt in aviation, and he suggested the author ofthat song should have his name blazoned in gold for all to see. He was personally looking forward to the time whenmight be heard in the streets a remark like the following: " See that man? 'Normously wealthy. Buys a new razorblade every day. He is an aircraft constructor." He hoped that would come about some day. After the very excellent dinner the company were in-formed that those who washed to do so might go into another room to see a film which Mr. Lappin, of the Rolls-Royce firm, had prepared, a film showing the preparations for and actual flying of the Schneider Contest, as well as afilm showing Miss England, Lord Wakefield's famous motor boat. The film, although of the small variety (16 mm.),was, in fact, excellent, and Mr. Lappin is to be con- gratulated on his photography, while the reversibility ofthe projector enibled him to add a humorous touch by occasionally running a section of the film backwards,causing flying-boats to take off tail first and Orlebar to walk down the slipway at Calshot in the same manner.Boothman, who was present, seemed to enjoy certain sarcastic comments. APPROVED INSPECTORS' DINNER N " Approved Inspectors' Dinner " was held atSheffield on December 4 for the purpose of bring- ing together in social circumstances the approvedinspectors and members of the Aeronautical Inspection Directorate in the Sheffield district. The gather-ing, over which Mr. Leslie Sherratt, who is in charge of the A.I.D. Northern Office, presided, proved to be evenmore important than expected, as no less than 150 guests were present, including the directors of several Sheffieldcompanies. An interesting resume of the " Approved Inspectors " system was given by Lt. Col. H. W. S.Outram, C.B.E., Director of the A.I.D., when he pro- posed the toast to the A.T.'s. They had learned from thewar two great lessons on the question of aeronautical inspection of material, he said. One was the difficulty ofmaking certain that every bit of material met the specifi- cation, and t^e other was how to inspect that material inthe manufacturing process. After the war the work began to be spread over a largenumber of firms, and the Air Ministry was faced with three alternatives: (a) Inspection could be made after thematerial had been delivered at the aircraft manufacturers' works, which meant that it was not inspected in themaking, (b) They could station an A.I.D. staff at each works, which had the disadvantage of being costly. (e) They could restrict the supply to certain firms, andthis might have been done if they had only to deal with Air Ministry contracts. But then the firms themselves began to recognise thatinspection during manufacture was essential, and so the Air Ministry had to consider whether they could not makeuse of the firms' own inspection. It was then decided to approve the firms' inspection staff. By 1926 Sheffield (and district) companies with approvedinspectors totalled 94. By 1929 the total had risen to 177, when it was necessary for the Air Ministry to open anotheroffice at Manchester ; and now they were thinking of opening a third in Leeds—though the. Treasury would hav-1something to say about that first! The difficulties which might have been expected withthis system had never really materialised, said Cci. Outram, and for two reasons: The Air Ministry always haoA.I.D. men available for a consignment about which there was any doubt, and the difficulty of serving two masters,as approved inspectors did, had not arisen. At least, n° case of that sort had come to his notice. As an instance of the success of placing this responsi-bility for inspection upon the manufacturers, he mentioned that between January and October of this year 15.000release notes were issued by the firms, and there were only 1226
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