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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 1447.PDF
AIRCRAFT ENGINEER AND AIRSHIPS FlRST AERONAUT/CALIVEEKEY IN THE^WoRLD I FOUNDED 1909 . No. 1484. Managing Editor Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH Chief Photograph* C M. POULSEN JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices i DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I : Telegrams : Troditur, Sedisi. London. Telephone 1 Waterloo 3333 (50 lines). • HERTFORDST., GUILDHALL BUILDINGS. 260, DEAN8GATE, 26B, BENFIELD ST. : COVENTRY. NAVIGATION ST., BIRMINGHAM, 2. MANCHESTER, 3. GLASGOW. C.2. [ Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telegrams: Iliffe, Manchester. Telegrams: Hide, Glasgow. : Telephone: Coventry 5210. Telephone: Midland 2971. Telephone: Blackfriars 4412. Telephone: Central 4857. » SUBSCRIPTION Home and Canada: Year, £1 13 0. 6 months, 16s. 6d. 3 months, 8s. 6d. KATES: Other Countries: Year, £1 lb" 0. 6 months, 18s. Od. 3 months, Us. Od. i Vol. XXXI. JUNE 3, 1937. Thursdays, Price 6d. A Qreat Enterprise READERS of Flight are now familiar with the outlines of the Empire air mail scheme, which . proposes to carry letters at a flat rate of i^d. per half-ounce throughout the Empire, at a speed never before contemplated and with a frequency of ser vice which adds much to the value of the speed. The details of the scheme are of much interest, and they have been issued through the Stationery Office as a White Paper, which is summarised on page 561 of this issue. The basic principle of the agreement which is to be made by the Government with Imperial Airways and its associated companies is laid down as follows: "In an enterprise of such novelty and magnitude, it was felt to be preferable that the risk of changes in the factors governing costs and revenue over which the Company would have no control should be accepted by the Government rather than by the Company;" That is a right principle, for this great and novel enterprise is for the benefit of the peoples of thn Empire, and may be described as Socialism at its best. The very con ception has profoundly impressed the United States, among others, and that country is well used to enter prises of novelty and magnitude, especially where air transport is concerned. It is noteworthy that, in addition to the subsidy which the Treasury will pay to Imperial Airways, the Post Office will grant a contract for the carriage of mails which will produce £900,000 per annum for the 15 years of the agreement. The Post Office expects to lose on this contract, perhaps as much as £200,000 per annum in the early years. It is most satisfactory to see the Post Office willing to lose anything at all for the sake of getting mails carried swiftly by air; but in this case the Post Office is, like the other Departments of Government which are concerned, inspired with vision and imagination. Proudly the White Paper speaks of '' a striking development in the form of long-distance carriage of first-class mails by air at a flat postage charge per half-ounce which for cheapness has never been approached anywhere in the world." All Britons will join in the feeling of pride aroused by this really wonderful idea, this vast and beneficent undertaking. Gladly will the cost be paid, for the pros pects are great. In the hard cash of accelerated and increased business the return should be ample, but in the even greater and imponderable benefits of drawing closer together most of the peoples and lands of the Empire, the gain should give even a better return for the money expended. 1\iarring a Happy Day APART from the personal tragedies, which every one will deplore, it is a grievous matter that , Empire Air Day should have witnessed so many fatal crashes. Some of the week-end casualties so widely publicised had nothing at all to do with the special occasion and, if we are to seek for some common cause for the Empire Air Day crashes, these cases must be excluded. It may be useless to seek for any one cause. The flying displays were on the lines of the annual Hendon Display, and in all the years of that great function there has only been one fatal crash—in fact, only one serious accident—on the da ', though crashes have occurred when practising for the Display. It would therefore seem that last Saturday's accidents were due to an unfortunate coincidence. The fact remains that an occasion which was intended to stimulate public enthusiasm for British flying has had just the opposite effect, and has caused profound depres sion. This depression may even check, though certainly not to any great extent, the flow of applicants for com missions in the Royal Air Force. British youth will not be deterred from a fine career by thoughts of risk, but parents are naturally more timorous. There can be no doubt that the aeroplanes supplied to the R.A.F., though some are of obsolescent type, are perfectly good flying machines, and the flying training on which the Air Ministry insists is perfectly sound in character. The Air Force is imbued with the spirit of adventure, and if it were not so it would be of little
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