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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 1789.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER Editorial Director G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. Editor - -CM. POULSEN Assistant Editor - MAURICE A. SMITH, D.F.C. (WING CDR., R.A.F.V.R.) Art Editor - - JOHN YOXALL FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD •• FOUNDED t909 Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I Telegrams : Flightprei, Sedist, London. Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (60 lines.) COVENTRY: BIRMINGHAM, 2; MANCHESTER, : GLASGOW, C.2: 8-10, CORPORATION ST. £' N G ED WARD HOUSE, 260, DEANS GATE. 26B| RENFIELD ST. . _ NEW STREET. Telegrams : II iff e, Manchester _ , .,.„ _, Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telegrams : Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Blackfriars +412(3lines) Telegrams r Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone: Coventry 5210. Telephone: Midland 7191 (7 lines). Deansgate 3595 (2 lines) Telephone: Central 4857 SUBSCRIPTION RATES : Home and Abroad : Year, £3 Is. Od. BY AIR : To any country in Europe (except Poland). Year, £5 Is. Od. 6 months, £2 6 months, £1 10s. 6d. 10s. M. To Canada and U.S.A. 6 montta; No. 2079. Vol. LiV October 28th, 1948 Thursdays, One Shilling Outlook Battleships to Carriers QOMEWHAT belatedly, it might seem, memorial !* busts of two famous admirals, Lord Jellicoe and Lord Beatty, were unveiled at an impressive ceremony in Trafalgar Square on October 21st, Trafal- gar Day. The fame of these two sailors dates back to the First World War, and it appears just a little strange that a period of thirty years should have been allowed to elapse before an honour of such permanent character was bestowed upon them. Not only so, but in the meantime we have had a not inconsiderable Second World War, in which the Navy again served the country well. It will not have escaped the notice of the more observ- ing that the unveiling ceremony was performed by a soldier, His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester. Indeed, he himself referred to the fact. Apart from his • 'admirable personal qualities, which all admit, he is a Royal Prince and a soldier. The latter qualification made him a " neutral," as it were, now that the Royal •f Navy has ceased to be our first line of defence, and that V;function has been taken over by the Royal Air Force. His Royal Highness most appropriately recalled that it was said of Lord Jellicoe in the First World War that he was the only man on either side who could have lost the war in an afternoon. That was almost literally true. If he had lost the war at sea, we should have been in a sorry plight. Germany's navy could have suffered a defeat without thereby necessarily losing the war. Ger- many would still have her army. Jellicoe did not lose the First World War, and the honour shown him and Beatty last week is thoroughly merited. • . Things have changed immeasurably since 1918. Not only is it inconceivable that any one man can again be caljed upon to shoulder responsibilities such as those assumed by Admirals Jellicoe and Beatty, but no single! Service can in future be expected to act so independently. "•• What the Second World War showed very clearly was that the three Service:* are interdependent to an astonish- ing degree. And that interdependence is likely to in- crease rather than the reverse. And so the Royal Navy was quite logical in honouring in this way the memory of what may well be the last two of its Admirals to serve the nation so outstandingly purely as sailors. There will be other admirals of great merit. No one doubts that. There already are great admirals, as World War II proved. But Jellicoe and Beatty represented the end of the old Navy. The new Navy has lost to the Royal Air Force its function as our first line of defence, and is itself already "taking to the air" in a big way. That is not to say that its importance is negligible. Far from it. But it does mean that the emphasis has shifted, to put it briefly, from battleships to carriers. • High-tension Cables AgainO NCE more the aviation world mourns the loss of valuable lives in an air accident. It is not only the size of the catastrophe which appals (not one of the 40 occupants of the Constellation survived) but the fact that judging by present accounts, it looks as if the mishap need not have occurred. There are many cases cm record in which the conclu- sion reached after investigation was that the pilot was guilty of an error of judgment. In fact, many think the pilot has too often been blamed on insufficient evi- dence. In this case the pilot,, Mr. Parmentier, was quite exceptionaUy experienced, and was in fact Chief of Fly- ing Services of the K.L.M., an air line with the very highest reputation. Thus there is every reason for not rushing to the conclusion that the pilot was at fault, although even the most experienced can make a mistake, or be the victim of a moment's forgetfulness, as was shown in the case of another veteran Kl.M. pilot, Mr. Geyssendorffer, who took off with his elevator locked. According to present accounts, it appears tfiat the Con-
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