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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0530.PDF
FLIGHT MARCH 22ND, 1045 if there is no parallel route the detailed figures for which are available. A certain degree -of obscurity appears to surround the question of licensing. It will be recollected that the Air Transport Licensing Authority was abrogated at the outbreak of war. Just why it was not merely suspended is not known. In the House of Lords debate Lord Swinton said :" In my opinion it would be very convenient if the same tribunal which deals with rates, fares and facilities were also the tribunal dealing with applications to run new routes." Reading between the lines, one forms the impression that this question of licensing is not regarded by the Government as of any great urgency. Perhaps the explanation is that, to quote the White Paper, "It is intended that the agreed schedule of routes to be initially assigned to the three Corporations shall include all those upon which, in the view of His Majesty's Government, it is essential that United Kingdom Air Lines should be ready to operate as soon as war condi- tions permit and the necessary aircraft are available." On the question of subsidies, the White Paper explains that the Corporation to which the internal routes will be assigned (the railways, in other words) is willing to operate without subsidy, both the remunerative and the unremunerative routes. That sounds attractive, but it may prove that this is a small price to pay for the privilege of having a monopoly on the internal routes. From the point of view of giving the public maximum service, it might well have been better to have introduced competition on the internal routes, paying for the less remunerative a higher air mail rate to the operators. This is done in America and seems to have worked very well there. Anxiety was expressed by several speakers in the House of Lords debate concerning the supply of British civil aircraft, and Viscount Swinton admitted to sharing it, at least so far as the immediate future is concerned. That is understandable. What is less obvious is the reason for continued anxiety. The Ministry of Aircraft Production must clearly award the priority and the orders while the war is on. But it is difficult to see.why draughtsmen, the chief bottleneck, cannot now be turned on to civil types. The answer that they are too busy on military types does not appear very logical when one comes to examine it. Any military types on which the draughtsmen are alleged to be so busy cannot possibly be ready in. iinieT to be of any great use in the war withGermany. It will CONTENTS The Outlook War in the Air - Here and There .... The Marconator .... Civil Aviation News - B.O.A.C. Wartime Services False Security .... The Civil Aviation Charter - Lords Debate the White Paper They Voted for Speed - - - Correspondence .... Service Aviation .... 299 301 3°4 306 309 310 - • 314 - 316 - 318 319 321 322 be over long before most of these new types could be in operational service in any significant numbers. For those which are already in production the drawings will have been finished. Those which are not yet in produc- tion will be too late, anyway. So why not permit the switching-over of the relatively small number of draughtsmen needed to get out our civil types quickly ^ The Other Side ALTHOUGH we have criticised certain features of /"\ the White Paper on British Air Transport, it is only fair to admit that there are good points in the suggested scheme. Doubtless by the time Parlia- ment has expressed its views, some of the less attractive aspects.will be modified. In the meantime the White Paper does form a very useful basis upon which to build. On the credit side we have at long last got away from the single "chosen instrument," and, let us hope, from that abominable expression as well. We have a plan, and a plan which promises to enable a start to be made as* soon as the war situation permits. We have a Minister for Civil Aviation who will give his great energy to the subject. And we have either already secured or have every hope of securing the very closest co- operation with other countries of the British Common- wealth./The Commonwealth Governments have, as the White jfaper points out, expressed their desire that reciprocal services from their countries to the United * >m shall be operated in parallel with the United services to their countries, and arrangements ng made for reciprocal facilities. BRITISH AND BEST: The old Victorianism "British and best, feel the weight" is certainly borne out by the heavies ofBomber Command. They have proved to be the best, and Germany can testify to "feeling the weight."
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