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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0027.PDF
Editorial Director G. GEOFFREY SMITH. M.B.E Editor - -CM. POULSEN Assistant Editor - MAURICE A. SMITH, D.F.C. and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER Art Editor - (WING CDR., R.A.F.V.R.) • JOHN YOXALL FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD .• FOUNDED WOQ Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I Telegrams : Flightpres, Sedist, London. Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (50 lines.) COVENTRY: 8-10, CORPORATION ST. BIRMINGHAM, 2 : KING EDWARD HOUSE, T, . - NEW STREET. Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telegrams : Autopress. Birmingham. Telephone: Coventry 5210. Telephone: Midland 7191 (7 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 : 260, DEANSGATE. Telegrams : Iliffe, Manchester. Telephone : Blackfriars 4412. GLASGOW, C2: 26B, RENFIELD ST. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone: Central 4857 No. 1985. Vol. LI. SUBSCRIPTION RATES : Home and Abroad : Year, £3 I 0. Registered ot the C.P.O. as a Newspaper January 9th, 1947 Tfe Outlook 6 months, £1 10 6. Thursdays, One Shilling. Closer and CloserB ELIEVERS in the essential Tightness of close Anglo- American collaboration, among whom we range ourselves, will welcome the official announcements, ' made last week by the United States Army Air Forces authorities in Washington and the British Air Ministry i?i London, of agreement to continue in peacetime the close co-operation in staff methods, tactics, equipment and research which existed during the recent war. So many ties forged through the necessities of war are apt to be loosened if not actually severed when the im- mediate and urgent need for them has receded, and when selfish motives, temporarily submerged in a common aim, tend to rise once more. Examples of this are not lacking, either in private life or in national post-war affairs. That the two great English-speaking nations have de- cided to continue the air co-operation established under the stress of war is one of the most encouraging signs we have had for a long time. The interchange of per- sonnel cannot fail to have the most beneficial effect in both countries. Our only criticism is that the numbers envisaged are too small. From 30 to 40 on each side, increasing to not more than 100, strikes us as being rather inadequate for covering the many aspects of mili- tary aviation, the number of which is likely to grow ring the coming years. The intention is that the officers exchanged shall be students on courses, or on attachment to Command and Staff posts, and the training given under the new agree- ment will cover staff methods, tactics, equipment and research. The variety of subjects covered under these heads is so great that even 100 officers from each country would barely suffice to cover every one. However, it may be assumed that if future developments prove such a course necessary, the present limit figure may be in- creased. The great thing is that a start is being made quite soon. Apart from its value in enabling the air forces of each country to become familiar with the methods and equip- ment of the other, the new agreement should assist materially in the difficult task of achieving a certain degree of standardization. It is not to be expected that the two nations will agree on every piece of equipment, but in the newer branches, in which neither has yet pro- gressed far enough for designs to be "frozen," there is an excellent opportunity to standardize essential fea- tures, even if there are differences in certain less impor- tant details. That something can be done with great advantage even with existing material was demonstrated by the standardized cockpit of the Fairchild Naval Trainer which was shown at the Cleveland exhibition, and to which we referred recently. That is an excellent example of what can be done when representatives of the two countries get together. In the field of research, the limits of which have not been officially defined, there is scope for enormous mutual aid by an interchange of information. A U.S.A.A.F. spokesman is reported to have said that co-operation in this sphere " will go just as far as either side wants it to go." As we pointed out a few weeks ago, in commenting on the value of Anglo-American co-operation, if one takes the whole picture into account, each of the two countries probably has as much to teach as it has to learn from the other, and if this view pre- vails at an appropriately high level, as we believe it does, there is literally no limit to what can be achieved. Boscombe DownS OME years ago, when referring to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment, then situated at Martlesham Heath, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, we pointed out that the quality of the official testing done there was such that if an aircraft manufac- turer Wanted to impress us with the excellence of his latest product he would invariably say '' Martlesham is very pleased with it." Martlesham never was a very suitable airfield for
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