FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1938
1938 - 0696.PDF
•248 FLIGHT. MARCH 17, 1938. Pushing the Boat OutT O aid British prestige abroad, the Committee recom- mends that first-class air lines to all principal capi- tals of Europe should be established, and that Brit- ish aircraft should be employed. That is all very well. '' Showing the flag " is a very commendable occupation, but the nations concerned will have to be consulted in the matter, and British machines cannot be produced by the waving of a magic wand, so that it must be a couple of years before the effects of the Government's agreement with the Report can be " implemented." Much the same applies to other routes, such as the South American, the West Indian and the Pacific. Past lack of encouragement has given France and Ger- many a lead in the South Atlantic, and in the Pacific American interests have been established for a sufficient period to set up a lead which on both financial and tech- nical grounds will be difficult to reduce. " Charity Begins . . . . "B Y its terms of reference the Cadman Committee wasprevented from giving considerations to matters dealt with by the Maybury Committee, but one can sensea feeling almost of disappointment that this should be so, and the Cadman Committee has not been able entirely torefrain from references to it. For instance, the Report states in one place : " The Maybury Committee on internal air transportreported just over a year ago and, although some progress has been made towards the reorganisation which theyenvisaged, the picture, as disclosed to us, remains vir- tually as black as they painted it."Elsewhere the Maybury Committee urges the Air Ministry to '" use every endeavour to speed up its action on the recommendation of that Committee." The Cadman Committee agrees with the Maybury Com- mittee that internal air lines should not be subsidised, but it does re commend to the attention of the Government the possibility that the petrol tax might be remitted on internal air lines. The Government's reply to that is feeble, and takes the form of pointing out that the Cadman Com- mittee is inconsistent by agreeing that internal air lines should not be subsidised, and at the same time suggest what is virtually a subsidy. That is a mere play on words, and entirely fails to deal with the problem. Without com- menting on the desirability or otherwise of Government financial assistance to aerodrome owners, the Cadman Committee points out that in the past the Air Ministry's approval of aerodromes has been regarded "purely as an administrative act, unrelated to the probable require- ments of air services," and urges that the position should be reviewed in detail and a co-ordinated scheme prepared instead of the present haphazard development. The rejoinder to that seems to be that the Air Ministry probably knows less than anyone about the likelihood of any particular route being commercially promising. One must regret that there is no intention of assisting in- ternal air routes. For the sake of operational experience a few long-range air routes at home would be valuable to operator and aircraft constructor alike. That they had not, on the one hand, any great practical value, and on the other that if we are to do " window dressing'' Europe is the best place, does not really affect the argument. The advantages of having a trial ground comparatively close to the works of the manufacturer of the aircraft are too obvious to need particular emphasis. The New AppointmentsT HE House of Commons seems to think that no offi- cial can do satisfactory work unless he has under him an imposing and expensive staff. The Prime Minister has had to defend Sir Thomas Inskip on the floor of the House from the heinous charge of having only a secretary and a typist, or something of that sort. Accordingly, when the Cadman Report professed itself, dissatisfied with the work of the Air Ministry, the Govern- ment immediately set out to allay the discontent by creating new officials right and left. The most important of these new posts is that of Lord Winterton; and yet its main importance seems to lie chiefly in its ingenuity. The Cadman Report echoed a certain outcry from the Lobby that there ought to be a secqnd Parliamentary Under- secretary of State for Air who should concern himself only with civil flying affairs. Another consideration was that a new Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State cannot be created without an Act of Parliament, and it is always a tricky business to poke fingers into the structure of the Mother of Parliaments. The Government has satisfied the demand in a very ingenious way, without having recourse to legislation. Lord Winterton has been raised to Cabinet rank and has been appointed an extra member of the Air Council, and it will be his business to answer all questions in the Commons about the R.A.F. Col. Muirhead, the Under- secretary, will answer questions about civil flying. How- ever, they cannot divide the task of introducing the Air Estimates, and that remains the task of Col. Muirhead so long as he holds his present position and so long as the Air Minister remains in the Lords. For it must be borne in mind that Lord Winterton is not an Under-Secretary of State for Air ; he only does half the work of one. Inside the Air MinistryS OME people may possibly find their heads going round as they try to grasp the difference between the various new functionaries which have been created. In particular, it is necessary to distinguish between A. P^r-
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
