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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 0698.PDF
250 FLIGHT. MARCH 17, 1938. "Will be Received with Satisfaction" LORD LONDONDERRY, Former Secretary of Stale jorAir, Views the Report Lord Londonderry '"THE report of the Cadman Committee will be received -*• with satisfaction by the country as a whole, and our congratulations are due to Lord Cadman for the celerity with which he has been able to place the opinions of the Committee before the public. Civil aviation has been neglected far too long. There have certainly been very strong reasons for this neglect. The first was the arrangement in 1927 by which but a meagre subsidy was granted. The second was the financial policy of 1931-35 which had to be followed, and in which civil aviation was one of the chief sufferers The third was the delay in the production of the May- bury Report, which virtually kept civil aviation at a standstill in the two years during which the Committee was sitting. When the Report was forthcoming, apart from a few recommenda- tions, it cannot be said to have made any valuable contri- bution to the progress of civil aviation. Fourthly, it must be remembered that the energies of the Air Ministry have been concentrated on a rapid expansion of the R.A.F. With all these adverse influences it will be seen that civil aviation has had practically no chance whatsoever of making that development which we have all desired. Imperial Airways have come in for a great deal of criticism, but I think, first and foremost, we should give them due credit for the general safety of the services under their control, which has had a great effect on public opinion. It is true that Imperial Airways and other lines have been,behindhand in obtaining machines of an up-to-date character, but aircraft constructors have had no encourage- ment in this direction, and it was obviously impossible for them to embark on the construction of machines when they saw no markets in front of them for the disposal of those machines On the other hand, when we consider the expenditure on civil aviation which has been undertaken by other countries and the enormous amount of money, both public and private, which can be said to have been lost, we may take a melancholy satisfaction in feeling that these losses have not been incurred here. There are many directions in which we can criticise our civil aviation policy. The lack of encouragement to aero- drome owners, both private and municipal, is having very unfortunate effects In this country, as without adequate aerodrome accommodation it is impossible for civil aviation to thrive. Then the directional wireless by which certain services are operated leaves a great deal to be desired. Also, the knowledge required to obviate the danger of "icing" is lacking. I am suie that the association of the service side of civil aviation in the Air Ministry is not altogether satis- factory, and I hardly think that the Air Council is the proper body for the consideration of all these matters. It is unfortunate that practically no encouragement has been forthcoming for the inauguration of new lines either at home or abroad, and the important question of pres- tige, to which the Cadman Committee make reference, has been sadly neglected. We can certainly point with satisfaction to the new Empire passenger and postal ser- vice, but apart from that development British civil avia- tion has very little to show. What Aviatic CADMA1 Flight " Learns the Views, Critical or to Judge the Val " The Report Has Been Kind" Some Outspoken Views by Mr. C. W. A. SCOTT, oj Australia Race Fame C. W. A. Scott a policy of easy inactivity. HPHE report that the Cadman Committee has just issued •*- has been as scathing as anything that a committee has yet produced. It has probably aroused the interest of the man in the street to the glaring facts of our civil avia- tion inefficiency more than anything else could have done. One trait in our national make-up is that we are too tolerant and eager to excuse until such time ' J as an officially ap- pointed body leads in criticism. Then we go mad, which is a good thing. In my opinion, it cannot be denied that the attitude of Im- perial Airways to its tasks can best be summed up in the words of one of its annual general reports. Herein they referred to themselves "as the Government's chosen instrument," in which new phrase they then wrapped themselves and proceeded to pursue That strong criticism is deserved is possibly best illus- trated by the fact that, although it is over three years since mails were carried all the way to Australia by air, no appreciable speeding-up has been accomplished in this period, and at all times an Australian company operating the Australian end has been using faster aeroplanes. Obsolete machines have and are being used, and will be used, probably, for some time to come. One of the principal reasons for this is simply that it is difficult to determine at what time a machine becomes obsolescent. It can still be perfectly airworthy, but is none the less useless for the work it is set to accomplish. Pr°" gress is actually retarded, because one cannot serve two masters. In this case shareholders are the principal master and reasonable development is the other. It is recommended that Imperial Airways are to be given the Empire Air Routes and British Airways the Conti- nental. Is there any real reason why public opinion should be as generous as this ? After all, the Empire belongs to all of us in the Empire, and if Imperial Airways have not done a good job of work, why should they continue as masters of the public? Airway services are geographically both national and international, and, although to a certain extent under approved Government control to-day, ^"1 not eliminate the " certain extent " and take them over as a national concern? If changes are to be made, why just peck around the out- side? Why not a grand clean-up at once? If anything, the Report has been kind.
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