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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 1267.PDF
November 29 1934. AIRCRAFT ENGINEERAND AIRSHIPS ^/bunded in 1909 by Stanley Spooner* AERONAUTICAL DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS, IN THE PRACTICE AND PROGRESS OF AVIATION OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB No. 1353. Vol. XXVI. 26th Year. NOVEMBER 29, 1934 Thursdays, Price 6d.By Post, 7Jd. Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices : DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I Telegrams: Trudltur, Watloo, London. Telephone: Hop 3333 (50 lines). HERTFORD ST, COVENTRY GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, 260, DEANSGATE, MANCHESTER, 3.NAVIGATION ST., BIRMINGHAM, 2. Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telegrams : Iliffe, Manchester.Telephone; Coventry 5210. Telephone: Midland 2071. Telephone: Blackfriafs 4412. 26B, RENFIELD ST.,GLASGOW, C.2. Telegrams: Iliffe, GlasgowTelephone: Central 4857. SUBSCRIPTIONRATES : Home and Canada: Year, £1Other Countries : Year, £\ 13 0.15 0. fi months, 16s. 6d.6 months, 17s. 6d. 3 months, 8s. 3d.3 months, 8s. 9d A Masterly Summary LORD LONDONDERRY, Secretary of State for Air,has rarely in bis long career made a more con-^ vincing speech than the one he delivered in the House of Lords on November 21. Lord Moyne had raised the question of the speed of British air trans- port, in connection with the exploits of the great race to Australia. This gave the Air Minister a chance to sum things up and put the present position in proper perspective. He seized the chance with both hands, as the saying is, and his summary can only be described as masterly. What will probably come as the greatest surprise to the more headlong critics of British progress are the figures quoted by Lord Londonderry of the costs of the air mail to the American taxpayer. In 1933 the net loss to the United States Post Office (in other words, the direct subsidy) was in the neighbourhood of £4,150,000, and the total expenditure of the U.S. Government on the development of civil flying in the seven years from 1927 to 1933 inclusive reached the "staggering total" of £25,000,000. It is no wonder that with such floods of money at their disposal the American airways could put up some very fine performances. The public of the British Empire would consider no possible speed of air communications as a justification for such expenditure. The U.S. Government itself has come to the conclusion that this state of affairs cannot go on. As the immediate result of the Government reducing air mail contract rates, some leading representatives of the air transport industry have frankly admitted that they are on the verge of ruin. A business which needs 4I million pounds of public money a year to keep it out of the bankruptcy court is not what we British understand as a healthy concern. There will be no great popular demand for our Government departments to follow the American example. As for the Douglas machine, which has been made the text for the sermons of those who would belabour our Government, Lord Londonderry explained that our present aim was to achieve a paying load of 3^ to 5 tons " under conditions in which the Douglas would give less than half that load." Certainly our ambitions, as com- pared with the achievements in America, cannot be described as unduly modest. .. . Speeding Up TO be fair to Imperial Airways has always beenan endeavour of Flight; we recognise thatthey have been given a mandate to becomeself-supporting by the time that the sub- sidy contracts should cease. We have never doubted their ability to increase their journey speed, while we have always admitted that such an increase as would jeopardise the fulfilment of the mandate would be improper. Speed costs money, and an increase of speed above a certain point must imply a new sub- sidy. Lord Londonderry is prepared to ask the Treasury for more subsidy money for Imperial Airways. In the meantime that company, in addition to speeding up its schedules above the contract rates as improved aircraft became available, has just announced a doubling of the services between London and Calcutta and London and Johannesburg, without demanding any new subsidy. Evidently the growth of traffic on those routes justifies the new move, and that is a very healthy state of affairs. Though the journey times between the cities mentioned may not be expedited, the duplication of the services certainly has the effect of speeding up the mails. A person whose letter has just missed one mail aeroplane has hitherto had to wait a week before the letter could be despatched. He could justly include that week in the journey time of the letter. Now he will only have to include three or four days of waiting in the total journey. The new subsidy of which Lord Londonderry spoke is to be used for reducing the journey time to South-
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