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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1571.PDF
FLIGHT. 15 September 1949 Pegg displaying'the Bristol Brabazon I on Thursday. Unfortunately this was the on[y visit the " Brab " was able to make. Replying to the toast, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Tedder, G.C.B., Chief of the Air Staff, neatly summed up the feeling well known to many people engaged in aviation, namely, that apparent in their relations with the airmen of other countries. "It is an indication of the reality of this spirit that I instinctively shrink from using the word 'foreign' in connection with airmen," he said. He did not think he was being indiscreet in saying that in the discussions aimed at ensuring a common security for all, it had been in the field of air defences that pro- gress had been most rapid—simply because airmen thought in a common language, though nations might speak with different tongues. Lord Tedder said he found it difficult to understand the mental processes of those '' intellectual ostriches'' who regarded the aircraft and bomb as "disgusting intrusions on the decencies of civilized war on battlefields." A French philosopher had said " Might and right govern the world —might till right is ready," but surely one jf the main lessons of the past twelve years had been that right was still unable to govern unless backed by might. Speaking of the aircraft on show, the Chief of the Air Staff referred to the '' very good-looking youngster'' which would be taking the place of the grand old generation of Halifaxes, Stirlings, Lancasters and Lincolns. He recalled that even at the time of Germany's collapse under Allied bombing her production of fighters exceeded the total com- bined British and American production; so, much as his hearers would relish the beauty and performance of the fighters to be seen at the Exhibition the next day, it was on the punch forecast by the Canberra that one's mind concentrated. Proposing the toast of the British aircraft industry, Mr. G. R. Strauss, Minister of Supply, outlined the financial, technical and other help given by his Ministry to the air- craft industry. Congratulating the industry on its con- tribution to the export drive, he supplemented Sir Roy Dobson's figures by saying that during the first six months of this year exports had been at an annual rate of about £yz million compared with £5% million for the whole of 1938. Half these exports went to hard-currency countries. Mr. Strauss concluded by summing up the problems to be solved by the aircraft industry: they included the need to cut down the time taken to design and develop new" types; the importance of providing spares concurrently with the delivery of new aircraft and engines; and the question of improving ancilliary equipment. In responding to the toast, Mr. W. R. Verdon-Smith (deputy president of the S.B.A.C.) said that, as the final speaker, he regarded himself " as a sort of long-stop," and, taking up his position in the oratorial field accordingly, commented on previous speakers' references to the time taken to develop an aircraft and the need for simplifica- tion. Any attempt to shorten the development period, he maintained, was likely to be offset by the increasing complexity of aircraft. Regarding spares provisioning, he realized that this was a case where the customer was always right. Constant attention was necessary, but pre- cipitate action might lead to the wrong coarse
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