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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 1293.PDF
FLIGHT, DECEMBER 22, 1932 THE "APPROVED INSPECTORS'" DINNER Being a report of the proceedings at the Annual Dinner held in Sheffield whereby the officials of the Northern Office of the A.I.D. are enabled to meet their friends—the Approved In spectors—and to discuss matters of mutual interest arising out of inspection of aircraft materials IRCRAFT supplies come, to a very much greater extent than most people imagine, from the Sheffield district ; the number of firms, there fore, which have to be dealt with by the A.I.D. in that part of the world is really quite considerable. Somewhere about 1924 it was realised that the retention of an adequate staff of inspectors by the Aeronautical Inspection Directorate was a more costly matter than the Treasury would look upon kindly, and the system of Approved Inspectors was therefore instituted. To-day by far the greater number of firms in this district (the system of approved inspectors is not, of course, confined only to the Sheffield district) now have certain members of their own inspection staffs approved by the Air Ministry to release material for use on aircraft, and therefore to issue A.I.D. Release Notes and stamp the material with their own stamp issued by the A.I.D. This has led to an interchange of ideas and to a strengthening of the relation ship between the A.I.D. and the firm's inspection staff, for it will be seen that under this system the firm's Approved Inspectors carry upcn their shoulders, not only the interests of their own firms, but also the responsi bility vested in them by virtue of their position as A.I.D. deputies. Last year Mr. C. L. Sherratt was the In spector in Charge at the A.I.D. office for the Northern District, situated in Sheffield, and under his auspices there was inaugurated a function which has undoubtedly done a very great deal to engender smooth working be tween the firms and the A.I.D. This function was called the " A.I.D. Dinner," with the A.I.D. themselves as hosts and the Approved Inspectors as guests. Since that time Mr. Sherett has gone south to London, and his then deputy, Mr. N. Lindley, has taken his place. Whether or not it was Mr. Lindley's idea that the role of host and guest should be transposed for the dinner this year, we do not know, but it is certain that doing so was a stroke of genius, which has still further ensured the closer under standing between the respective parties, thus doing a very great deal to make the Approved Inspectors' Scheme work smoothly. MR. DAVID FLATHER was in the chair on Wednesday, December 14, at the dinner held at the Royal Victoria Station Hotel, Sheffield, and in proposing the health of the A.I.D. he stressed the fact that this dinner did a very great deal to strengthen the friendships upon which the whole success of the Approved Inspectors' Scheme was based. In particular he welcomed Col. Outram, the Director of Aeronautical Inspection, and Maj. Myers, Chief Inspector of Stores and Armaments. Mr. Flather rather gave one the impression that he considered the tenure of office of the A.I.D. Inspectors in the district too short, suggesting that they had hardly got to know them before the inspectors were taken away. He referred also to the course instituted at the University of Sheffield in metal lurgy and kindred subjects, which twelve inspectors had attended each year since its inauguration in 1928. He blew the Sheffield trumpet loudly, but quite justifiably, when he pointed out that not only was Sheffield Steel taken as a world-wide standard, but also that British aircraft owed their superiority very largely to this product. He asked that the apparent gradual introduction of more red tape in the A.I.D.'s requirements from the firms should, if possible, be cut down, as it very greatly increased the amount of work of the Approved "inspectors. Finally, he contested that there should be some form of Round Table Conference held at Sheffield quarterly, at which the A.I.D. and the Approved Inspectors could argue out their various differences to the mutual benefit of both. LT. COL. H. W. S. OUTRAM, after thanking Mr. Flather for his proposal, said that they always welcomed construc tive criticism, and knew that they could rely on the co operation of the Approved Inspectors. With regard to the suggested quarterly conference, he thought that if some body could be constituted with whom the A.I.D. could deal directly and which represented the opinion of the majority of the Approved Inspectors, the conference might very well be helpful. Continuing, he referred to his recent visit to the U.S.A. and to the various points which had struck him during that time. One of the chief was the disparity between the number of steel specifications with which the inspection organisation has to deal with in that country and in ours. He mentioned that, over there, there were only some eight or ten specifications used in aircraft work, whereas in this country we had, including those of the B.E.S.A. and the D.T.D., some 80 odd! He asked whether it would not be possible for this point to be looked into and the number to be reduced, thereby greatly lessening the work of all of them. MAJ. MYERS defended the movement of Inspectors from one place to another, although he admitted that they in London realised the difficulties only too well. He defended the action, however, by pointing out that it was only by moving people about that they were enabled to gain an all-round and wide experience. Those who were allowed to remain in one position for a considerable number of years, he said, might, it was true, become specialists in certain things, but they would know little of anything else. They had found the metallurgical course at the Univer sity very valuable indeed for the staff, and he thanked those responsible at the University for the help they had so freely given. He refuted Mr. Flather's suggestion that extra cost was entailed to the individual firms by the system of Approved Inspectors, for he said the Inspectors had to be there in any case, and in very few cases was their work greatly increased. MR. LINDLEY expressed the grateful thanks of those stationed in the Northern Office to the committee of Approved Inspectors who were responsible for organising the dinner. The fact that both the officials of the A.I.D. and the firm's Approved Inspectors could meet together on an occasion like that in such an amicable way, spoke volumes, he thought, for the success of the whole scheme under which they worked. Out of approximately 120 firms with whom they had to deal in that district, over 80 were represented, he said, and the majority of those absent were unable to be present owing to the distance which they would have had to travel to the dinner. The system of Approved Inspection was not, he emphasised, an alternative method to that previously in force. It differed fundamen tally and was based on the confidence and co-operation of the firms rather than on authority, and a certain amount of suspicion. It was, in fact, a breakaway from the old " schoolmaster and policeman " sort of attitude, which there was every reason to suppose was not so efficient as the existing system. It had brought an increased sense of responsibility, and of interest, to the Approved In spectors, for no k nger had they a convenient scapegoat in the A.I.D. Inspector to whom they could pass the respon sibility when there was any hitch. Mr. Lindley waxed almost lyrical when he described the way in which the Approved Inspectors held the lives of pilots in their hands, and, in conclusion, after a humorous reference to the River Don, of which it is said " it holds a multitude of drop stampers' sins," he introduced Mr. H. S. Dickinson, who was responsible for the committee organising the dinner. MR. DICKINSON referred to the old days when he used to imagine that to become an Inspector was to reach Heaven. He had, however, since assuming the responsi bility of an Approved Inspector, had to change his views somewhat. He described his position as a peculiar one, wherein he was not allowed to pander to his own firm by exercising the fondness of a parent for its child, nor was he allowed the mercy of a Judge. In fact, he felt that the lack of latitude allowed to an Approved Inspector was perhaps one of the most serious difficulties with which they had to deal. Referring to Col. Outram's suggested eight or ten specifications of steel in the U.S.A., he thought most probably these might be classed, to use popular parlance, omnibus specifications, and that when they were analysed, it would be found that the number was probablv not very far from all those in use in this country. 1209
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