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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 1451.PDF
JUNE 3RD, 1943 FLIGHT 587 COMMERCIAL AIR TRANSPORT monopoly company tended to restrain the initiative for development, with the result that when an unsubsidised competitor—British Airways—entered the field of opera- tion, it turned to the United States to buy the twin-engined faster aircraft which its conception of efficient air transport required. International competition was not sufficient to provide the monopoly company with the necessary stimulus to rapid obsolescence and continuous improvements of its fleet; the faster services operated by the Netherlands com- pany to the East Indies did not bring about a correspond- ing acceleration of the services operated by Imperial Air- ways, Ltd. When we review the way in which air operation has developed in this country, this does not seem in keeping or in atmosphere with the part played by this country in the development of shipping and railways. The healthy stimulus of competition has been lacking, and unless the future post-war development proceeds along other lines we shall have operators and manufacturers, national only in outlook, competing internationally with other govern- ments, and State policy governing transport development. For this reason all who are interested in aircraft develop- ment must favour at least several chosen instruments as against the dead hand of monopoly. The part of Sir Frederick Handley Page's paper which dealt with the future follows, in full. In planning the post-war future of air transport there are aspects other than those concerned with the method of operation, and with people other than the manufacturer or operator. There is the ordinary man on the ground above whom the aircraft flies, and the passenger who flies in the aircraft. From time immemorial a free-holder has been entitled to all ihe air above his property, and the State, as representing the collected body of inhabitants, has claimed the same sovereignty over the air above as on the ground below. In granting the right of passage to foreign aircraft, the State or the individual is entitled to ask for two safeguards: — (1) That the aircraft shall pass over without danger or injury to those below. (2) That the rights of passage are not used eventually for armed aggression against those flown over. How can government interference be limited to the minimum needed to cope with whatever system of inter- national control that is set up? An air danger to peace is much more likely to flourish in the heady atmosphere of international government negotiations than in the cooler and calmer conditions surrounding commercial negotiations and contracts. Safety Standards So far as the settlement of safety standards is concerned, other countries might well follow the initiative of this country in the setting up of the Air Registration Board. On the sea the classification of merchant ships has pro- ceeded from the early days when underwriter and owner met together informally to agree with the builder those minimum standards necessary for safe operation. To-day the surveys of Lloyd's Register and the British Corporation of Shipping form "the basis for the underwriter's assessment of their risks. These precedents were followed when, as a result of the Gorrell Committee on the Control of Civil Aviation, the Air Registration Board was set up, composed of those who had a material interest in air opera- tion, namely, operators, insurers, manufacturers and the general public. To this Board has been delegated the work, of drawing up the technical standards of airworthiness and of seeing that they are maintained, whether in this country or abroad, a freedom in action not easily exercised if the control is retained by a foreign government's officials. It is sincerely to be hoped that similar delegations will take place in other countries, so that by international con- ference between such national bodies standards may be determined and administered without regard to any political or military aspect. The safeguarding of the citizen against the development of civil aviation as a means of armed aggression presents a more difficult problem. The extent to which subsidies have formed such a large proportion of a company's re- ceipts is a measure of the non-commercial object which some States had in view. It is even doubtful if these dis- closed contributions were the full extent of the assistance given, for it was only under the guise of civil aviation that the defeated nations of the last war were able to build up their armed forces. Disclosure of Costs First and foremost we must know the facts. The man over whom the aircraft flies is entitled to know for what purpose that aircraft is used. Freedom of the air and the right to operate might well be restricted by international agreement to those companies which were prepared to submit full details of their costs and receipts for quarterly audit by a suitable impartial international body ; such de- tails must include a full disclosure of all amounts relating to any direct or indirect subsidies. The publication of such details would enable governments to determine whether aircraft were being used for other than commercial ends, and, on the basis of these facts, concerted action might be taken. It might well be that agreement might be reached limit- ing the extent of subsidies to be granted other than after international agreement. The important feature is that there shall be a full publication of the facts, for it may truly be said that publicity means peace. In all cases it is better that any subsidy be given in the form of payment for services rendered—the payment divorced as far as possible from individual governments—so that State aid does not make air transport an instrument of State policy. One aspect of manufacture and operation lies at t'-.e very heart of the expansion of air transport in the British Empire. During the war large aircraft manufacturing in- dustries have grown up in Australia and Canada, and a start has been made in India. Military considerations alone would forbid the extinction of such important industrial potential for war. Instead of one British aircraft industry, therefore, we now have four, separated each from the other by great distances. United States and the Soviet Union, on the other hand, are two large and entirely homogeneous regions, in both of which there is being built up costly and elaborate machinery for aeronautical research, coupled with the education and practical training of the large number of engineers and technicians which are essential to progress in aircraft design and construction. Our supply of equipment for research, both inanimate and human, is too small for it to be distributed in several centres, which individually would be inadequate to deal with some of the larger problems ahead. But if there be a central co-ordination it can only be successful if there is a full interchange of personnel and help from the Dominions, for it is only by the full co-operation of all within the British Commonwealth that the team work of the whole can be achieved. If we dissipate our effort, it is, indeed, not easy to see how we shall manage to keep on level terms with our competitors. One cannot emphasise too much the importance to the British Empire of a well-organised and well-run system of air transport. An island nation, like ourselves, depends for its existence on our foreign trade, our cargoes, with all the advantages of cheap sea-borne freight, travellers, mail and documents passing quickly back and forth on the air highway. These developments in the air must be dealt with in the same spirit of enterprise that we have shown and show upon the sea. Let us realise, in the words of Dr. John- son: "The fields of air are open to knowledge, and only ignorance and idleness need crawl upon the ground."
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