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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0210.PDF
112 FLIGHT FEBRUARY IST, 1945 logical for America, it does not follow, as Mr. Rice was careful to point out, thai the same considerations are applicable here. "From This Moment Henceforth" ^HERE is no doubt that by this arrangement the Minister for Civil Aviation is completely in control of civil aviation matters from this moment henceforth." That is the sort of unequivocal statement for which the country has had to wait so long. It was made by Sir Stafford Cripps when he replied for the Government to the civil aviation debate in the Commons last week. " This arrangement " was outlined by1 the Lord Presi- dent of the Council, Mr. Attlee, in the following words : "Pending the passage of th» necessary legislation, the powers necessary for the control of civil aviation and the B.O.A.C. will, by a working arrangement, be delegated by the Secretary of State for Air to the Minister for Civil Aviation, subject to a proviso that in matters affecting the conduct of the war the Secretary of State for Air will continue to have the right to give directions." One point does not appear to have been made clear in the debate. The expression "civil aviation" was used repeatedly, but we have failed to discover in Hansard any statement by the Government spokesmen that the expression included the Department of Civil Aviation. Thus the relationship of Sir William Hildred and his department to Lord Swinton still remains something of a mystery. Routes and AircraftS IR STAFFORD CRIPPS also had something to say of the Chicago Conference. Since this has been fairly fully dealt with in our columns already we need not repeat all here, but it was interesting to note that the Minister of Aircraft Production stressed, and very rightly so, the one very good thing that came out of Chicago so far as we are concerned: close collabora- tion of the Commonwealth countries. He recalled that at the London discussions which followed Chicago agree- ment was reached on (and these are his exact words) : "how these routes should be put into operation as between the different countries, and particularly about CONTENTS The Outlook War in the Air- - Boeing Superfortress - - - - Here and There - ... The Lancastrian - Safety Fuels ----- Some Coastal Command Pilots Simpler Flying . - Shiprailair - .... Civil Aviation News - Correspondence Service Aviation - - - in 113 "5 116 118 122 - 122,b 123 126 129 130 132 the possibilities opened up by the cessation of the war." Sir Stafford mentioned the east-coast route to South Africa, the routes to India and via India to Australia ,and New Zealand, and the Pacific route via Canada and Fiji to Australia. Two omissions are here obvious. Sir Stafford did not mention that unless we get per- mission from the United States to use Hawaii the Pacific route will be something of a problem to operate ;' and he left out the route down along the West African coast. Omission of any mention of the African west-coast route may be significant. Sir Stafford said that Lord Swinton does not regaTd any company or industry as having any vested interest in civil aviation, and that with him it is entirely a question of whether or not a real contribution can be made by railway and shipping companies towards the efficiency of our civil aviation transport services. We may be wrong, but we read into the omission of mention of the West African route an intention on the part of the Government to give shipping companies an interest in that route, and/the air route across lbs South Atlantic to South- On the vexed question of civil aircraif we welcome Sir Stafford's assurance that the Ministeartor Civil Aviation will be in the same position as the jtir Ministry and the Admiralty "just as if his were ajpird SefwcWf That represents-a great step forward, Judging WpitaBces of past discouragement that haveJcomejk) <jar no£jee.A LANC. IN MUFTI An Avro Lancastrian seen over the starboard wing of a Lancaster. With a maximum speed of 310 m p hand a range of 4,000 miles, the Lancastrian has preserved all the excellent performance of its military predecessor the Lancaster.
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