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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 0011.PDF
andAIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN 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: Truditur, Sedist, London. * . Telephone: Waterloo 3333 (50 lines). 8-I0, CORPORATION ST.. COVENTRY. Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telephone : Coventry 5210. SUBSCRIPTION RATES : GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST., BIRMINGHAM, 2. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 297I (5 lines). 260, DEANSGATE, MANCHESTER, 3. Telegrams : Iliffe, Manchester. Telephone: Blackfriars 4412. 26B, RENFIELD ST.. GLASGOW, C.2. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone : Centra! 4857. Home and Canada : Other Countries : Year, £l 13 0. Year, £1 16 0. 6 months. 16s. 6d. 6 months, 18s. Od. 3 months. 8s. 6d. 3 months, 9s. Od. No. 1619 Vol. XXXVII JANUARY 4, 1940. , : Thursdays, Price 66. The Outlooks Who Maintains Them ? 'T HE Empire Air Training Scheme is of colossal magnitude. Thousands of air crews will be trained, and its cost will be about £150,000,000 over three years. Yet the planning of this great work was complete 3 months and 14 days after the declara- tion of war. Truly a magnificent achievement when one thinks how it involves the Homeland and three Dominions, separated as they are by thousands of miles. Such agreement can be obtained so speedily only when the individual interests are subordinated to the "common weal," and rightly is the use of the name "British Empire" gradually giving way to " British Commonwealth of Nations," a name which is more suit- able to our association of free peoples. The policy of decentralisation overseas is wise—so long as transport across those seas is certain—and we need have no qualms on that score. Details of the scheme are given on page 9. We are pleased to hear that the training is to be thorough, and, we hope, not too hasty. Bad instruction during the last war cost us hundreds of lives. Another mistake of that kind would be criminal. Statements on the scheme mention pilots, observers, gunners, radio operators and navigators. But what of the ground engineer? Thou- sands of aircraft will be used and must be maintained, and we know that Australia, for one, is on the verge of a shortage of these essential people. More will be needed, but they are not mentioned. Were they for- gotten ? Straws in the WindW HAT will be Great Britain's position as regards her export trade in civil aircraft at the end of this war? If the war is short, there is no need to stop our civil development—if it is long we cannot afford to stop it, for the longer it is the more will other nations have forged ahead and consolidated themselves in all the export markets. Some of the executives of our aircraft firms have said in the past that the civil export market is so small that any effort they might make for it v^ould not produce any worthwhile returns. It is small—now. But it will not always be, and the important thing is to get one's products established in a country—to get the inhabitants into the habit of buying that particular product. For the movement acquires momentum, and repeat orders will probably come if the goods are satis- factory. In any case, standardisation of equipment tends to secure the repeat order. America has not found the export trade so small. She is already well established in all world markets, particu- larly the Dutch and Australian, and is now congratulat- ing herself on having the valuable South American business almost entirely in her own hands now that Germany, France and ourselves are no longer in a position to export. But we have in this country at the moment two specifically civil types ready for export development, the Flamingo air liner and the Cygnet two-seater. These must be freed from restrictions so that they may be exported promptly and in large numbers. And we must develop others. ImpracticableR ECENT correspondence in The Daily Telegraph has revived the old controversy of the value of gliding as a training for piloting power-driven aircraft. Germany is, of course, the country which has fostered the sport of gliding to a greater extent and for a longer period than any other. Even in Germany (we refer lo the pre-war period, of course) opinion was by no means unanimous. That gliding was and is a wonderful sport no one will deny; and in peacetime it certainly has :ts value in getting the youth of a country accustomed to the air. Even so, there is no evidence that German aircraft pilots are conspicuously better than ours. Quite the contrary.
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