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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 0391.PDF
FEBRUARY 13, 1936. FLIGHT. 175 Witnesses before the Arms Commission. From left to right: Mr. C. R. Fairey, Sir Robert McLean, Lt. Col. L. F. R. Fell and Mr. F. Handley Page. AIRCRAFT and the ARMS COMMISSION S.B.A.C. Memorandum Read ; Members of the Industry Give Evidence and Submit to Examination SOME extremely interesting matters were dealt with last week by the Royal Commission on the Private Manufacture of and Trading in Arms, when the manu facture of military aircraft was discussed following the reading of a lengthy memorandum submitted by the S.B.A.C. Some well-known personalities in the aircraft industry gave evidence and were examined by members of the Commission. On this and the following pages will be found summaries and extracts from the more important parts of the S.B.A.C. statement. The memorandum began by sketching the history of the society, which came into existence during the war. It then explained the position of the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (now called the Aeronautical Research Com mittee;, the Royal Aircraft Factory and the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers before the war, following this with an account of the early constitution of the Royal Hying Corps. Ihe next point dealt with was the contrast between the pre-war policy of the War Office, which was to concentrate design work in the R.A. factory, and that of the Admiralty, which encouraged constructors by buying and trying out examples of various promising types of British aircraft. The omcial policy, said the memorandum, which did little to foster the aircraft designer, had most serious effects on the development of engines. In August, 1914, four squadrons of the R.F.C. took the field with sixty aeroplanes, almost wholly of French design or designed by the Royal Aircraft Factory, a ™ all fitted with engines of foreign design and make. While the Royal Flying Corps was forced to depend on only a htfui supply of aircraft during the initial six months of the *ar, new designs of aircraft were being prepared by the British industry, but before the efforts being made could become effec- fve, private enterprise in the service of the German Air Force produced the Fokker monoplane. This machine in the hands °> some ot Germany's most able pilots gained a material and m oral ascendancy over the Royal Flying Corps in the field, and the B.E.2C, which was bearing the brunt of work of the noyai Flying Corps, suffered heavily. When the Fokker first a Ppeared theie were sixteen R.F.C. squadrons in France, ni «'hich twelve were equipped with the B.E.2C." V/ar Experiences ,, Urgent demands were made by the R.F.C. in the field for 1 sPe?ding up of the production of fighting aeroplanes and in p "*• uHnters, and early in 1916 new types were received u p !?nce which could counter the Fokker monoplane. The with • ^ meanwhile to pay a heavy price in the endeavour, ^ lr,aclequate equipment, to carry out the work of helping re„ Arn:y Casualties mounted high, and important Army ' £? nna'.'«ances and bombing raids often could not be com- Hearl °VVmg t0 the shooting down of British aircraft. R.F C. re "garters laid" down a rule that a machine proceeding on aacVlaiSS nCe had t0 be escorted by at least three other iiais ' a" nad ^° ^y *n c^ose formation and the recon- lnce was not to be continued if any of the machines became detached. This had the effect of reducing the effective strength of the R.F.C. as although the variety of work required to be done for the Army did not diminish, many more aeroplanes had to be set aside for certain missions to the exclusion of others. Meanwhile, the Admiralty had continued to pursue its policy cf encouraging private enterprise. It was in possession of satisfactory types of aircraft (easier and cheaper to build than those of Government design) and was urging the develop ment of engines. It was asked many times by the War Office to hand over machines to the Royal Flying Corps, and on occasion did so, as. for instance, in the latter part of 1916, when a squadron of machines—all of private design.—were made available by the Admiralty. This competition between the two services, coupled with casualties in our Air Force and the effects of the early air raids on England, gave rise to public agitation urging that some co-ordination should be introduced.** Private Manufacture The early ah committee and the Air Board were then dealt with, until in 1917 the responsibility of placing the actual orders fcr aircraft and engines was transferred from the Admiralty and War Office to the Ministry of Munitions. This release of the industry from competition between the two services and from narrow restrictions contributed to the successful outcome of the war. After dealing with some evidence, the memorandum states: — "It is inevitable that reliance should be placed on private manufacture. In time of war the whole resources of the nation are required, and it is inconceivable that in peace time the whole of the manufacturing organisations of the country could be organised on a war-time basis able to supply at a moment's notice the whole of the anticipated requirements. This would lead to the result that the whole of the manufacturing resources would be continually enmeshed in war-time production or waiting fcr it. The security of the nation in the war depended upon the manufacturing resources of the country, greatly expanded, of course, because the output demanded was overwhelmingly in excess of anything that had been visualised." After describing the position after the war and the change from wooden to metal construction, the memorandum dealt with the present position as follows :— "Any aeroplane which is submitted for testing by the Royal Air Force is wholly the product of the designing firm. The Air Ministry icsues to aircraft constructors a specification of requirements for a new type of aircraft. The duty of pre paring this specification rests primarily on the Air Staff, which consults the technical department as to the possibility 01 the requirements being met in the then state of the art; and the specification of requirements issued to the industry states the problem m broad outlines Particulars of desired per formance are given, as also are particulars of the riilitary load and of the equipment for which provision must be made. It is then left entirely io the constructor to design aircraft which will inert these requirements, subject to certain standard regulations -as to airworthiness.
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