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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1587.PDF
AUGUST 3RD, 1944 F L INEFFICIENT EFFICIENCY pany must not be run by mere aircraft drivers and mechanical operations clerks. Even the present-day tendency to "train 'em young'' has its dangers. Though an airline concern can be forgiven for wishing to get a maximum number of years' service out of its aircrew employees, it is not always as simple as all that, and it may be found that the enthusiastic pilot in his early thirties will give better total results over twenty-five years than the still unexploited and unknown youth who may have, on paper, thirty-five or even forty years' flying life in front of him. The man in his late twenties or early thirties at least knows quite well that this is what he wants to do, while the youngster may change A JET TO CATCH A JET NEWS that the large-scale production of jet-propulsion air craft turbines is projected in the U.S. has caused specula tion in aviation circles that plans are under consideration for the use of jet planes as pursuit craft against robot bombs. •»x General Electric announced recently the conversion of large 1 plant areas totalling 600,000 sq. ft. of floor space for the pro ject. According to American Aviation Daily, another large manufacturer of aircraft engines has also been approached by the War. Department to produce more turbines, as General Electric's capacity is not great enough for the proposed War Department schedules. "The possible use of jet planes produced here have not been revealed," adds the journal, "but they may be used as pursuit ships against robot planes." POST-WAR RESEARCH MR. GRANVILLE (Ind., Eye) recently asked the Minister of Aircraft Production in the Commons if he was taking steps to retain a nucleus of scientific research and experimental industry for aircraft and radiolocation development, strategic ally disposed geographically throughout the British Common wealth at the end of hostilities, for the purposes of defence against aggression and for the development of civil aviation, wireless and television, and other peaceful pursuits. Sir Stafford Cripps, in a written reply, states that it is the policy of the Government to ensure that there is maintained ^ in this country after the war a strong nucleus of research BOOK Tunisia. Issued by the Ministry of Information through H.M, Stationery Office, is. net. WARFARE is becoming more and more a matter of team work by all three Services working together. For every major operation a Supreme Commander is appointed, and in each case the man who seems most fitted for the task is chosen, irrespective of his Service—or, for that matter, of his nationality. Some thoughtful officers in all the Servkes are beginning to look forward to the day when there will be only one Service under one Ministry of Defence, and even (though this seems the most remote possibility) with one uniform. But although Gen. Eisenhower always insists on the team work needed to win a campaign, the three British Fighting Ministries continue to issue their separate official reports for popular reading. In some cases this practice does no harm. The publication Bomber Command, for instance, dealt with operations in which neither the Navy nor the Army had any share. The first of these popular brochures, The Battle of Britain, also was chiefly concerned with the Air Force, though it could not say too much about the A.A. guns and the search lights, because they belong to the Army. The inadequacy of the present method of describing a cam paign is most glaring when the majority of the fighting was done by the Army, and the War Office is responsible for pub lishing the story. Except in hill country, like the Apennines or Normandy, an army can no more fight without an air arm than it could without tanks; and in the two exceptional cases mentioned the Germans fought only delaying actions, without hope of final victory. Yet, when a land campaign is described »in a brochure, it would be improper for the War Office to describe the part played by the Tactical Air Force which worked with it, except in a few general terms of compliment and gratitude. For this reason, Tunisia is a very disappoint ing publication. It gives only a partial picture, the picture of G HT "9 his mind or prove to be unsuitable before his training as second pilot has been completed. And even if this young ster decides to. stay in the business—either as a Transport Command or civil airline pilot—he may be doing so only because it is the career he has chosen and he does not feel inclined to start all over again. There are quite a few fellows in the Air Force who rushed in as young men, but who have long since lost any enthusiasm they once felt for flying, op- for the E.A.F. as a career—and they are . now merely high-ranking "passengers" in the scheme of things. No; paper-efficiency, even with the help of the psychia trists, is by no means everything it is cracked up to be. Give me men and women of any age who are really keen on the whole thing and who believe in it wholeheartedly— whatever it may be—apple-growing or airline operation. INDICATOR. development and experimental work, both in Government establishments and industry, and to develop the fullest co- » operation with the other members of the Commonwealth in any similar activities which they may decide to maintain. It will be the purpose of the Government in doing so to seek to make the fullest arrangements for defence against aggression and also to assist to the utmost the development of the peacetime uses oi these devices. U.S. AIR TALKS WITH INDIA THE Government of India has accepted an invitation from the U.S. to take part in informal and exploratory bilateral talks with various governments on. post-war civil aviation. Sir Girja Shakar Bajpai, Indian agent-general in Washington, will lead the Indian delegation, which will include Sir Gurunath Bewoor, Posts and Air Secretary, and Sir Frederick Tymms, Director of Civil Aviation in India, in the discussions which are expected to begin about the middle of August. AIR HYGIENE IN EGYPT ABDEL WAHID EL WAKIL, the Egyptian Minister of Health, has stated, while on a visit to America, that Egypt is to call an international conference to combat the transfer ence of diseases by aircraft from country to country. The minister hoped that such a conference would be held within the next three or four months, " otherwise the war will be over before we have it." Egypt expects a great! 7 increased share in post-war com mercial flying. REVIEW the fighting on the ground. An intelligent reader who wants to see the campaign as a Whole needs an account compiled by the Ministry of Defence, which would not be afraid to talk about the two parts which made up the victorious whole. Anything less is bound to be unsatisfactory. Even within the limits set by the rule that one Service must not describe the work of its two partners, Tunisia can only be praised for one feature—its illustrations. They are a fine collection of photographs. Some of them, it is true, have been enlarge to the point where they have almost lost their definition, but as a whole they are most attractive. Some of the maps are large and good; others are too small. There is a fine double-page aerial photograph on pages 14/15 showing a Fortress flying over rugged country, and one on page 40 gives a very clear view of Bostons with R.A.F. roundels. The work of R.A.F. ground crews gets a tribute on page 4^ which shows an armourer doing some hefty work, though the uniform he is wearing, that most favoured in the heat (varying in shade from pink to tan, and popularly described as '' the buff •") does not emphasise the great gulf which officialism has drawn between the Services. Of the letterpress one can only say that it is compressed to the point of dullness. It gives an uninspired list of place- names and dates, and tells where practically every division was on each date. In modern war, soldiers have learnt to feel an affection for their division, and sometimes for their Army group Everyone has heard much about the 51st Divi sion, while men of the Eighth Army arr proud to wear a brass figure of 8 on the ribbon of the Africa Star. But to the non- army reader divisions and their numbers rarely mean much. They are not, for the most part, permanent formations like regiments, and therefore do not seem to have a personality which arouses a vivid interest. It is as a collection of photographs that we can chiefly recom mend this brochure to the public.
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