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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1604.PDF
i3o FLIGHT AUGUST 3RD, 1944 EUROPEAN AIR TRANSPORT Q.: Do you consider the shortage of civil aircraft a serious problem, and what would be the most expedient way of solving it? A.: This is a very delicate question. I have no reason to doubt that the production figures published by the United States are correct. These figures are so gigantic that it can be assumed that it will be possible to satisfy all European requirements from United States sources im mediately after the war, even taking into account the continuation -of the war in the Far East, and the problems of repatriation. It is not impossible to make now a fairly accurate estimate of the post-war needs of the Europeaa countries which, it may be assumed, will not he in dis proportion with the reserves held in the United States. The solution to this question will also depend on the good will and international collaboration and elimination of iselfishiiess. Only if an agreement with the U.S.A. could not be achieved would the supply of aircraft present a very serious problem. There is, however, no need to anticipate such a situation. Use of the equipment of the German Lufthansa and air operators of the satellites should be considered only as an emergency measure and would only cover the replace ments. In any case, we do not know to-day what will survive the "Furor Teutonicus." It is no exaggeration to say that Europe regards America as the source of supply of civil aircraft. Great Britain has concentrated on the production of combat aircraft. Her decision will not remain unrewarded. Post-war German Aviation Q.: What policy should be adopted "by the United Nations towards German aviation (in rough outline)? A.: We all know that the Lufthansa is the mother of the Luftwaffe. After this war there will be no Lufthansa, nor will the satellites have any airlines. This will mean placing under international administration those airports and all the equipment necessary for the maintenance of interna tional air traffic. It will also mean preventing the Germans from engaging—either by means of capital or organised immigration—any air transport outside Germany, e.g., in countries which are now neutral. This will, furthermore, necessitate the closing down of all German sports aero clubs, research stations, laboratories, libraries, and eliminating anything that might be an embryo of a new Lufthansa and another Luftwaffe. Any air transport in side Germany and her vassal states which will have to OUTPUT OF 100 OCTANE FUEL TV/TR. RALPH K. DAVIES, Deputy Petroleum Admin- •*•"-*• istrator for War, speaking at the dedication of the 100 octane plant of the Republic Oil Refining Company at Texas City, recently said: "In addition to our capacity to produce aviation gasoline within the United States, sub stantial additional production comes from foreign re fineries. In the near future the United Nations will have available to them a capacity to produce 500,000 barrels per day of this special fuel—more than all the oil of all kinds available to Axis Europe. Surely there is comfort for us in these figures. "In 1941, just prior to Pearl Harbour, the total 100 octane production of the United States was just "over 40,000 barrels, or less than 10 per cent, of what it is to day. In 30 months in this country we have built over 50 plants at a cost of almost $1,000,000,000. '' The daily consumption by ourselves and our Allies for military purposes alone now reaches the staggering figure of over 1,500,000 barrels. This is almost ten times as much as was consumed in the first war. There must be added all that goes to support the war economy and the vital shipping of the United Nations. Since both the needs of the war economy at home and those of the battle front are essential to the prosecution be maintained, will have to be managed—for a period after the war whkfe cannot be foreseen at this stage—by an , international body in -which all the United Nations will participate. Present Plans Q.: What discussable plans have been or axe being pre pared for the revival of civil air transport in Czecho slovakia, and what regional arrangements or contacts (if any) are being envisaged? A.: We are preparing plans for our future air transport as far as this can be done abroad. We have two air trans port companies, both of them •co-operating with interna tional organisations which are now being created. We are in favour of an organisation of operators which will be truly world-wide and led in a spirit which would guarantee the post-war stability of air transport. We are not m favour of regional arrangements. If no new solution is found, we should like to return home having concluded agreements with those countries with which we operated before the war, so that we shall not have to go through the preparatory stage in the busy post-war period. We are making plans for our airlines and are preparing a sort of five-years' plan. We are planning our airports so as *>>jfet to lose much time when hostilities cease. Our main 'Br cern is concentrated in procuring aircraft and equipment for the relief and rehabilitation period. We do not want to come home empty handed. Q.: Since your country was one of the three co-operating before the war with the U.S.S.R. in the field of civil air transport, what are, in your opinion, the prospects and possibilities for a post-war link with that country? Can one expect the U.S.S.R. to take an active part in a post • war international air transport system? A.: Already in 1935 we concluded a political treaty with the U.S.S.R. The new treaty of December, 1943, means, therefore, the reassurance of our pre-war political con ception. Shortly after the conclusion of our treaty of J 935 we opened up air negotiations between Prague and Moscow. I have no doubt that our mission to bridge the east with the west will reaffirm this also in the field of aviation. We have started now to make all preparations for this, and we believe that the government of the U.S.S.R. will fully understand our needs. I do not know Russia's post-war plans for aviation, but I am convinced that a nation which is undergoing so much to save civS*"- sation will also, and with full right, want to play her part in the organisation of peace. As I said before, I can hardly imagine a working international organisation of air transport without the very active participation of the Soviet Union. of the war, it may properly be said that the total require ments of the United States and her Allies are. in fact, 6,750,000 barrels daily, or 2,500,000,000 barrels per year. It is difficult to visualise any such quantity of oil.. INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT (Continued from page 128) possible international controls without mentioning the still more far-reaching measure of international operation. Everything that I have said to this point has assumed that international airlines will be privately operated. That cer tainly is the assumption in the United States; but there have been substantial bodies of opinion in the United Kingdom and elsewhere which have advocated that internatiomi airlines be entirely in the hands of international companies or intergovernmental partnerships. I do not think that there. is any substantial body of opinion which considers true intemationalisation, with the airlines' personnel employed and their equipment purchased without regard to national origin, as being a practical possibility of the immediate future ; but the i$?a has had the sympathetic attention of some very conserva- tive British journals, as well as of those which might have been expected to welcome it as a step towards a general socialisation of transport and public utilities.
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