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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 2217.PDF
OCTOBER 26TH, 1944 FLIGHT 435 CORRESPONDENCE The Editor does not hold himself responsibt nol neces 'ttsible jor the views expressed by correspondents. The names and addresses of lis writ ssartiy for publication, must in all cases accompany letters. AIRCRAFT ENGINEERING TRAINING Rome Not Built in a Day WITH reference to the letters appearing both for and against my remarks, I wish to reply to " F. J. P." in his letter in Flight, September 21st. Would he please read the letter in your issue of June 29th, by B. Reinard, arid tell us it he agrees with it ? My remarks intend to stress that only a good apprenticeship of five years as proposed by the S.B.A.C. or something on similar lines can produce a Veally sound craftsman. The apprentice fiom. Halton after two years is not on a par with his predecessor of three years. He acquires it later by use and more teaching. It amounts to " Rome not being built in a day," and you will not'build first-class crafts men as B. Bernard expects, and I am equally sure " F. J. P." agrees. I like the latter's comments; they are fair. One more word—I was riot having; my leg pulled! F. A3HBY. CHICAGO CONFERENCE Loading the Dice Against Ourselves ^VTOW that the international conference on civil aviation is -i.'N fixed and is to take place on November 1st in Chicago, it is too late to observe that its timing is somewhat premature. We and the other nations of the world have to be represented to state our claims to a post-war share in international air transport and to help to establish a maximum measure of co operation. But as realists we should not overlook the fact that the con ference has been arranged at the instance of the only Power which at the ring of a bell is ready to " go." One cannot help feeling that the timing of the conference is such as to give our friends across the Atlantic the best opportunity to promote the interests of their highly developed, highly efficient and pro ductive aircraft and air line industry. For the promotion of these commercial interests they have a range of weapons at their disposal not excluding the all-powerful lease-lend. While it is hoped that at the Empire Conference issues in volving the British Commonwealth will be clarified, one regrets the fact that no opportunity was given here to ventilate the public's views before any binding undertakings are entered upon at Chicago. If the nations of the world are not to be dragooned into agreements which, though advantageous to some, may- jeopardise the interests of others, the sponsors of the confer ence will have to give it a truly international lead and not seek to exploit their temporary technological and material superiority. . A good deal of international co-operation has been achieved during this war. , The Chicago conference will provide the acid test of the maturity and ability of the nations to continue to do so in peacetime. The progress of the conference will be, therefore, anxiously followed up by all those who hope to see air transport as a true link between nations. "HANDS ACROSS THE OCEAN." r You yourself could return home by road or rail, or possibly air-liner, but the aircraft is a different proposition. Having carefully considered these two points, rp-tead "Indicator's" article and ask yourself which would be tfte simpler, cheaper and more useful alternative—owning your own aircraft or borrowing one. Personally, I visualise a very poor market for light aircraft in this country if we are to rely on small clubs and private owners to buy.them. A small market for many very obvious reasons will jeopardise oiir position in post-war aviation. Colonel Fitzmaurice in his article Flight, Oct. 5th) gives further reasons for building up our aircraft industry. Without a big demand for British aircraft this country would soon cease to compete in British or overseas markets. And if anyone requires proof cf this, just consider the state of affairs in this country before the war. Not only, was America obtaining large export markets, she-was invading Britain and making great strides in capturing pur light aircraft market. A nation-wide hire service such as "Indicator" suggests irf a national requirement. By the consequent need for having a large fleet of aircraft, such a service would require far more aircraft than would private owners and clubs together Mr. Handasyde, in his letter (Flight, Sept. 21st), sug<; that co-operation between flying dubs might produce the solu tion, f wish it could, but co-operation between small, widely dispersed sections* does not seem to have been very successful in this country in the past. I would like to express my appreciation to Colonel Fitz maurice for a verv sound article, especially his suggestion for A.O.P.A. i J." M. DOWNTON. POST-WAR OWNER PILOTS They Will Still Need a Car [NDICATOR " raised some very interesting points in bis L article on "Post-war Private Ownership (Flight, Sept. 7th). It surprises me that more people have not voiced their opinions on the matter. Is it lack of interest? I sincerely hope not .'"•:'/• I should like to put two questions to the prospective post war owners. First of all, do you think that you can afford to own and run both a car and an aircraft? "For a long time, probably at least a decade, aircraft will remain an adjunct to travel by car. For plain all-round transport utility a car cannot at present be beaten, and the great majority of people faced with thefpiospect of owning either a car or an aircraft—but not bofft—Would choose a car. The second question, probably trivial at first glance, is this: H for any reason (bad weather, for instance), you had to leave your aircraft at your destination-instead of flying it back to your departure point (home), how would you get it back agairr? INVASION TACTICS Theory Upheld by Events I WAS interested in the reply of Mr. C. ttorg-My&tt (Flight, September 28th) to my previous letter. I would like to point out that my letter was written before the invasion of France, and that the theme "of my letter has been upheld by the rourse of the recent fighting in France and Holland. It is a good thing that some of the bridges were not destroyed by bombing which is a different story to that told by some newspapers. I would like to suggest that the aircraft which were used to drop bombs on seme'of the bridges would have been far more usefully employed to drop paratroops and airborne in fantry to capture and hold the most strategic bridges.. This actually was the case at Njimegen, and the gallant but unsuc cessful attempt at Arnhem, which some reports suggest would • have succeeded if a few hundred more men had been dropped in the initial stages of the attack, Mr. G. Borg-Myatt says that the elimination of strategic points ir the enemy's defensive area means the difficulty of replacements and supplies, and the wiping out of most of the enemy. He also claims that a routed enemy does not and cannot hamper temporary bridging. First, if a bridge were destroyed by bombing, a most difficult and costly task to begin with, the enemy could, if necessary, construct temporary bridges, in a few hours, along which reinforcements and supplies could be sent. And, pre sumably, as many as possible of the enemy would escape by means of temporarj' bridges, while only a small number hold ing the end of the bridge would be captured. Secondly, to say that a retreating enemy cannot hamper temporary bridging is surely a mistake. I think that if Mr. G. Borg-Myatt, as an army engineer, were attempting to con struct a temporary bridge over a rivei, with the enemy on the far side, he might have a different opinion. I do not agree with Mr. G. Borg-Myatt when he says that Germany overran defenceless countries in 1940. Surely France was not defenceless It is my belief that the use of aircraft will completely change the art of warfafe. An air force with an airborne army that can fight in the air, over the sea, and on the land will be far more useful in the future than a force that can fight in only one element Moreover, this airborne army would be particu larly useful in keeping the peace after this war, as it could be transferred to the source of any trouble almost immediately. R. HUDSON.
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