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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1991.PDF
—JH?"— ™ AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD I FOUNDED 1909 Managing Editor Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. Chief Photographer C. M. POULSEN JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 Telegrams : Truditur, Sedist, London. Telephone: Waterloo 3333 (35 line*). COVENTRY: BIRMINGHAM, 2 : MANCHESTER, 3 : GLASGOW, CA J 8-10, CORPORATION ST. S^'V^G ^t T^G^N'"V"!' 260, DEANSGATE- 26B. RENFIELDST. Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham! Telegrams-: lllffe, Manchester. Telegrams : lliffe, Glasgow. Telephone: Coventry 52 10. Telephone: Midland 2971 (5 lines). Telephone: Blaekfriars 4412. Telephone- Central 4857. Registered at the 6.P.O. as a Newspaper. No. 1866. Vol. XLVI. September 28th, 1944 Thursdays, One Shilling We Outlook "The Time Has Come . . . ." America's Lead M ANY are the sections of the community that are becoming sincerely alarmed at the persistent silence of the Government on the subject of a British post-war commercial aviation policy. There are many who think that the Government has no such policy. That, it appears to us, is scarcely credible. But certainly no plain statement has ever been made by any spokesman having high authority. It is true that in his speech to the A.T.A. the other day, which we reported last week, Captain Balfour said* "Plans and programmes do exist for an orderly world system of civil aviation, rather than uncontrolled international competitive chaos. Plans do exist for spreading British civil aircraft over our Empire routes. On these let the Government be judged during the coming months." That is all very well. But the existence of such plans in Whitehall does not carry us much farther unless the manufacturers, the potential operators and those who will have to build up all the ancillary services are in formed. So far we have seen no evidence that they have been informed. ' All the beautiful blueprints in Government departments will not help very much unless they are translated into action. There is, perhaps, no necessity to announce every last little detail, but certain broad guiding principles should be stated at once. Whether, for instance, it is the in tention that we should have one or more " chosen instru ments." Who shall, in future, guide and control British commercial aviation. Direct subsidies or payment for services rendered. These and many other problems hav^ to be decided upon before anyone is in a position to make a start with planning. They are the bare skeleton upon which the flesh of commercial aviation must be supported. So far the skeleton is very much in the cupboard. The Government must open the door. B 1 THERE seems to be in British Government circles an inferiority complex which has a paralysing effect. It appears to be due to fear of offending our good friends and allies, the U.S.A. It seems to be held that if we venture to admit that we are making plans for the future, the Americans will resent it, and that they will think we are not putting our backs into the war effort. The announcement of Britain's demobilisation plans, made last Monday, should make it clear that we have no intention of easing up until Japan is subdued. And as for the past, facts speak for themselves. In proportion,to our population we have done at least as well as any of the allied nations. No American with a knowledge of our achievements will deny that. In this connection we may quote from an article written by Mr. Guy Vaughan, president of the Curtiss- Wright Corporation, and published in our excellent contemporary U.S. Air Services. Mr. Vaughan writes: "Twice we have been able to create air power out of the depths of unpreparedness because friendly allies, by staving off the mutual enemy, ' loaned ' us the time neces sary to accomplish this. While Great Britain's gallant few fought off the Luftwaffe in the dark days of Dunkirk, we were able to devote ourselves to making up for many years of lost time. Furthermore, America's air power revival gained at least a year of valuable time before we were drawn into the war because French and British orders made plant and production expansion possible that much earlier." Pan American Airways have come out in the open with plans for girdling the globe. Some of the routes for which the company has applied to the Civil Aero nautics Board parallel, in part at least, British Empire routes. Senator Josiah W. Bailey, of North Carolina, has sent two Senate Bills to U.S. Secretary of State, n
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