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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 1095.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY W 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.1 Telegrams : Truditur, Sedist, London. Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (35 lines). COVENTRY: 8-10, CORPORATION ST. Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telephone: Coventry 5210. BIRMINGHAM, 2: GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 2971 (5 lines). MANCHESTER, 3: 260, DEANSGATE. Telegrams : l|iffe, Manchester. Telephone: Blackfriars 4412. GLASGOW, C2 : 26B, RENFI ELD ST. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone : Central 4857. No. 1902. Vol. XLVII. Registered at the G.P.O. as a Newspaper. June 7th 1945 Thursdays, One Shilling. Outlook The Wilbur Wright LectureT HERE is no American more esteemed in. British aviation than "Ted " Wright, as his many friends in both countries affectionately call him. He speaks our language (aeronautically if not strictly lin- guistically) ; he looks upon aviation in much the same way as do 99 per cent, of British aviation folk; he displays that sense of fairness and sweet reasonableness which we found so admirable in, and which was so frequently expressed by, the late President Roosevelt; and he has that solid historical background which comes from a,life usefully and prominently spent in aviation. Starting as an officer in naval aviation in World War I, tie transferred to designing and engineering, ultimately becoming chief director of engineering of the famous Curtiss-Wright firm. In that position he often had occa- sion to visit this country, with the result that he came to know the people in British aviation almost as well as he knew those in his own country. In 1936 he visited Germany, and in 1938, just after Munich, he lectured to the Royal Aeronautical Society on American methods of aircraft production. On that same occasion, at an informal dinner at which Flight was privileged to be present, Mr. Wright gave a warning ("off the record," and therefore not reported) about Germany's preparations and strength. Since the outbreak of war, while playing a leading part in guiding America's air- craft production, he has visited England on several occa- sions, and on his return to America he has each time earned the gratitude of Great Britain by giving his com- patriots a true picture of what this country suffered and of her achievements in spite of dangers, difficulties and handicaps. It would, indeed, have been difficult to think of a man whom British aviation would rather have had to deliver the 33rd Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture. The 31st was given by Mr. Wright's compatriot, Mr. Edward P. Warner, in whom Great Britain has another very good friend. Dr. Warner's lecture on post-war transport air- , craft has become a classic in that he laid out certain parameters that had hitherto been missing or, at any rate, were not readily available. Mr. Wright covers a wider field this yeaf ; and, in spite of the handicap im-' posed by the fact that he is dealing with many things, some. of which are much less tangible and therefore vastly more difficult to assess than technical problems, he succeeds in conveying a clear outline picture of what we must do if we want to make flying serve the ends of civilisation instead of being a perpetual threat of its destruction. Encouraging for the future is the fact that Mr. Wright reaches conclusions of optimism. He says: "I believe the Neanderthal man is growing up; that the spiral of progress will, by virtue of the airplane, be benevolent; that air transportation and air power will be largely beneficial to the human family. This need not neces- sarily be so, nor will it come automatically; but that it will occur, because of the work and efforts of men of good will now predominating in the world, I have no doubt." U.S. Air Forces Leave BurmaN OTHING could have emphasised more markedly the practical ending of the Burma campaign than the withdrawal of the U.S. Army Air Forces from Eastern Air Command, undoubtedly for operations in the Pacific. The R.A.F. and other British forces now have only mopping-up operations to complete, and then, we may be sure, they, too (or at least most of them) will also move eastward to help in striking the final blow at the aggressor in the Pacific. The Japanese war is the concern equally of the British B
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