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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 0261.PDF
FLIGHT, MARCH 18, 1932 CAPT. KNATCHBULL (Ashford, C), in a maiden speech, said that his feelings at the moment resembled those which he experienced on his first flight. He said that the expansion of an air force from a peace footing to a war footing took a fairly long time, and he asked if there were any means by which that time could be shortened. He dealt with the supply of aircraft and the supply of pilots. He asked the Government not to carry too far its policy of reducing the number of types of aeroplanes in each branch of the service, as the result of that policy might be to drive a large proportion of the air craft industry out of business. To supply a pool of pilots, he pleaded that the aeroplane clubs should receive more support from the Government. MR. MANDER deplored the destruction of R100. On the subject of air warfare, he said that if we were to have aggressive warfare in the future he hoped that it would be as horrible and brutal as possible, as then more people would sit up and say that they would not tolerate it. He hoped that we should do everything we could at Geneva to make triumphant the system of co-operative effort for which the war was fought. MR. WHITESIDE (Leeds, C), in a maiden speech, spoke as a pilot. He said that to suggest placing our civil aviation at the disposal of the League of Nations was as sensible as it would be to place our mercantile marine at the disposal of the League. He said that civil aviation was in a parlous state, and he pleaded the cause of the light aeroplane clubs. The subsidy to them should be granted, he suggested, not on a basis of licences obtained, but for hours flown. He also suggested, that instead of subsidizing giant air liners, we should get a greater yield on our money if we subsidized 9- or 10-seaters running every two hours to places like Hamburg, Berlin, Amster dam, and Vienna. The service to India took twice as long as it need take with night flying. He urged the Under-Secretary for Air to approach the Postmaster-General so as to obtain more support from him for air mails. MR. BATEY (Spennymoor, Lab.) thought that economies might have been effected in the pay of K.A.F. chaplains. He urged that provision should be made in this country for extracting oil and petrol from coal, so as to ensure a supply for the Air Force in case of war. MR. A. HOPKINSON (Mossley, Ind.) spoke for the light aeroplane clubs. He said that he had been unable to accept his parliamentary salary of £400 p.a., but if the Government did not restore the subsidy to the clubs to a reasonable basis, he would draw his in future and hand it over to the club to which he belonged. THE MARQUESS OF CLYDESDALE (Renfrew, C.) said that this country was appallingly weak as far as air defences were concerned, and he urged that 10 Auxiliary Air Force squadrons should be formed to complete the pro gramme of 52 squadrons for home defence. LIEUT.-COL. MOORE-BRABAZON (Wallasey, C.) urged that the Government could help flying by encouraging the autogiro and things like the Diesel engine. He also pleaded for more help to be given to the science of meteorology. MR. LOVAT-FRASER (Lichfield, Nat. Lab.) pleaded for a reduction in the noise which aeroplanes make, not inside the cabin so much as outside. MR. SIMMONDS (Birmingham, Duddeston, C), in a maiden speech, spoke of the danger of losing the skilled staffs of aircraft firms through lack of orders. He urged standardization of many parts, such as rudder bars, control columns, etc. He urged further experiments with re-fuelling in the air, and asked what was being done about fighting cable pylons at night. He wanted to see Imperial Airways employing better publicity methods. He also pleaded for support of the flying clubs. He urged the reduction of personal insurance rates for people who fly. REAR-ADMIRAL M. SUETER (Hertford, C.) urged that something should be done to reduce the number of accidents in the Air Force. He pleaded for seaplane harbours at Malta and Gibraltar. He supported the suggestion for trying to reduce the noise of aeroplanes. He thought that the Royal Air Force should have a larger proportion of the total spent on defence. MR. WBLLWOOD JOHNSTON (Clackmannan, C.) moved an amendment " in the opinio* of this House, it is desirable that His Majesty's Government should take all possible steps, by way of research, training of personnel, and maintenance of ground equipment, to facilitate the immediate resumption ESS At St. James's Palace AT the Lev6e held on March 15 by His Majesty the King at St. James's Palace, those present included Air Marshal Sir E. Ellington, Principal Air Aide-de-Camp ; Air Vice-Marshal H. Dowding, and Group Capt. J. E. A. Baldwin, Aide-de-Camp in Waiting. Amongst those pre sented to the King were:—Lt. Col. Sir W. Acland, M.C., A.F.C. ; Fit. Lt. A. Ashton, R.Can.A.F. ; Fit. Lt. A. Atkins ; Group Capt. J. Baldwin, D.S.O., O.B.E., A.D.C. ; Fit. Lt. G. Beamish ; Group Capt. R. Bone, C.B.E., D.S.O. ; Fit. Lt. C. Brill ; Sqd. Ldr. A. Briscoe ; Fit. Lt. W. Brook ; Fit. Lt. W. Cheshire ; Fit. Lt. C. Chilton ; Fit. Lt. R. Costa ; Sqd. Ldr. E. Cuckney, D.S.C. ; Sqd. Ldr. E. Dickson ; Wing Com. F. Don ; Wing Com. L. Forbes, M.C. ; Fit. Lt. K. Guthrie, R.Can.A.F. ; Air Vice- Marshal R. Clark-Hall, C.M.G., D.S.O. ; Fit. Lt. J. Hargroves ; Fit. Lt. S. Harris ; Sqd. Ldr. F. Hebbert ; Fit. Lt. J. Hutchinson ; Fit. Lt. R. Jordan ; F/O. H. Leech ; Fit. Lt. H. Lester ; Air Commodore R. Mills, C.B., M.C., A.F.C. ; F/O. J. Mutch ; Fit. Lt. G. Pack ; Fit. Lt. L. Pankhurst ; Fit. Lt. T. Prickman ; F/O. G. Proctor ; Sqd. Ldr. S. Quine, M.C. ; Fit. Lt. L. Stokes ; Wing Com. E. R. Vaisey, etc. The African Airway THE Johannesburg Star reports that on arrival at Capetown in the City of Baghdad, Air Vice-Marshal Sir Vyell Vyvyan stated that the first of the new Armstrong- Whitworth " Atalanta " monoplanes would probably be ready for service next October. The remaining seven machines would be delivered at fortnightly intervals. Sir Vyell said that the monoplanes might not be used right through Africa, but might replace only the ''Argosies _ on the. Cairo-Khartoum section and the Hercules machines on the Kisumu-Capetown section. The Cal- of practical experiment in the development of rigid airships as soon as financial conditions permit." He said that he interested himself in this matter entirely on account of the possible civil use of airships for commercial purposes. He quoted remarks by the Prime Minister last May, and said that it was difficult to reconcile the present policy of the Government with those views. MR. WELLS (Bedford, C.) seconded the amendment. He spoke of the " devastating " effect of the closing down of airship activities on his con stituency. He stated that the only machine which had been successful in crossing the Atlantic was the airship, as even today we could not safely cross it in a heavier-than-air machine. We had learnt much from our recent experiments and we ought not to waste the knowledge. LT.