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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 2344.PDF
I4O AUGUST 22, 1940 cloudless sky, gives our Fighter Command something to bite on. The use that the fighter pilots have made of this opportunity is really staggering. Day by day the Brit- ish public waits anxiously for the half-time scores and the c!ose-of-play scores, as if Hutton were batting against Australia ; and very disappointed is that public if a cen- tury is not scored. The first century produced rather delighted surprise, but now we have come to reckon on one as a right. Oh a dull day, when a mere 75 or so raiders are shot down, the public attitude is that " Jerry is bowling for safety, and won't give our bats a chance." But, the serious student asks, what is Goring trying to do? The raids on Dover, Portsmouth, and South- ampton can be understood, and so can the attacks on our aerodromes. But what profit do the Germans expect from bombing and machine-gunning suburbs? They can have no hope of beating this country to its knees by sheer terrorism, and the price which they pay in aero- planes and air crews is high. Naturally we expect more attacks, and probably still heavier ones, for some time to come, until it begins to dawn on the German High Command that the game is not worth the candle. In the meantime our fighter pilots are " not weary in well-doing." Cheap and NastyA SUNDAY newspaper has caused some stir by publishing an article which alleges that a new scheme for supplying the R.A.F. with mass-pro- duced aeroplanes of inferior performance " has the sup- port of strong financial, industrial and political forces." We are quite certain that in spite of the "strong financial, industrial and political support," any scherwe which would in any degree lower the qualities of British military aircraft would very soon be doomed to failure. That is not to say that something cannot be done to expedite production. In point of fact, many of the new types coming along now are particularly well suited to rapid production, without sacrificing any important military and service qualities. It is more difficult to do anything about the older types which have been in large-scale production for a long time. RationalisationT HERE are several ways in which aircraft produc- tion can be speeded-up. As we said in these columns a week or two ago, there is room for improvement in routine procedure; there is still too much paper work and too much of the '' referred back to you'' mentality about the relationship between the Air Ministry and the industry, although Lord Beaver- brook has done well in cutting through red tape. In his article in this issue, Mr. F. G. Miles sets out the advantages of one system by which production can be speeded-up. Track line assembly is no new thing in itself, but it is only comparatively recently that orders have been on a scale which made its application to aircraft construction practicable. In fairness to other British firms it should be pointed out that track line assembly is in use at more than one factory, but the great interest in the Miles article lies in the fact that it argues the advantages of the system generally rather than describing the minute details of it as worked at the Philips and Powis factory. ROYAL INTEREST. His Majesty the King inspects a searchlight during a recent visit to anti-aircraft posts in Kent.
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