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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 0954.PDF
334 FLIGHT. APRIL 7, 1938. Quart in the Pint PotO N the day of the mock-up conference, hordes of Air Ministry officials arrive at the works of the con- structor. How many of the Directorates from the two Departments are represented will depend upon the circumstances. It might be explained here that the Department of the Air Member for Research and Develop- ment includes the Joint Directorates of Research and Technical Development; the Directorate of Armament Development (quite recently) ; Aeronautical Inspection, and Repair and Maintenance. The following Directorates come under the Department of the Air Member for Supply and Organisation ; Organisation, Equipment, Works and Aeronautical Production. What with representatives of Directorates and Deputy Directorates, it may be imagined that the party is a large one. Each official is there to see that his particular piece of equipment is placed in the most suitable position. It is but natural that he should be intent on having it put just where he knows it will work to best advantage. That by insisting on his point he may be pushing another and equally important piece of equipment into a place where it is cramped or inaccessible or liable to damage is no con- cern of his—naturally. The blame does not lie with the present personnel, who are doing their level best to arrive at a workable compro- mise. The fault must be sought in the system itself, in the absence of a single man put in supreme authority to say to Mr. Soandso, "I am sorry, but your claims will have to take second place on this occasion, and the pink pills for pale people will have to go on the starboard side and Mr. Someonelse's oxygen bottle will go on the port side; it is more important." At present the final decision cannot be given until long discussions have taken place, and the result is that exas- perating delays occur. What is even worse is that some- times the unfortunate constructor goes ahead with the building of the machine, and then certain changes are asked for which cause further delays. There is even a case on record in which the change demanded in arma- ment equipment was such that the erg. of the machine was moved too far back and the wings had to be given a sweep- back in order to bring the centre of lift into its proper relationship to the e.g. Imperial Airways ApologiaT HE letter from the secretary of Imperial Airways to the shareholders of the company is an apologia but not an apology. The said shareholders may be interested to note that practically every point made by the Board in this letter had already been put forward with emphasis by Flight, which, though no thick-and-thin sup- porter of Imperial Airways or of any other concern, is a whole-hearted lover of fair play. We have always held and preached that it was the duty of Imperial Airways to earn revenue so far as was con- sistent with the safety and efficiency of its services, because it was incumbent on the company to hasten in all reason- able ways the time when those services could be run without a subsidy paid by the British taxpayer. New enterprises naturally needed new agreements and new sub- sidy arrangements. We have not been inclined to cavil at the policy of raising the status of the company by pay- ing attractive dividends, provided that safety remained the first object and efficiency the second. At one time we felt that Imperial Airways were too in- different to the matter of speed, but since the orders for the Short flying boats and the Armstrong Whitworth En- signs were placed, no very serious charge could be made. As we have said before, Imperial Airways cannot be blamed for the non-delivery of the landplanes at the time when they were required. Comfort, a matter of prime importance to passengers, has always been amply pro- vided by Imperial Airways ever since the Heracles class was first ordered ten years ago. Pretty well everybody is now agreed, and the ImperialAirways do not dissent, that the time has come for them to leave European services to some other firm. Grid Cables : Commons QuestionA MONTH ago we returned to a subject on which we had commented more than once in the past—that of the danger to aircraft caused by overhead electric! • power cables. We remarked that within the previous fort- ^ night two more such accidents had occurred. - A little over a week ago—and within three weeks of our comment appearing—yet another accident occurred, a Ser- • vice machine striking a cable when making a forced land- £• ing near Breich, Midlothian, and the two occupants being killed. Meanwhile, shortly after our previous remarks, Rear- Admiral Sir Murray Sueter asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air in the House whether the possibility of put- ting wires underground had been considered. We did not want to lose a lot of pilots, he said, through their running into these wires. Was the Air Ministry consulted when new cables were put up? This was a very important ques- tion, because there would be more pilots flying about the country than ever before. Lt. Col. Muirhead replied that the Air Ministry was in constant touch with the electricity authorities to see whether overhead wires could be put underground. "I may say," he said, "that our contact with the electricity authorities is very promising, and that, as far as possible, wires are placed on the ground." After Flight's long agitation for some action it is gratify- ing to know that responsible authorities at least have the matter in mind, though (as is so often the case with Par- liamentary replies) just how much the Under-Secretary's answer implies in the way of real activity it is difficult to assess. Going to EarthT HE news of a delayed drop from 27/560 feet by a French parachutist, who did not pull his rip cord until within almost 1,000 feet of the ground, raises an interesting question if one asks '' What is the use of such ' records '? " It is generally agreed that crews escaping by parachute from a shot-down aircraft during war will be liable to be machine-gunned by the attacking aircraft, at any rate, if there is a prospect of a landing in their own territory. The one possible means of escape is a delayed drop. Even though a diving aeroplane could easily catch up with the unfortunate parachutist (whose terminal velocity would never exceed about 120 m.p.h.) his body, turning over and over, would present a difficult target. Probably the enemy pilot would have little chance until the para- chute opened, when he himself might be in danger from ground fire. Unpleasant ruminations which, however, cannot be dis- - missed from the mind in these ominous times. Army PilotsM R. R. D. PERKINS, M.P., must have been in mischievous mood last week, when he asked in the House of Commons if the Under-Secretary for Air were aware that the appointment of an Army officer to command No. 4 Squadron had caused resentment in the Service. Such an idea is quite foreign to the spirit of the R.A.F. It should be noted—though Mr. Perkins, according to Hansard, omitted to mention the point—that what he called No. 4 Squadron is officially named No. 4 (Army Co-opera- tion) Squadron. The whole business in life of the army co-operation squadrons is to reconnoitre for the Army, _ spot for the Artillery, and on occasions to bomb and ; machine gun the land troops of the enemy. The officers of those squadrons are observers as well as pilots, and they have to undergo a very careful course of training in Army work at the School of Army Co-operation at Old Sarum. It is only common sense that some officers of the Army should be seconded to these squadrons, and should receive temporary rank in the R.A.F. Actually, eight officers of the Army are thus commissioned in the R.A.F. every
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