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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 1875.PDF
antAIRCRAFT ENGINEER Editorial Director G, GEOFFR£Y SMITH, M.8.E. Editor - -CM. POULSEN Assistant Editor - MAURICE A. SMITH, D.f.C. (W)NG CDR.. RAf.V.R.) Art Editor - - JOHN YOXALL FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD .• FOUNDED WOQ Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices. DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 Telegrams : Flightpres, Sedist, London. Telephone : WaA-rloo 3333 ij .inej.) COVENTRY : BIRMINGHAM, a . MANCHESTER, 3 : GLASGOW, CZ : 8-10, CORPORATION ST. *,' N G E D WAR D HOUSE. 260, DEANSGATE. 26B, R fc N r I E L D ST_, A _ NEW STREET. Telegrams: Iliffe, Manchester T, ...„ _Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telegrams : Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Blackfriars 4412(3 lines) '"M'wns - Ilifte, Glasgow. Telephone: Coventry 5210. Telephone : Midland 7191 (7 lines). Deansgate 3595 (2 lines) Telephone Central 4857 SUBSCRIPTION RATES -. Home and Abroad : Twelve months, £3 Is. Od. Six months, £1 10*. 6d. BY AIR : To any country in Europe (except Poland). Twelve months, £5 Is. Od. Six months, £2 10s. 6d. To Canada and U.S.A. Six months, $4* No. 2081. Vol. LIV November 11th, 1948 cThe Outlook Thursdays, One Civil AviationL AST week's House of Commons debates on the ^ Address, and the debate In the House of Lords on nationalized iadustries, afforded an opportunity for arguments about the operation of the nationalized industry of which most experience is available, that of civil aviation. It cannot fairly be said that these debates produced anything very constructive, nor that they revealed any- thing new. That the Corporations are " in the red " was already well known. That steps are being taken to attempt to reduce losses was also known. The Minister of Civil Aviation did give a "target figure," to use the expression which has become such a favourite with our planners. "We are," he said, " absolutely determined that by the beginning of the financial year 1949-50 all possible weaknesses shall have been eliminated from the Corporations.'' But even if that should come to pass, there might well be a prolonged period during which the Corporations will continue to make financial losses. It is to be hoped, of course, that they will be on a reduced scale, but there cannot be any guarantee that they will disappear, much less that they will be turned into profits. Even when Lord Pakenham's "potentially first-class athletes —a few pounds overweight—take the field trained to a hair as never before, and fit to fight for their lives," circumstances may be such as to preclude any pos- sibility of making profits. Civil aviation cannot, unfortunately, be entirely divorced from the wider national and international ques- tions of politics and strategy. Apart from these, there is another angle, that of service to the public. Certain routes will obviously have to be operated even if they are unrermmerative. That has often been stressed, although examples are not unknown of routes being closed-down. There was one quite recently, the Edin- burgh-London, which Mr. Lindgren was questioned about last week. Air traffic is apt to be seasonal, even on routes which are extremely busy for a certain part of the year, and not all can be treated as was the Edin- burgh-London. It would, therefore, be over-optimistic to expect that our nationalized Corporations will necessarily be pay- ing their way as soon as they are "fit to fight for their lives." Even in the United States, where geographical con- ditions are in many ways more favourable, where the organization of civil aviation is on a very different foot- ing, and where, according to many, they have the world's finest airliners, most of the operating companies have been making losses. Thus we have some way to go before the taxpayer is relieved of the burden, and it would be well not to confuse the expected date of attaining Corporation efficiency with that on which air transport can be expected to "fly by itself." It may be recalled that Mr. Masefield, Director-General of Long-Term Planning in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, recently estimated ten or twelve years as the interval before air transport can be expected to do without sub- sidies. There are many goals to be attained, apart from making the Corporation efficient. RemembranceT HOUGHTS of those, Servicemen and civilians, who gave their lives in the two World Wars are with us ail at home and overseas this week, and last Sunday's Remembrance Ceremonies here and in the British Commonwealth once again afforded the oppor- tunity to honour their memory in the traditional way. The Royal Air Force has its own very special day set aside for those who saved the country in 1940, the heroes of the Battle of Britain, but it, like the other Services, honoured its dead from both wars on November 7th, when wreaths were laid by His Majesty The Kvt*g
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