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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 0895.PDF
AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY ZV THE WORLD ? FOUNDED WO9 Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH Chief Photographer JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 Telegrams : Tniditnr. Sedist. London. Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (50 linee). 8-10, CORPORATION ST., COVENTRY. Telegrams; Autocar, Coventry. Telephone: Coventry 5210. GUILDHALL BUILDINGS. NAVIGATION ST., BIRMINGHAM. 2. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 2971 (5 lines). 386, DEAN9GATB, MANCHESTER, 3. Telegrams: Ilifle, Manchester. Telephone: Blackfriars 4412. 26B, RENFIELD ST., GLASGOW, OS. Telegrams: IlifJe, Glasgow Telephone: Central 4857.' SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Home and Canada: Other Countries: Year, Year, £1 13 0. £1 16 0. 6 months, 16s. 6d. 6 months, 18s. Od. 3 months, 8s. 6d. 3 months, 9s. Od, No. 1579. Vol. XXXV. MARCH 30 1939. Thursdays, Price 6d. The Outlooks About this Issue N EVER before has Air Power loomed so large in international affairs. And never before has there been such widespread misconception of the rela tive air strength of the nations. The flatly contradictory reports flung at the public almost daily are in themselves evidence-of the truth of that statement. It is not to be wondered at, for secrecy is one of the chief gambits in the international game of beat-your- neighbour. The aspect that is surprising, however, is the amount of information that actually is available about the world's warplanes—to use a daily-paperish but convenient word. That information, of course, is not easily come by. It requires patient and expert technique to collect. That is why Flight is rather proud of this Special Number, which reviews in .very considerable detail the trends in design of the more notable military products of all the aircraft-producing nations—and there are a surprising number of such nations. We do not claim to reveal many '' secrets,'' either about our own aircraft or those of other nations; but this issue does provide, in convenient form, a valuable index to the capabilities of machines now in service, or about to go into service. It also -emphasises the modern tendency towards specialisation of duties, and of the equipment to perform those duties. During the war of 1914-1918 an aero plane was, primarily, either a fighter (misnamed a "scout") or a bomber, while reconnaissance duties were largely relegated to obsolete two-seat fighters. Nowa days, if we include marine aircraft (which were negligible in number during the last war), there are possibly a score of different classes designed and equipped for specific purposes. The soundness of such a policy under wartime production conditions has been questioned. Be that as it may, it does at least provide the interested observer with plenty of material for study; and to put that material in a most conveniently assimilable form is the purpose of this issue of Flight. Gorellation I F every recommendation made by the Gorell Com mittee were adopted and enforced, there would still be people who would complain that the noise of aircraft engines irritated them and interfered with the so-called public amenities. The trouble is that a noise which irritates one person is not consciously heard by another. That being so, the mere establishment of standards of '' maximum noise output'' is not likely to be of much help. A loud noise which passes quickly is far less irritating to most people than a repeated noise the pitch and loudness of which varies in ordered sequence. The case of Croydon Airport is quoted in the report as a particularly difficult one, and the committee comes to the conclusion that the interests of the local residents could not be adequately protected except by abandon ing the site altogether. That, at any rate, is one recom mendation with which all flying people will be in full agreement, although for different reasons. The report draws a touching picture of the way in which the value of property in the Croydon district has depreciated, and points out that 800 houses are for sale. It would be interesting to learn how many of those 800 houses were built and sold since Croydon has been an aerodrome. With the owners whose property was there before the aerodrome one has every sympathy. But it is less easy to shed a tear of commiseration for those who bought their houses years after the aerodrome was established. When dealing with the safety of the general public the committee was faced with even greater difficulties. With the recommendation to prohibit all flying of single- engined aircraft above towns we fully agree, but it is going to be difficult to define what constitutes a town. If the lower limit is low enough, the effect will virtually be to rule out all single-engined aeroplanes. We do not say that this would necessarily be a bad thing. We merely call attention to the fact. In the end the most useful of all the recommendations
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