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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 2046.PDF
59O- F LIG HT NOVEMBER 2OTH, X947 CORRESPONDENCE I'he Editor does not hold himself responsible for the views expressed by correspondents. The names and addresses of the writers. not necessarily for publication, must in all cases accompany letters. SUBSIDIZED FLYING Age Limit Suggested IX regard to the proposal of subsidies to flying clubs, putforward by Mr. Whitney Straight, may I, through the courtesy of your columns, suggest an age-limit be included in such a proposal to ensure the taxpayers' money is not wasted on teaching people to fly whose age, in the event of a war, would debar them from flying? While it is essential for the safety of the country that there should be a floating reserve of pilots, it seems a little wasteful to train pilots who would never be allowed to fly in a war on account of their age. By no means refuse them opportunity to learn, but insist on them paying a normal rate. I suggest an age-limit of 30 because, in the event of a war in two years' time, a man of 32 would only just be allowed to take on full flying duties; any age beyond that must be a waste of taxpayers' money. When all is said and done, sub- sidies come out of the pockets of the whole taxpaying popula- tion who cannot all be wanting to learn to fly, so .that the many would be paying for the few. F. S. SYMONDSON. FLYING BOATS Capt. Brice Still Demanding Answers IT would appear that Mr. Kemp and certain other gentlemen,in their anxiety to produce the evidence of the Sky Queen, entirely missed most of the points in my argument, and thus, unfortunately, did not answer them. I know as well as anyone that, with good luck and certain sea conditions, one can land a flying-boat in the open sea. You will recall that my last paragraph dealt with this at some length, and also the disadvantages of doing same. My article dealt with regular airline operation, not freaks of flying, or such gross mismanagements as caused the Sky Queen episode. Rivers are useless for the big boat. The Shetland was not tested at Rochester in all respects. Not even a Lankester Parker would relish a full-load landing on the Medway, and even if he had done it, he would, I am sure, be the last to recommend it for airline work. One would gather that air- craft were for ever needing to force-land somewhere. They seldom do in airline operation. I wish that the boat zealots, now that the Sky Queen has given them such a morale boost, would answer my practical objections to the boat. The problem of blind approaches, the limited number of bases around the world, which no amount of concrete can remedy, the financial problems caused by the few boat facilities still existing, the water-ice problems of the North Atlantic route. If someone could give me a reasonable answer to these prob- lems, I might believe in the future of the boat. I am not an enthusiast of any particular sort of aircraft, but if I were an airline operator I would plumb for landplanes. And when one states that airports for the 200-ton landplane will be too costly and too few, one must always remember that the mightiest and wealthiest country in the world is building such aircraft, and my guess is that the U.S.A. will see that the necessary bases are built, even if no one else does. DAVID BRICE. WOMEN PILOTS Every Bit as Good as the Men YOUR correspondent, L. Heather, who holds forth onWomen Pilots (F/ig A ^November 6th), presumes upon the intelligence of your readers, and I would advise him—presum- ing that he is aVmere male like myself—to acquaint himself with a few facts before rushing into print. He complains that women have contributed little towards the development of aircraft. We can, therefore, fairly assume that his knowledge of aeronautical matters is such that he has never heard of such names as Mrs. F. G. Miles and Amy Johnson—to mention only two out of scores. His remark that women's work in A.T.A. could have been more efficiently done by men unfit for operational duties is sheer drivel, and no comparison can be fairly drawn. How- ever, if L. Heather does want comparisons, then on the strength of eight years' instructional experience in the R.A.F. and A.T.A. I will do battle with him. During the recent war it fell to my lot to convert dozens of A.T.A. women, and R.A.F. seconded personnel, on to the heavier type of Service aircraft. The women were invariably ready to go solo long before the men, and I found that they assimilated technical information far more easily than their male counterparts. Furthermore, my. records show that for every woman pilot who failed to make the grade seven men were' turned down. The reason for this is obvious. Many of the men who were unfit for operational R.A.F. duty had—through no fault of their own—some snag in their background, whereas the women represented the cream of the country. With regard to R.A.F. pilots seconded to A.T.A., it must be remembered that their previous experience was usually limited, and few had nV5«. more than half-a-dozen different types before reaching ij^ twin and multi-engined categories. The A.T.A. woman pY?ot at the same stage usually had forty or fifty types already logged, and, in consequence, was considerably more versatile. On this basis it might be argued that, given the same experi- ence, the operationally unfit male would have reached the same high standard. This contingency never arose, which is pre- cisely my reason for saying that it is not possible to draw a fair comparison. I would remind your correspondent that during the first bleak winter of the war a mere handful of women A.T.A. pilots;—there were less than a dozen to start with—ferried over 2,000 aircraft without so much as scratching one of them. As their number increased, so did their reputation, and the final analysis when A.T.A. disbanded showed the women to be every bit as good as the men. Although the accident rate was infinitesimally small, the A.T.A. women paid a high price to achieve this end. At no time did their strength exceed no, and yet no fewer than 17 sacrificed their lives. With the exception of such periodicals as yours, which have always championed the cause, little has been done to make the general public aware of the great contribution made by the women pilots of A.T.A. to the defeat of our enemies. "AETHERIS ALTDI." ; HANGING FIRE Club Funds Beginning to Run Out FOR months the private flying world has been anxiouslyawaiting the publication of the recommendations of the Whitney Straight Committee and Mr. Peter Masefield's I.L.A.C., and as far as private owners and club pilots are con- cerned the general opinion is that the committees have done a jolly good job. No worse time could have been found for making the recommendations, but that is no one's fault in par- ticular, and, like other pilots, 1 am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best. Unfortunately, the publishing of these recommendations has had one bad effect from the clubs' point of view, because quite a lot of people who have carefully hoarded their shillings and pence in order to be able to afford a few hours' flying have decided that it is worth while waiting for a month or t particularly as the weather.is now bad, in the hopes of their flying at about a third of the price next summer. The cost of implementing a part or even the whole of the recommendations in the reports would be comparatively small compared with that of other Government undertakings, and although pilots are perfectly convinced that such an invest- ment would pay dividends they do not expect everyone to agree with them. One thing that is needed, however, is a decision of some sort as quickly as possible, for there is a limit to how long the clubs can hold on under the present con- ditions. ' HAROLD BURGOMASTER. FORTHCOMING EVENTS Nov. 29th.—Pathfinder Ball, Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane, London. Dec. 4th.—Royal Aeronautical Society : " Problems Facing Civil Airline Operators." N. E. Rowe, C.B.E., 8.S0, D.I.C., F.R.Ae.S. Dec. 6th.—Helicopter Association of Great Britain : " Some Aerodynamic Problems of the Helicopter." H. B. Squire. Dec. 7th.—Royal Institution of Gt. Britain : " The Advent of the Aircraft Gas Turbine." A. Cdre. F. Whittle, C.B.E., M.A., F.R.Ae.S., Hon. M.I.Mech.E. Dec. 12th.—R.Ae.S. (Graduate and Student). " Aircraft Design from the Airline Point of View." Christopher Dykes, A.F.R.Ae.S.
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