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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 0665.PDF
MARCH 28, 1935. FLIGHT. 325 The Outlooks New Licence Categories? D URING the past few years the necessity for providing different classes of commercial pilot's licence has become more and more obvious. The G.A.P.A.N., in consultation with the Air Ministry, have stated that the present "B" licence is inadequate for to-day's con ditions, yet, if a more comprehensive series of tests were set out, it would be quite impossible for every pilot to remain efficient in all subjects. Nevertheless, the "B" licence as it stands is a definite certificate of competency, and the only way out appears to be to increase the number of categories. By way of a start, the Guild suggests that instrument flying ability is not essential for all work, and the Air Ministry has admitted that a delay in the operation of the Notice to Airmen concerned might be arranged while the whole question is being reviewed. At present, even with the addition of this instrument flying test, the " B " licence pilot is not necessarily com petent to fly airline or charter machines. The airline pilot must also be skilled in subjects that apply solely to his own work and must, in any case, have a greater ex perience of blind flying than is provided, by a course and test. On the other hand, an instructor or a test pilot need not necessarily he competent to fly passengers or mail to schedule, but must be even more experienced in other ways. Every pilot is not always a good instructor or a good test pilot even though he may be the safest of trans port pilots. Studying the Market / T would be sheer presumption on oux part to attempt to teach the directors and shareholders of future internal line companies their own business, but one or two points might be remembered yet again when new services are planned. After all, the failure of an operating company, through lack of traffic, is bad for aviation as a whole as well as for the unfortunate shareholders, and there have been far too many failures or non-starters during the past year of two. The enthusiastic operator sometimes appears to forget that the prospective traffic will only use his line if by so doing a very useful period of time is saved at the right time of the day or if the effort involved in going by air is much less than that in travelling by train and/or boat. In other words, the passenger must be led by the hand ; he may even prefer to go by air, but if he knows that a perfectly good express train leaves at a definite time from a station across the road he will obviously use this train. Experiment Worth Watching \A/1TH all hope of the unification of the air services of VV the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy definitely aban doned on the recommendations of the Baker •Board, the U.S. Army has undertaken the experiment 01 organising a " General Headquarters Air Force." The main object of the formation of this body, which will consist of practically all the " combat" units of the Air Corps stationed in the United States, together with ertain "observation" and "service" units, is, it would a Ppear, to provide a force of great mobility and striking power ready, as an official announcement puts it, to meet a threat from any direction. The actual movement of aircraft is but a small portion of the problem of mobility. Supplies, bombs and " servic ing " facilities must be available, and suitable aerodromes must be wisely distributed in whatever locality the force may be operating. General Douglas McArthur, Chief of Staff, who deter mined upon the organisation of the new force following the evolution of his four-army plan of defence for the U.S.A., has described the body as an aerial fleet that will comprise at least one thousand bombing, '' pursuit'' and "attack" aircraft. Orders for new equipment to bring it up to strength are already being executed. Under the new scheme observation squadrons will be controlled byT corps commanders of the army and the Chief of Air Corps will be stripped of practically all his units with the exception of schools and depots, leaving him free to handle questions of training, organisation and the procurement of equipment. One interesting point is that, in all probability, the prin ciples involved in the new step will influence the develop ment of the other American arms, which have not been modernised to the same extent. Joyless l O NE often hears talk of the difficulties under which joy-riding concerns have to work in this country. It seems that in Australia people in a similar hue of business also have their difficulties; for example, it is understood that in Perth the local transport board take 2| per cent, of the total takings from those carrying out joy-riding. There is a duty of yd. per gallon on petrol, and aircraft are all under the control of this local board, which also rules the destinies of all other forms of trans port. It is suggested in Australia that their activities are such as to make it appear that their aim is to suppress all transport except the Government-owned railways. A j450-mile Range JlfRITING in the French journal I'Aero, M. Roger y y Labric calculates that the actual range of the Bleriot long-distance monoplane Joseph le Brix, on which Rossi and Codos recently made an unsuccessful attempt to establish a new world's record, is about 12,000 km. (7,456 miles). He points out that the distance from Istres to the Cape Verde Islands, including the return to the islands after the oil pipe broke, was 3,790 miles. After the Hispano-Suiza engineers had put the defect right a test flight of about 310 miles was made before the return flight was accomplished—the petrol tanks, it should be noted, remaining sealed and un-replenished throughout. The distance from Porto Praia to Buc amounted to 2,983 miles, and there were still 118 gallons left in the tanks. Evaporation is thought to have accounted for some ^3 gallons. When the machine took off from Istres it had on board 1,375 gallons instead of the full 1,430 gallons. Taking all these facts into consideration, the French writer thinks it fair to assume an actual range of the Joseph le Brix of 12,000 km. It may be pointed out that the question of wind is likely to play a very prominent part, and that the range is just as likely to be reduced as in creased by it. Rossi.and Godos, of course, hold the world's record-oh-this same machine with 57657 miles. All this prompts the thought that when the forthcom ing British long-range machine is put in hand, the designers will have to think in terms approaching 8.000 miles.
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