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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0559.PDF
and Editorial Director G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.ML Editor . -CM. POULSEN Assistant Editor - MAURICE A. SMITH, D.F.C (WING COR., RAf.V.R.) Art Editor • - JOHN YOXALLAIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL MEKLY IN THE WORLD •• FOUNDED WO9 Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I Telegrams : Flightpres, Sedist, London. COVENTRY : BIRMINGHAM, 2 : 8-10, CORPORATION ST. Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (50 lines.) MANCHESTER, 3 : GLASGOW, C.Z : 26B. RENFIELD ST.NEWSTR EET Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telegrams : Autopress, Birmingham! Telegrams: Iliffe, Manchester. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone: Coventry 5210. Telephone: Midland 7191 (7 lines). Telephone: Blickfriars 4412. Telephone: Central 48S7 SUBSCRIPTION RATES : Home and Abroad : Year, £3 10. 6 months, £1 10 6. Registered at the G.P.O. as a Newspaper No. 1999. Vol. LI. April 17th, 1947 Thursdays, One "The Outlook Conscription and the R.A.F. WITH the unedifying spectacle of the Govern-ment's scuttle on conscription (or compulsoryservice as the modern euphemism has it) we have no concern, but the effect on the efficiency of the Royal M: Force of reducing the period of service from 18 months to 12 is very much our concern. It is now a great many years since the "Father of the R.A.F.," Viscount Trenchard, delivered the dictum that a small, well-equipped and highly trained air force will cut through one greater in number but less efficient "like a knife through hot butter." Quite recently Sir Arthur Coningham expressed the same view in different terms by saying that henceforth quality, not quantity, must be our aim. - . Under the conscription scheme the Royal Air .force will probably get sufficient numbers (on paper), but of what use will a man be whose term of service is only one year? Quite obviously it will be hopeless to train fflkn in any of the more technical trades, and he will per- Ifrce be confined to doing all the drudgery on a station once his initial recruit training is over. Unless, there- fore, volunteers come forward in sufficient numbers (and so far there are few indications that this will be the case), the R.A.F. is likely to be in a sorry plight in the matter of maintenance of aircraft and engines, to men- tion but one aspect upon which the effectiveness of an air force so largely depends. It is no manner of use equipping the R A.F. with all the latest flying equipment if this cannot be kept up to concerrpitch, a^dVviously it will be almostijnpossibk to do this under the scheme contemplated. The aim of the Royal Air Force must be, as Sir Arthur Coningham said, highly efficient units organized as cadres, and capable of expansion. Anything less catenated to achieve this than the proposed one-year service for ground crew personnel it would be difficult to imagine. Lord Kemsley's MunificenceT HERE is an old saying that a little help is worth more than a lot of sympathy. Lord Kemsley, by his magnificent support for private flying. J» giving more than a little help to a branch of aviation which has been languishing since the war, and, to con- tinue the simile, his very practical gesture is worth all the official expressions of good will ever made. By his generosity in establishing a £100,000 fund from which a committee of the Royal Aero Club will be able to arrange loans, Lord Kemsley has created the possi- bility of keeping alive the light plane and glider clubs * which were in danger of extinction due to the relatively high cost of unsubsidized flying, a danger which is made all the greater by the new regulations now being con- sidered by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. These, il they come into force, "will make it a very expensive hobby for any private individual to obtain enough flying experience to be allowed to take his aircraft on lengthy cross-country flights, apart from the fact that aircraft of the private-owner type are necessarily expensive be- cause of present circumstances and the small demand. The Minister of Civir Aviation, in thanking Lord Kemsley for his magnificent contribution, has expressed his intention to encourage private flying and to get from the committee presided over by Mr. Whitney Straight the very best recommendations possible. It is to bt hoped that these will include not only reasonable liberty for the pilots of small aircraft but also strong represen- tations to other Government departments that construc- tional materials be made available for engines, light air craft and gliders. «fe We do not envy the members of the Royal Aero Club committee which is to be formed to administer the Kerns ley fund. They will have a difficult task, and it ma\ well be that they will meet with many forms of frus- tration. Their easiest problem will be that of helping to
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