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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0157.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD .• FOUNDED 1909 Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. War Correspondent JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices.- DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I Telegrams : Truditur, Sedist, London. COVENTRY : BIRMINGHAM, 2 : n in rnRPORATioM ST GUILDHALL BUILDINGS. 8-10, CORPORATION ST. NAV|GATION ST. Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telegrams - Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Coventry 5210. Telephone: Midland 2971 (5 lines). Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (35 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 : GLASGOW, C.2 : 260, DEANSGATE. 26B, RENFIELD ST. Telegrams ." Iliffe, Manchester. Telegrams: Iliffe, Giaszow. TeJeJ>tone: Blackfriars 4412. Telephone : Central 4857. No 1883. Vol. XLV1I. Registered at the G.P.O. as a Newspaper. January 25th, 1945 Thursdays. One Shilling. Outlook The £ s. d. of Flying /IMID the many somewhat fantastic forecasts of f~\ cheap, fast air travel after the war which seem to be so popular just now, it is refreshing to come across a serious attempt at sober evaluation of the factors involved. Such an attempt has been made by Major R. H. Mayo, extracts from whose arguments we publish in this issue. It comes at a time when the ship- ping and railway interests are looking into the future and formulating their policies, and when the Royal Aeronautical Society is debating whether or not these "^rvterests should, as a part of national policy (if any), be permitted to operate air services. The author states in the introductory remarks of the original article that his aim has been '' to expose the fallacy that free enterprise, and the shipping industry in particular, is attempting to wrest from the State a prosperous business, and at the same time to increase profits by extorting handsome subsidies into the bar- gain." Major Mayo might, of course, be accused of having an axe to grind, since he is air adviser to some shipping firms, but his past record with Imperial Air- ways and B.O.A.C. should clear him of that suspicion. Taking as his main factor in operating costs, although admitting that there are others almost equally im- portant, the number of flying hours that can be got out of an aircraft in a year, Major Mayo arrives at the conclusion that the cost is not likely to be less than 2s. per ton-mile for stages of 500 miles, and 2s. 6cL for 1,000-mile stages. Since all his subsequent estimates are based on these two figures, it would have been more convincing if he had given a clearer indication of how he arrives at them. They are probabfy somewhere near correct, but weight would certainly have been lent to the argument if their derivation had been more specifically stated. Major Mayo admits that his expenditure figures are only a rough approximation, but he points out that even if they are wrong by as much as 50 per cent., the single fare from London to Sydney would still have to be £233 to balance expenditure instead of the £350 of his estimate. Thus there seems to be room for plenty of error while still "debunking" the dream of fast, cheap air travel. We commend Major Mayo's examin- ation of the problem to those optimistic souls who indulge in so much pleasurable but wishful thinking. Chicago AT lo^ng last Lord Londonderry's perseverance has j\ been rewarded. Instead of the evasive and wholly unsatisfactory answers which were all he had ever been able to obtain from Government spokesmen in the House of Lords, he obtained from Lord Swinton last week a statement which, even if not very satisfactory so far as achievements are concerned, was certainly not evasive. Tht: country, although it does not generally realise it (taking not the slightest interest in civil aviation) owes much to Lord Swinton for the very full and frank report of the Chicago Conference which he gave the Lords, and to Lord Londonderry for the way he has continued to hammer away at the Government on this subject of civil aviation. Much of Lord Swinton's Chicago report would be familiar to our readers from what has previously been published in this journal, but certain items in it added either new knowledge or amplified earlier reports, and they are given elsewhere in this issue. "Divorces," Lord Swinton said, "are sedulously reported, while millions of happy marriages that last us all our lives pass unnoticed and unsung." He then pro- ceeded to give the House a story of Chicago "happy marriages." Cynics might retort, keeping to the
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