FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1259.PDF
AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD .• FOUNDED 1909 Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. Chief Photographer JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I Telegrams s Truditur, Sedist, London. COVENTRY : BIRMINGHAM, 2 • 8-10, CORPORATION ST. G Ul L DHALL _B U I L Dl N G S. TI A- r- NAVIGATION ST Te/egroms: Autocar,Coventry. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham'. Telephone Coventry 52 10. Telephone: Midland 2971 (5 lines). Telephone: Waterloo 3333 (35 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 : GLASGOW. C.2 t 260, DEANSGATE. 26B. RENFIELD ST. Telegrams : Hiffe, Manchester. Telegrams: lllffe, Glasgow. Telephone ;Blackfriar; +412. Telephone: Central •4857. No. 1852. Vol. XLV. Registered at the G.P.O. at a Newspaper. June 22nd, 1944 me Outlook Thursdays, One Shilling. Jettery Lords T HE thin end of the wedge" was an expression frequently used in the recent House of Lords debate on the taking over by the Ministry of Air craft Production of Power Jets (Research and Develop ment), Ltd. It is somewhat important to use the full title of the firm, cumbersome as it is, because in it are implied the functions and purposes to which, presum ably, it is intended to devote this national company. When, some two months ago, it was first announced that M.A.P. was taking over the firm we commented: " It means, or so we suppose and hope, that, from now onwards the whole nation, via M.A.P., is behind the "undertaking." The way we looked at it then, and the way we still prefer to-look at it, is that the Government regarded jet propulsion and gas turbines as of such in calculable importance that everything possible should be done to ensure their development at a rate sufficiently rapid to keep this country in the lead. For all that, we welcome the House of Lords debate. The position created by the steps taken is fraught with danger. Everything will depend upon the manner in which the new firm is handled, and we have confidence enough in Dr. Roxbee Cox as chairman and managing director to believe that he will see to it that the dangers are avoided. , These dangers are obvious jenough. The company will, so far as development work is concerned, be ;n competition with the several private firms now engaged cm work of this nature, and in spite of their having representatives on the advisory committee it will require a lot of good will on both sides to avoid the suspicion that the national firm's products are given preference. From whatever angle one looks at it, the position items to lead to the word "Famborough." The Farn- Borough of 1912 or so, when the Ro3'aI Aircraft Factory (as it then was) was in direct competition with private firms, not merely in the matter of design but in con struction. Lord Sherwood was somewhat unfortunate in the debate in choosing this example. The position became so impossible that not only production but air craft design were taken away from "The Factory," which became what it should have been from the be ginning, a research and test establishment. Since then the R.A.E. and the industry have, on the whole, worked well together, and each has learnt some thing from the other. On engine development, for example, Farnborough has done much useful work, and since jets and gas turbines are power plants, it might have seemed more logical to extend the facilities at Farn borough. But perhaps M.A.P. came to the conclusion that the people at Farnborough are so wedded to jerky pistons that they could not be expected to take kindly to something which just goes "round and round"! Short Memories A S might have been expected, Lord Strabolgi was in favour of the jet equivalent of the Royal Naval Dockyards. Like Lord Sherwood, he apparently forgot the somewhat unfortunate early history of Farnborough. His remarks about handing over all our inventions and specially acquired knowledge to the com pany promoters of the City of London was somewhat beside the point since no one has suggested that this should be done. The firms engaged on this work are already very well established and are not in need of company promoters. How easily facts can be misunderstood was illustrated by Lord Strabolgi's reference to " The Ring." Between the wars, he said, certain aircraft manufacturers banded together and it was difficult for any new firm to get a share of the market. The "Ring," so called, we might
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