-COL. MOORE-BRABAZON thought that along the lines of greater and greater airships there was a possibility of success. But he doubted whether one could attract passengers to a hydrogen airship, and we could not afford the appalling expense of helium. He thought that the present policy of the Government was the right one for the time being. SIR PHILIP SASSOON said that the whole situation was governed by the question of finance. Last August, the Government felt compelled to reverse their previous decision and to accept the recommendations of the May Committee. This decision had saved a sum of £120,000 in the Estimates. He was very much against those people who said that the R101 disaster was a reason for going back on former policy. The case for airships had been neither proved nor disproved. We had arranged to send one of our most experienced pilots to the United States to keep us informed of develop ments. Similar arrangements were being made with regard to Germany. The work of the Zeppelins in Germany and airships elsewhere had shown what they could do if properly developed. If properly developed, they held out a promise of inestimable benefit to mankind, and to no country more than the British Empire. But the Government were bound hand and foot by the financial situation. The Amendment was negatived, and the main question was again proposed. CAPT. H. BALFOUR (Thanet, C.) made a strong attack on the system of subsidising Imperial Airways. That company, he said, had shown no con sideration to Indian opinion, and so there was no route across India. He did not think that the African service was a very creditable service today. He said that the route had been opened before the machines suitable for it were ready, and he accused Imperial Airways of dilly-dallying before getting the route going. He asked the Under-Secretary for information about the Arabian route down the Persian Gulf. He said that there was greater inefficiency behind that monopoly subsidy than there would ever be behind a tariff. If Imperial Airways had never been born we should probably have had Post Office contracts for fast air mails, without worrying much about passenger traffic, but giving a maximum of efficiency in business communications. BRIG.-GEN. SPEARS (Carlisle, C.) returned to his attack on the armoured cars of the Royal Air Force in Palestine and Transjordan. He accused the Air Ministry of lack of co-operation in dealing with the senior services. MR. RHYS DAVIES (Westhoughton, Lab.), speaking as an old coal miner, believed that all aircraft must soon come under international authority. SIR PHILIP SASSOON, replying to the debate, announced that " My noble friend has decided that the grants to these (light aeroplane) clubs, which under present arrangements terminate on July 31 of this year, shall continue after that date." He was not yet able to give any more details as the matter was only in the process of being concluded. A revised scheme would be introduced under which payments for new licences would be made on a more generous scale. It would be necessary to reduce the permissible annual maximum of £2,000 p.a. for any one club, though this had never been earned by any club. The new scheme would be of five years' duration. Replying to Capt. Balfour, he submitted that they were using State funds to the best advantage. During the last seven and a half years we had spent over £2,000,000 in subsidies to air transport. The United States had lost about double that sum during the latest complete year, so he did not see that we should benefit by copying their example. ES S3 S cutta " flying-boats might be retained on the section Khartoum-Kisumu if it were found that in the rainy season the aerodromes were not suitable for the landing of land- planes. He declared that the aerodromes in Northern Rhodesia would have to be improved. R.A.F. Aerodromes Overseas IN reply to a question in the House on March 3, the Under-Secretary for Air made the following statement: — Aerodromes at present occupied by the Royal Air Force are situated at Aboukir, Heliopolis, Helwan, Ismailia and Abu Sueir in Egypt (5) ; at Amman and Ramleh in Pales tine (2) ; at Khartoum in the Sudan (1) ; at Mosul, Hinaidi and Shaibah in Iraq (3) ; at Karachi, Lahore, Ambala, Kohat, Risalpur, Quetta and Peshawar in India (7). Three of these—Heliopolis, Khartoum and Shaibah—are used by Imperial Airways. In addition the company uses an unoccupied Royal Air Force aerodrome at Baghdad West, in Iraq, an emergency landing ground at Semakh in Palestine, and landing grounds at Assiut, Luxor and Assuan in Egypt. A Warning to Grand National Visitors THE Automobile Association announces that the field situated east of Aintree Hall Farm, which has been used for the last two years by pilots bringing visitors to the Grand National, is now crossed by 50,000-volt power cables carried on pylons 60 ft. high. These cables render unsafe the use by aircraft of fields near and to the east of the racecourse. The A.A. recommends those visiting the Grand National by air to land at Speke, the Municipal Aerodrome of Liverpool. Although this aerodrome has not yet been fully equipped, a caretaker will be in attend ance and information compiled by the A.A. will be avail able for the benefit of pilots requiring transport to Aintree.
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